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Thursday, June 18, 2009

Khanh Nho & Phong Le - Vườn Hoa Hồng Đỏ (Garden of Roses)



Folks...you are looking a piece of Vietnamese rap history. This is the first ever Viet rap video. It dates back to the year 2000 (I think). This is Khanh Nho and Phong Le collaborating together in Vườn Hoa Hồng Đỏ (meaning "Garden of Roses" in English) which refers to the nickname of the city of Portland for its many rose gardens. The song can be classified as a Vietnamese gangsta rap song or a rap song about rebellious Vietnamese youth. The video for Vườn Hoa Hồng Đỏ was shot in Portland, Oregon. The video production is pretty corny and ghetto, but it pretty much captures the essence of daily life for Vietnamese youth over in Portland back in 2000. You gotta give both Khanh Nho and Phong Le props and respect for paving the way for Vietnamese rappers.

So.... yeah I've been wondering... what happened to Khanh Nho lately? I did some google sleuthing and I found this statement written by Phong Le on April 29, 2009 in the VietRapper forum about what Khanh Nho is up to now:

Khanh Nho Move to NC for a year now... He come to to Portland Oregon some time to visit 102vietrap boy....He is stop doing anything illegal or whatever he used to say in his old song.....He been working really hard... bought him self a brand new Lexus... help his family paying bills and shit....No more thug life....

He decided not to rap anymore.....become famous is not his goal anymore....That is why he is not in my "lay tien cho gai 2" album

To me, when Khanh Nho stop writing song is a big Lost for the vietrap world.....He is my biggest influence in most of my song.... he is my mentor for the last 6 years....

It used to be Khanh Nho and Phong Le trying make a name for our self.... but now it is only Me....

That is what happen to Khanh Nho

source: http://forums.vietrapper.com/world-news/10697-what-happen-khanh-nho.html

Wow... so I guess that's that huh. Khanh Nho isn't rapping anymore. But hey, you gotta give props to Khanh Nho for making a change and trying to do something positive in his life. If you wanna hear another classic track by Khanh Nho with Thai Ngo, check out Vietnamese Gang. That song is an Asian rap classic.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's always cool when people get the scoop on things like this.
dunno much about their music but this was a good post man

ROYAL said...

thanks!