Crazy Whack Sublime Vietnamese Rap & Hip-Hop Sampler

Download a longer sampler of 10 Vietnamese rap & hip-hop songs in a single zip file here.

I compiled the track list above from 3 CDs found in the same Vietnamese Video/CD store on Chicago's Argyle Street where I discovered this previously posted gem.

In the middle of a pleasant if innocuous conversation with the woman behind the counter, I suddenly remembered to ask, "Oh, um, do you have any Vietnamese rap music?"

Her brow furrowed. "Have you heard any Vietnamese rap music?" she asked. I couldn't quite get the hidden meaning here, which I assumed was either: (a) because it doesn't exist, you poor delusionally optimistic white liberal type person; or (b) because I think it's going to induce projectile vomiting in you.

It turned out she meant (b) and just assumed that I would hate what the Vietnamese--mostly Vietnamese-Americans--are doing with the genre.

Wrong.