Rising rap star Suboi just gained a very famous fan. The Vietnamese “Queen of Hip Hop,” who dabbled in nu-metal before finding her groove in the rap world, wasn’t actually intending to perform at Ho Chi Minh City’s town hall on Wednesday. Rather she was there to see U.S. President Barrack Obama, who was wrapping up a three-day business trip by meeting with members of the Vietnamese Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative. Suboi, in a crisp white shirt, stepped up to the mic to ask Obama a question about the importance of promoting arts and culture.
“I want to know how important it is for a nation to really help and promote their art and culture,” the 26-year-old began. Instead of answering her question directly, POTUS decided to lay down a beat for Suboi so she could articulate the issue in Vietnamese freestyle, and Suboi obliged. “I was just talking about some people having a lot of money, having big houses, but actually are they really happy,” Suboi explained of her verse. “A lot of things that people look at us and see something they assume, or a lot of stereotypes. Like Asian rappers, they’re looking like they’re cute girls, but they don’t know. For Vietnamese people it’s different — they think rapping is not for women.”
Obama replied, “Well, that’s true in the United States too. There have always been sexism and gender stereotypes in the music industry.” He gave his response in regular boring English, clearly preferring to leave the bar-spitting to his wife. Though the message is certainly worth getting down to.
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Image via YouTube