--- title: Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Hip Hop’ Impresses Obama With Her Rhymes | TIME description: Twenty-six-year-old rapper Suboi has been dubbed “Queen of Hip Hop” in Vietnam. It’s a brave career choice in a repressive state where outspoken artists fear upsetting the authorities with their lyrics. canonical: https://time.com/video/Fdu8RhBS/ og:title: Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Hip Hop’ Impresses Obama With Her Rhymes og:description: Twenty-six-year-old rapper Suboi has been dubbed “Queen of Hip Hop” in Vietnam. It’s a brave career choice in a repressive state where outspoken artists fear upsetting the authorities with their lyrics. og:url: https://time.com/video/Fdu8RhBS/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Fdu8RhBS/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Hip Hop’ Impresses Obama With Her Rhymes twitter:description: Twenty-six-year-old rapper Suboi has been dubbed “Queen of Hip Hop” in Vietnam. It’s a brave career choice in a repressive state where outspoken artists fear upsetting the authorities with their lyrics. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Fdu8RhBS/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Hip Hop’ Impresses Obama With Her Rhymes > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Hip Hop’ Impresses Obama With Her Rhymes [Watch (HLS stream): Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Hip Hop’ Impresses Obama With Her Rhymes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fdu8RhBS.m3u8) (4:15)  _Published 2016-05-25. Twenty-six-year-old rapper Suboi has been dubbed “Queen of Hip Hop” in Vietnam. It’s a brave career choice in a repressive state where outspoken artists fear upsetting the authorities with their lyrics._ --- Jul 27, 2023 8:09 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Hip Hop Artist Prodigy of Mobb Deep Dies at 42](/video/Zs02wU8M/) ### Hip Hop Artist Prodigy of Mobb Deep Dies at 42 [Hip-Hop in China: Busting Rhymes in Mandarin](/video/xa3msYgT/) ### Hip-Hop in China: Busting Rhymes in Mandarin [Israeli-Palestinian Hip Hop](/video/OX2xk5QO/) ### Israeli-Palestinian Hip Hop --- ## Transcript English. In Vietnamese, of course. In Vietnamese? I won't know what it means, but this is just a short version because I gotta get going, go ahead. [ FOREIGN ] My name is Sue Boyle by the way. Well that was good. [ APPLAUSE ] See there. That's pretty good. What were you just rapping? What was your verse there? I was just talking About some people having a lot of money, having big houses, but actually are they really happy? So, Okay. Yeah, a lot of things that people look at us and see different thing, and something they assume or a lot of stereotype. Me Asian rapper, looking at the cute girls. Is that what they're thinking? [ LAUGH ] But for Vietnamese people it's different. I think rapping is not for women. Well that's true in the United States, too. I mean, there- [ LAUGH ] No, no. I just mean that there's always been sexism and gender stereotypes in the music industry, like every other part of life, but to answer your question Look the arts are important. Artistic expression is important which what I would just saying to the filmmaker about stories that we tell each other. Music, poetry, representations of life as it is and how it should be Those are the things that inspire people. You know life is a combination of very practical things right? You gotta eat, you gotta work, you gotta build roads and make sure that Yo. Some dam isn't ruining a community, but it's also the spirit that we have inside of us, and how is that expressed, and what are our vision, and what are our ideals for the future, and how do we want to live together? And how do we treat each other? And one of the most important things about art, is it teaches you to not just think about yourself, but it puts you in the head of other people. So, you start realizing somebody else's pain, or somebody else's hopes. And you start realizing that We have more in common. So if I read a novel by somebody in Africa, now suddenly I understand more about how we are similar, and if I listen to a Vietnamese. Rap and it connects to the things that I'm feeling, now I feel closer to a country on the other side of the world and that's how we build understanding and that's how we end up being able to work together and plan together and build a better future together, so? Look, let's be honest. Sometimes art is dangerous though and that's why governments sometimes get nervous about art. But one of the things that I truly believe is that if you try to suppress the arts Then I think you're suppressing the deepest dreams and aspirations of a people. One of the great things about the United States, for all of our flaws in a lot of areas, is that we do give much greater expression to our culture and something like rap, which started off as An expression of poo African Americans now suddenly has become a global phenomenon and is really the art form of most ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Hip Hop’ Impresses Obama With Her Rhymes","description":"Twenty-six-year-old rapper Suboi has been dubbed “Queen of Hip Hop” in Vietnam. 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