This is How They Do NWA’s “F*ck the Police” in Vietnam (Actually, It’s More Than That!)
It’s not a cover; it’s a new track called “Địt Mẹ Cộng Sản,” which, translated from Vietnamese, is “Fuck Communism.” And it’s going viral.
You can bet that this isn’t going over well with the authorities in Hanoi. In fact, releasing something like this is downright dangerous. From Global Post:
This song is dangerously rebellious in Vietnam, an authoritarian state that attempts to crush anti-government dissent. It’s also growing really popular. Since its release in January, the track has racked up 875,000 views on YouTube — and in a country with fewer than 40 million internet users, that’s a huge hit song.
Going public with a song titled “F*ck Communism” in Vietnam is practically begging to get arrested. It was composed by a well-known rapper named Nah, a self-described “middle-class kid” from Ho Chi Minh City who makes no effort to conceal his real name: Nguyen Vu Son.
“I knew this was risky,” Nah tells GlobalPost. “I’ve thought of the consequences. Going to jail. Getting my family framed for crimes they didn’t do. They might even try to kidnap me or arrange an accident.”
Nah, 24, is currently in the US where he’s studying entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University. His student visa expires in the summer of 2016. That’s when he intends to return despite potential charges of creating “propaganda against the state,” a crime used to imprison hundreds of dissidents in the past decade.
“All of that is definitely going to happen,” he says. His new neck tattoo — which reads “F*ck Communism” — is unlikely to endear him to the Vietnamese authorities.
“But if I go to jail,” he says, “it’ll show the young people not to be afraid.”
Keep reading here. Meanwhile, this is the song, complete with subtitles.
