Music

Eric Nguyen Reviews ‘We Were Meant To Be A Gentle People’ by Dao Strom

diaCRITIC Eric Nguyen reviews Dao Strom's autobiographical multimedia project, We Were Meant To Be A Gentle People. This work is Strom's most personal one yet, and ties together prose, songs, and images to create a memoir that sheds light on the life of an diasporic artist trying to reconcile her lack of refugee origin story. 

Jade Hidle: Michael Nhat’s Experimental Hip-Hop in Heads on Sticks

Nhat unapologetically confronts the larger social context surrounding his personal background as an orphan survivor of the U.S. war in Viet Nam. In “The Racism I Go Through,” Nhat cuts through today’s oftentimes evasive and murky racial discourse by posing the question, “It’s 2014 and people are still this dumb? Fuck me!”

A Vietnamese Requiem: What and Why | Là gì và tại sao

Death means different things to different people. What is a requiem and how could it change the way one thinks about death? / Con người ta nghĩ về cái chết rất khác nhau. Một bài requiem là gì và tại sao nó có thể làm người ta thay đổi cách nhin về cái chết? Vui lòng đọc bài tiếng Việt bên dưới, sau bài tiếng Anh.

Rapper Nah Nguyen’s “Địt Mẹ Cộng Sản” (DMCS) or “Fuck Communism,” Part 3

Lac Su, author of I Love Yous are For White People, interviews the rapper Son Nah: "Because I am a rapper, I got the voice to speak the truth, and the truth can’t wait any longer. The Vietnam government is selling our lands and seas to the Chinese government, our farmers and fishermen are suffering…"

Rapper Nah Nguyen’s “Địt Mẹ Cộng Sản” (DMCS) or “Fuck Communism,” Part 2

To the Communist Party: First, I would like to send my apology for the offensive lyrics of the song (well, being communist, you’re already used to receiving curses), but let me strongly slap this letter on your table in order to get your attention.

Rapper Nah Nguyen’s “Địt Mẹ Cộng Sản” (DMCS) or “Fuck Communism,” Part 1

A couple of years ago, diaCRITICS interviewed and reviewed Saigonese rapper Nah. The following letter by guest writer Lac Su, author of I Love...