7 Vietnamese Acts You Need To Tap Into

In the spirit of cultural transmission, we’re proud to share a look at the vibrant scene in Vietnam. Below are seven of the many active artists worth keeping an eye on right now.

@t.hien014, @lame.ostrich, @hhoang_2412, @matthesun / Via Artist

In 2021, there was a rare, fleeting moment when Vietnamese rap infiltrated the feeds of people across the world. It came in the form of a viral TikTok remix of “2 Phút Hơn,” which bubbled out of tiny phone speakers over 15 seconds of goofy dancing from people of every demographic imaginable. As fun and surprising as it was to witness and engage with, it’s clearly not the best format for people to learn the roots of where something like that comes from.


The entire world keeps an eye on the cultural powerhouse that is American rap, but people within the US rarely look beyond their own borders (with the most recent exceptions being Latin trap and UK drill). Why would they, when there’s so much of it right at home in its birthplace? But it’s a shame, because there are creative pockets of rap all over the globe, and something like “2 Phút Hơn” was bound to happen sooner or later.


Vietnamese rap is currently thriving all on its own. Every rap fan is familiar with Jamaican-Vietnamese-American rapper Tyga (who jumped on a remix of the TikTok song) and more underground listeners are probably aware of Kid Trunks from Members Only. But the number of artists within the Southeast Asian country’s borders has skyrocketed alongside a similarly fast-growing community of directors, photographers, and fashion designers. Together, they've developed an engaging and solid scene.


Vietnamese rap has roots that stretch back to the late ’90s, with many locals referencing a Vietnamese-American rapper from Seattle named Thai Viet G for sparking local interest in rap. Forums dedicated to Vietnamese rap were created by overseas Vietnamese fans like the Viet Rapper forum—which originally revolved around a rap crew of the same name that included Thai Viet G—and later another popular forum called DaRapClub. Local aspiring rappers would adopt lofi techniques like using gaming headsets to record tracks over beats from SoundClick and then embed them on the forums. 


In 2007, Saigon rapper Blak Ray started one of the country’s early collectives called Street Doktorz which featured some of the biggest names still active today, including Suboi, DSK. "When hip-hop first showed up in Saigon, there was a lot of newspapers trying to say hip-hop culture wasn't good. They were worried about the anarchism of it," Blak Ray says. But of course, that’s exactly the type of thing that teenagers would gravitate towards. 


By 2010, the scene was going mainstream, with packed mid-sized clubs dedicated to rap and artists like Suboi, Ha Okio, Kimmese, and Antionios Maximus performing on television. Toward the end of the decade, a new wave of artists appeared on SoundCloud, doing their own thing without knowing too much about what happened locally before them. The platform gave them unlimited access to global music and American rap inspired most of them. Some artists, like Larria, a producer who works with local rap artists but also makes dance music, started exploring sounds including Jersey Club and baile funk, combining the rave scene and rap worlds effortlessly. 


In 2020, rap competition shows like King Of Rap and Rap Viet (which is about to launch its third season) both debuted, and gas was poured on the wildfire of local rap music. "Now, even old people know about rap artists,” Saigon-based producer Teddy Chilla laughs. “My mom can even name some of them!" The shows made new stars, rekindled interest in some OGs, and inspired even more fans.


In the spirit of cultural transmission, we’re proud to share a look at the vibrant scene in Vietnam. Below are seven of the many active artists worth keeping an eye on right now.

Larria

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While most producers play the background, Larria has been front and center since he got involved in rap. He's been making music since high school with a cracked copy of FL Studio and takes influence from all over the world. Rap music and dance music are not separate for him though, he blends both into his DJ sets and often makes dance remixes of Vietnamese rap. In 2020 he joined the Saigon rap collective Under The Hood, and he often appears in rap videos with a sense of style on par with the rappers accustomed to the limelight. "I spend a lot of time trying to find the right vocalist to collaborate," he says. "It had to be really a harmony of two souls."

Wean x Naomi

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Sometimes a love story is all the people want. Wean and Naomi Roestel, Saigon's "it" couple, provide just that. "We're musical and life partners," Naomi says with a big smile. Their breakout song together was “She Said,” which was created for a performance in a movie—it wasn't even a real release originally. The pair were on the set of a local movie, where they were noticed. The team created a scene just for them, and had them perform a song they wrote at a high school party. The clip went viral, becoming more famous than the movie itself, so they re-released it as an official track and they've been known across the country ever since. 

16 Typh

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When 16 Typh started rapping a few years ago, it was just for fun. He was more focused on trapping and selling clothes, whatever made the most money. But when his music took off, it became his main focus. “I was just lucky, like, OK,” he laughs. As he's gained fame, he's brought his boys up with him, making the 16 Northside crew a part of everything he does. He's also putting on for the next generation, supporting younger collectives like Flavor Records. Recently, Typh went on a mini-tour across Europe where he performed for crowds of overseas Vietnamese.  

wAvy x Xolitxo

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These 25-year-olds are childhood friends who started rapping together in high school. By their senior year, they were already uploading tracks to SoundCloud—unaware there were other Vietnamese rappers already posting music there. "We just wanted to do it," wAvy laughs. Their track "Night" was the track that put them on the map, first blowing up on SoundCloud, but then catching a second wind with the release of the music video in collaboration with Antiantiart and the now-defunct vndtown. Although the duo is mainly inspired by American rap, they're belatedly catching up with the Viet OGs while also trying to cultivate younger talent. "Last year we started trying to discover the new wave," Xolitxo says. "We grew up in the underground and want to give back to that."

Wowy

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Although he's only 34 years old, Wowy is one of the elders in the scene, building his name back in the forum days. He grew up in a part of Saigon that he says was chaotic: "It was like being a soldier. I lived in the hood. I was poor. Had nothing to eat. There was gangsters and people selling drugs." But he used rap to climb his way to celebrity and had what might be the first track to blow on YouTtube in the country, "Khu Tao Song." "They just came to my neighborhood and filmed with no script, we probably spent like $25 total," Wowy laughs. More recently, he mentored De Choat, who was the first season winner of Rap Viet in 2020. 

Đen Vâu

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While Đen Vâu is breaking records for rap in Vietnam these days, with the most trending videos on YouTube there, he was once on the verge of quitting. In 2014 he had returned home to the province, expecting to start a career cleaning trash from the ocean, but uploaded one last song—and it blew up. He's known for repping a more rural style, rapping about the simple pleasures in life, and clearly it resonates with his fans. His name means "dark skin" and "protruding teeth," a nickname he earned as a child. 

Suboi

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Suboi was one of Vietnamese rap's first celebrities, performing on TV and collaborating with V-Pop singers by 2010. She's from a middle-class family in Saigon and was inspired to rap by artists like Eminem and Linkin Park. She began rapping during high school back in the forum days of the mid-2000s and started performing in ‘09. Her husband, Nodey, who she met four years ago, is also a well-known producer, and they often work together, but she's still very much a solo artist. Despite her leadership role as one of the scene's best-known artists, Suboi says things are firmly in the hands of the youth now: "Gen Z rappers are so versatile and active, there are many more opportunities for them since half of Việt Nam is now under 30."

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