BANGKOK — The rhymes came to Nutthapong Srimuong before dawn, when Bangkok is as still as it can be and the night jasmine overpowers the Thai capital with its perfume.

The country whose capital is turned into a killing field

Whose charter is written and erased by the army’s boots

The country that points a gun at your throat

Where you must choose to eat the truth or bullets

A largely nocturnal individual, Mr. Nutthapong, 30, had worked on a few bars of a rap song, “What My Country Has Got,” for months. Then he abandoned the project.

But the rule of Thailand’s military junta had stretched past the four-year mark. Restrictions on free speech showed little sign of abating. Elections, frequently promised, never materialized.