Rap/Hip-Hop: the Rising of Underground Music and Youth Culture in Vietnam
“Life has many things to say, and to sing about, not just romantic love.”
— Kimmese, Vietnamese Rapper
With its humble origins in the mid-1970s in the Bronx, Hip-Hop, or Rap music, has grown from a New York City phenomenon to a cultural movement in the United States and around the world (McGregor, 1998). Jeff Chang said in his article “It’s a Hip-Hop World,” published in 2007, that from Shanghai to Nairobi and São Paulo, hip-hop was evolving into a global art of communication. In Vietnam, Rap music is the primary constituent and driving force of underground music. It’s a relatively new cultural phenomenon that was introduced to Vietnamese culture against the backdrop of traditional music in 1997 through the release of the Rap song “Vietnamese Gang.” It has only become prevalent among Vietnamese youth since the early-mid 2000s, achieved a cult following and soon later transformed into an underground movement and an embodiment of Vietnamese youth subculture, despite multiple challenges throughout its history.
Unique History
Rap music possesses the core characteristics of underground music, which exists beyond the boundaries of mainstream culture and consists of musical “products” that originally were not legally commercialized: unadulterated, free of formulaic composition, with a very hands-on and personal process behind it, contrasting with the mainstream’s heavy- handed production. It also serves as an umbrella art form for independent and freelance artists. According to many Vietnamese musicians, the underground world is for artists who are not yet professional yet practicing music for great passion and enthusiasm since it opens a new realm of freedom for them to create and express themselves without the strict boundaries of the legislative system (VietNamNet, 2014).
Vietnamese Rap music has a relatively unique history. It started overseas on American soil and reached Vietnamese audience through the Internet (Vietnamese Rap Culture, 2016). After 1975, many South Vietnamese immigrated to the United States, either as boat people fleeing poverty and persecution or U.S. government-sponsored refugees under special status. Coming out of the Vietnam War, generations of Vietnamese living overseas faced various challenges to adapt to a particularly different Western culture, with language barriers, generational divide, crime and gang violence, while constantly struggled to define their identities among others. A lot of these overseas Vietnamese have certain indignations towards the Vietnamese government for multiple reasons, such as opposition to socialism and communism, regional conflict between North and South Vietnam, and being refused by their own government. In this context, in 1997, two Vietnamese youths from Portland, Oregon, Khanh Nho and Thai Viet G., recorded the first Vietnamese Rap song called “Vietnamese Gang,” written in both Vietnamese and English, as a manifesto of Vietnamese pride and fraternity. To many Vietnamese at the time, the song is a cultural shock, with the use of violent, offensive, provocative words, chanted rhythmic speech, and technology-synthesized melody (Rap Viet Wikia).
As a result, during its first days, Vietnamese Rap songs mostly existed outside of Vietnam, created by independent artists living overseas without the oversight, sponsorship, or promotion from any media companies (Vietnamese Rap Culture, 2016). From 2002 to 2005, Rap became more familiar with Vietnamese youth as underground communities were formed across the country, especially in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, such as Viet Rapper, Darapclub, VietHipHop, etc., achieving a relatively robust cult following. In 2006, Rap became “the X-factor” of the country’s music industry, as it was both promoted and appropriated by Pop artists, in both music production and fashion style.
Nowadays, “underground music” has become a loose term, as many genres of it have evaded the popular market, converged with other music genres, and became widely consumed. Rap also has to modify itself to be more suitable for the listeners, by establishing a more acceptable language for the masses and coming to terms with popular music.
Characteristics and Challenges
In his essay “A theory of Mass Culture” (1957), Dwight MacDonald distinguished Folk Art from Mass Culture, “a spontaneous, autochthonous expression of the people, shaped by themselves, […], to shape their own needs,” which grew from below instead of being imposed from above (p. 23). “Folk Art was the people’s own institution, their private little garden walled off from the great formal park of their masters’ High Culture,” said MacDonald. Vietnamese Rap music is a form of Folk Art, as it is made by Vietnamese youth for themselves, with group- related language that other generations may have difficulties comprehending. It has high regard for intimacy, sincerity and freedom of creative expression. Some of the songs adopt folk music satirically, such as “Tao khong ghet may” (I don’t hate you) by Nah, one of the forefathers of Viet Rap, which used the chorus of the Vietnamese old song “Ai yeu Bac Ho Chi Minh hon thieu nien nhi dong” (Who loves Uncle Ho more than the youth) to ridicule the condescending behavior and mindset of a certain group of Vietnamese adults at that time. Another example is the song “Buddha” by rapper Wowy, where he rapped on the beat of the Great Compassion Mantra of Buddhism (an equivalent of the Bible in Christianity) to share his everyday life problems and pray the Buddha for a good life for himself and his loved ones (Vietnamese Rap Culture, 2016).
As Folk Art, Rap is a form of resistance against authority. While American Rap addressed gang violence, police brutality, and other politically charged issues, such as poverty, drug abuse, and racism (Sullivan, 2003), Vietnamese Rap mostly expressed racial and cultural identity issues, especially for overseas artists who struggle with multiple identities in their family and social life, and concerns about the country’s current system. In the past, a large population of overseas rappers were born into Vietnamese “ghettos” in America, haunted by memories and losses from the war, grew up with violence and gang conflicts, and struggled with discrimination in daily life. With Hip Hop, these artists were able to distance themselves from any political or social affiliations, while at the same time expressed their perspectives and beliefs about life, love, politics, and social issues without violating their motherland’s laws. Rap for them is highly personal and grows on pure passion rather than fame or wealth.
Just as American Rap, Viet Rap is also an exercise of the youth’s hidden transcript under the teeth of power.
A sense of powerlessness to change conditions grounded in complex social, political, and economic issues has led artists to seek ways to express their discontent. Rap music became a cathartic outlet. (Richardson and Scott, 2002)
A large number of Vietnamese rap songs use English in their lyrics, either entirely or partially, which helps protect artists and their art work from the scanning eye of the system. Metaphor and irony are used to indirectly criticize the current situation of the country with governmental conspiracies, the exploitative and failing communist and socialist system, and the rapid changes in social and cultural life of Vietnamese people.
Why does Rap struggle so much to find a solid standing in Vietnamese music culture? One of the biggest challenges is censorship and Internet control. The Vietnamese government suppresses sensitive information and controls freedom of assembly. In turn, underground communities exist predominantly on the Internet, as forums, social media pages, and independent websites. In 2014, Democracy watchdog Freedom House listed Vietnam’s Internet as not free, alongside countries like China, Iran or Cuba. According to this organization, the Vietnamese government blocked Facebook twice, in 2010 and 2011, and by 2014 Vietnam had jailed more bloggers than any country except China (Los Angeles Times, 2015). Reporter Kate McGeown (2006) of the BBC wrote in her article “Young Vietnamese look to future”:
Talk of political change, though, does not seem to be on most young people’s agendas. While a few brave dissidents do protest about human rights and political freedoms, their actions are clamped down on by the authorities and the majority of Vietnamese appear unmoved by their concerns.
In another article “Vietnam’s internet freedom dilemma” (2006), Kate also said that the government had been trying various ways to restrict dissidents’ use of the Internet, particularly since an online anti-government petition, signed by many people, was published earlier that year.
Because the seemingly open and vulgar language of Rap, “the language of the street,” contradicts with the traditional linguistic and cultural values of Vietnam, many Rap songs have been banned from consumption and even existence. Traditional or popular Vietnamese music places emphasis on the poetic element of the lyrics and the harmonious melody, with subject dominantly being heterosexual love and patriotism. In the article “Censorship doesn’t keep Vietnam’s rappers from speaking their piece,” written by Ethan Harfenist of the LA Times, Suboi, a young Vietnamese rapper who is deemed “the queen of Hip Hop” by many Vietnamese youths, said that she viewed censorship as an artistic challenge; she often changed her lyrics or language and used double meanings when rapping about sensitive subjects. For example, she used imageries like “egg fruit,” “leukoma,” or euphemism, to talk about sex and refer indirectly to the female reproductive organs. “I write everything [so people] can read between the lines,” said Suboi, “Let’s just say I keep it poetic” (Los Angeles Times, 2015).
Convergence with Popular Culture
Since Rap was welcomed into Vietnam, it has modified itself tremendously to adapt to the current music trend and culture, especially with the commercialization of Rap songs and artists. Instead of the prevalent theme of drugs, sex, obscenity, and violence as seen in many American rap songs, Vietnamese rap songs talk about young love, youth’s worries, the neighborhood, nostalgia, melancholy, the meaning of life, the portraiture of family, social pressures, the pursuit of dreams, in an easier-to-digest language, more appropriate to the poetic aspect of the culture . A lot of artists going commercial combine rap with popular music because purely rap-lyric songs are not as widely welcomed as those of other genres, especially when they stand next to V-pop products (Rap Viet Wikia).
Just like any kind of music which becomes squeezed in the uneasy space between commercial and economic globalization from above, and borderless, cultural grassroots globalization from below as it grows more popular, in the United States, commercial rap with its ethic “get rich or die tryin” is replacing local rappers and musicians. In Kenya, the rampant commercialism of hip-hop led to two differing divisions — one as a resistance culture oriented toward social justice, the other as a popular culture focused on commodity capitalism (Chang, 2007).
In Vietnam, popularized Rap is considered “unauthentic.” Rap artists living overseas or spontaneously-formed underground groups across the country have more room for authenticity and creativity, while those dedicating to the development of Rap on the motherland by going “overground” have to play by the rules. For instance, Nah and Suboi are the two artists that best represent Vietnamese Rap Culture in the present, yet their approaches are very different. Nah uses more explicit and violent language to express his ideas, refrains from going commercial, and publicizes his songs online to a small community of rap lovers only. Suboi became a popular artist, and collaborates with many V-pop artists; her songs carry strong messages, but mostly cultural instead of political, and thus do not violate any law against the government (Vietnamese Rap Culture).
Youth Movement and Subculture
Not any different from Hip Hop in the U.S., Vietnamese Hip Hop is considered a youth movement. Since its emergence in the South Bronx and throughout the Northeast in the 70s, Hip Hop in the U.S. has evolved from a musical genre to a subculture, expressed through style of dress, language, aesthetic viewpoint, and way of looking at the world of a large population of youth born between 1965 and 1984 in the United States (Alridge and Stewart, 2005). A youth worker and social documentary photographer who was studying prominent youth trends and issues in Southeast Asia, funded by The Asia Pacific Leadership Program, wrote in his blog post “Nocturnal Subcultures” (2010):
Unlike the proper neat-looking youth found at the cafés, their nocturnal counterparts are daring, unpretentious and expressive; they refuge in dodgy places or take it to the streets, literally, forming their own organized groups. They unconsciously challenge Vietnamese traditions, gender roles and parental control, reflecting value shifts and generation gaps of a country where most people are post-Vietnam war born. I am referring to Hanoi’s Hip Hop dance and skateboarding subcultures.
The Guardian said in an article published in 2013,
More than half of Vietnam’s population is under 25, and beatboxing, breakdancing and at-home music producing are growing trends among youth who admire the rebellious aspect of doing something different in a country that has long preferred to keep a tight rein on its citizens.
Dick Hebdige explained in “The Fuction of Subculture” (1979) that every subculture declares itself as a symbolic form of resistance to authority and hegemony by contesting existing social values and establishing a highly-structured group identity through recognizable external markings and value system. Outsiders see them as “the others” or “the outlaws,” yet they themselves are revolutionists who desire to break free from button-down social order and voice their own individuality in a conformist society.
“The succession of youth culture styles as symbolic forms of resistance; as spectacular symptoms of a wider and more generally submerged dissent which characterized the whole post-war period,” said Hebdige. Vietnamese youth who follow Rap/Hip Hop subculture are considered swag, cool, and edgy, and many times “rebels” (Thanh Nien News, 2013). No longer living in the shadows of war and depression, the youth started experimenting. “We have Internet access, satellite TV, fashion shows. We can try anything,” said Nguyen My Nhung, 22, an auditor for a foreign company in Hanoi (The New York Times, 2000). Their external markings include but are not limited to hip hop, street-wear clothing, baggy pants, edgy accessories, sneakers, hair with long bangs, and snapbacks/baseball caps. Followers range from middle-high school students to street youths. Many of them also practice graffiti, beatboxing, skateboarding, and breakdancing. They live with passions, dreams and aspirations, in a freedom-expressed and freedom-pursued manner.
“Hip-hop is about rebellion, yes, but it’s also about transformation” (Chang, 2007). Hip hop-following youths challenge a lot of traditional values and conventional ideas, such as parental supervision, early marriage, gender inequality, the pursuit of academic degrees, heterosexual relationship, non-public display of affection, taboo for sex before marriage, etc. A lot of them also practice the idea of anti-materialism, as in the pursuit of passion instead of going institutionalized (attending higher education) and having a preset career path. Seth Mydans quoted Gordon Milne in the New York Times article, “The World; Vietnam’s Youth Stage A Gentler Revolution” (2000),
This is the first generation in Vietnam to experience a true youth culture, with shared values, identity, symbols and language,’’ said Gordon Milne, an ACNielsen executive who has collated interviews with hundreds of young people. ‘’In the past,’’ he said, ‘’you as a teenager were basically a young old person. Same beliefs. Same values. Now we are seeing a set of young people whose expectations, lifestyle and behavior are more and more different from their parents.
However, in its early years, the youth revolution in Vietnam remained quite a modest and “polite” one due to many restrictions in both familial and cultural settings. In recent years, with the rapid growth of media outlets and access to information and education, the youth have spoken more boldly about their ideas and beliefs. Jeff Chang (2007) said that hip-hop culture has become one of the most far-reaching arts movements of the past three decades. The best artists share a desire and collectively attempt to break down boundaries between “high” and “low” art, “to make urgent, truth-telling work that reflects the lives, loves, histories, hopes, and fears of their generation.”
Recently, on May 25th, in a Town Hall meeting with President Obama in Ho Chi Minh City, rapper Suboi as a representative of Vietnamese youth performed a verse as soon as the president dropped a beat when he was asked about the importance of promoting arts and culture. Soon later, they discussed sexism and gender stereotypes, “For Vietnamese people, they think rapping is not for women,” Suboi said, to which Obama replied, “That’s true for the people in the United States too. There’s always been sexism and gender stereo types in the music industry just like in every other part of life.”
Where do we go from here?
Today, the message of hip hop transcends borders. Jeff Chang mentions in his aforementioned article that from xi ha in China to “hip-life” in Ghana, hip-hop has become a “lingua franca” that connects people around the world, while giving them a chance to add in their national flavor. “It is the foundation for global dance competitions, the meeting ground for local progressive activism, even the subject of study at Harvard and the London School of Economics” (Chang, 2007).
Rap/Hip Hop, either as a music genre or a subculture, is a promising catalyst for change and innovation in Vietnam. Underground music was born from Vietnamese youth’s desire to express their personality, challenge existing systems of values and traditions, and explore a new market segment. Although Rap Viet has faced many struggles and restrictions, and has converged with popular music for the most part, it stands as a manifesto for youthfulness, creativity, courage, and style, of the oppressed to the oppressor, the present to the past, the rebellious to the “button-down” order. One of the most crucial questions to address, is with the advance of technology and political/social activism, how do we give this promising community a proper space to develop itself as something meaningful and valuable to the development of Vietnamese society and culture, and to retain a vital progressive agenda that challenges the status quo?
June 2016.
