Guys Like Me Do Cry

Welcome to Golden Dragon, a newsletter by Eric Diep about Asians in hip-hop and my takes on trending topics in AAPI pop culture. Golden Dragon is a rotation of interviews, reviews, news, critical perspectives, and random blogs about music I recommend.

• A time-stamped retelling of Thủy’s Wings World Tour stop in Dallas.

• A review of Khantrast’s Chinatowns Favorite.

• Diep Cuts featuring P-Lo, Junoflo, Blasé, Nene, SAILORR, and Keshi.

• Send It: Line-up announcements for ComplexCon Hong Kong, Head in the Clouds, and Pop Yours.

The first time I saw Thủy was in 2024 at The Studio at The Factory in Deep Ellum, drawing a sizeable crowd to sing her R&B and pop tunes. A year can make a huge difference for an artist: she’s grown in popularity, her stage is grander, and she has new music to tour with Wings, her third project. 2024 had her making headlines as the first solo Vietnamese American artist to perform at Coachella. She participated in P-Lo’s rendition of “Players Holiday ‘25.” With Thủy in her red hair era, I had to see how much she’s changed.

On Feb. 7, I did a date night with my girlfriend, starting our Valentine’s Day festivities early. I’m in the same venue she performed in Dallas before, seeing ASTN open for her. She’s got a band now. The tour bus was parked outside with a hearts emoji (💕) on the front. Here’s a recount of the night, drawn from my notes from the show.

8:05 p.m.

I took a picture of my girlfriend in front of the tour poster because she got her hair done today.

I decide to buy some merch, scanning various zip hoodies, hats, t-shirts, signed posters, and more for sale from her Wings collection. She had a pink bejeweled zip hoodie for $150. I noticed one shirt had “Viet Americvnt” written on it, a response to a mean commenter trying to bring her down last year. I’m glad she threw this on a shirt because fuck that guy.

8:10 p.m.

ASTN is Thủy’s first opener. He sounds like a hybrid of Justin Bieber during his Purpose days and Jordan Knight. “Be So Cruel” was the song that caught my ear.

Two of my friends saw Thủy at the first tour stop in Seattle. I texted our group chat that I was here. “Yeah you bout to cry,” he said.

8:55 p.m.

DJ CookBeats is warming up the crowd with songs from Sheck Wes, Sexyy Red, and Kendrick Lamar.

It’s still Lunar New Year celebrations for the Year of the Snake, and one group of friends took a photo in front of the tour poster with red envelopes. I miss having an Asian crew to do stuff like this.

9:01 p.m.

DJ CookBeats had to throw on some Jung Kook. The more I hear “Seven” outside, the more I’m into it. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Seven days a week 🎶

9:20 p.m.

Thủy hit the stage a little bit after 9 p.m., wearing a black dress and tall fur boots. She sees many new faces and points out a dad who brought his daughter with him. She starts strong with her hits “Hair Down,” “u should feel special,“ “obsessed,” and “chances.”

Her manager texted me that she was at the merch table, so my girlfriend and I said hi to her and caught up a bit.

Meanwhile, on stage, Thủy said, “I am very fucking excited to be back in Dallas. You guys are so hot. And can I just say right now, I give you guys permission to be so unhinged tonight and to be so loud. It’s a Friday night, amirite?”

Thủy asks us to slow dance to the next song, so we find a less crowded corner to do that during her performance of “playing tricks.” “That was beautiful, you guys are beautiful,” she said.

9:24 p.m.

Thủy covered SZA’s “Snooze” for a special performance leading up to the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards. It became such a fan favorite that she included it in tonight’s set. “Dallas, I think you’re becoming one of my favorite crowds,” she said in response to the loud singalong.

9:46 p.m.

ASTN is back to do their song “Two Truths and a Lie.” As he played the game of the same name on stage, the crowd almost turned on him when one of those truths could’ve been that he hates sushi. Spoiler alert: he does love sushi and saved himself from public humiliation. I wonder if he does have a Pokémon tattoo though.

9:56 p.m.

“D8” has this place going crazy. With the energy on high, she organizes a catwalk contest with fans from the crowd. This has been done at other stops on the tour, and I liked how positive and inviting it was for everyone to let loose. It was a nice break from the setlist and created a fun activity for the crowd to participate in. Each contestant won too.

10:12 p.m.

I learned the term “respectable mosh pits” from Thủy. “Fairy Godmother” is my jam.

10:15 p.m.

I screamed “One more song!” and it created a ripple effect within the crowd. An encore had to happen. I told my girlfriend she didn’t do her Blxst collab yet, and she came back to do “whatcha gotta say.” I was happy about this. Of course, she wasn’t going to leave without doing her biggest song, “girls like me don’t cry,” which we all sang along. We made some noise for her and we went home. A perfect way to kick off our Valentine’s Day week.

Review: Khantrast - Chinatowns Favorite (New 11 Records, 2025)

Ever since I started Golden Dragon, Khantrast has been frequently featured here because his existence in hip-hop has me wrestling with whether I should give him my full support or continue criticizing him for calling himself “Brooklyn’s chink” and using Asian stereotypes as a rap gimmick. Ahead of his debut show in NYC on Jan. 31, he put together a project called Chinatowns Favorite that gathers his previously released songs “Word Is Bond,” “Landed in Brooklyn,” “Valedictorian,” “East Side Bop,” and the “Landed in Brooklyn” remix with some new joints.

Drill music has become an international phenomenon and Khan is doing his version of that straight outta Bay Ridge. “Aiya,” titled after an expressive phrase in Chinese, is a generic song about sex with bad lines like eating her out with chopsticks. Not much better is “Where the Hoes,” which is self-explanatory in Khan trying to find the jawns who are DTF. At least the beat is on par with Ice Spice’s quality, she would’ve body it.

“Khan” is the strongest track out of this new batch, taking a Rich Brian-esque flow to display his skills in rhyming over a chopped-up Tommy Wright III’s “Still Pimpin’” sample. “But the more that I wrote became more part of me / 'Cause the more that I think 'bout what I'm meant to be / Is the more that I struggle with my identity,” he raps, letting some honesty out.

I live in Dallas now, far removed from my former life as a New Yorker. Maybe the next NY drill rapper is Asian American, seeing the come-up of guys like Young Harry and Josae. I just don’t like when Khan plays with the idea of using the n-word, as seen in recent IG posts pushing his “Landed in Brooklyn” single. When he caught the crowd using the n-word at his show, he’s shocked like it wasn’t his fault, but it feels stupid to even set them up to begin with. What validation are you going to gain by saying you’re the “only chink that could say it”? I’m starting to not tolerate it anymore.

Let me know what you think about Khantrast. You can stream it here.

P-Lo, E-40 & Too Short - “Had To”

P-Lo’s For the Soil compilation in partnership with the Golden State Warriors drops today, and he had to do it big with his latest single. He grabbed Bay Area legends E-40 and Too Short for “Had To,” a bassline-heavy track for riding in that scrapper. I’m always impressed at how E-40 and Too Short are timeless.

Junoflo - “Maze”

Junoflo took advantage of a snow day in New York and hit the Brooklyn Bridge for the “Maze” visuals directed by Minh Nguyen. Fitting the atmospheric mood, Junoflo raps to a woman who is 50-50 about him, convincing her to bring down her walls. He also teases a high-energy song at the end of the video. I need that CDQ!

Blasé - “BLASÉOUL(G6)” f/ Jay Park, Coogie, oygli

South Korean rapper Blasé might be the first guy to take the Far East Movement’s “Like A G6” and turn it into a drill song. Jay Park, Coogie, and oygli only add to the star power. It’s made for nightlife in Seoul.

Nene - “Banana Boat” f/ Elle Teresa

When I reviewed Nene’s project last September, I wrote she’s “Tokyo hip-hop’s ambassador to underground culture and the weird.” The video for “Banana Boat” expresses her creative freedom and breaking conformity in a country that values order. She’s hyper-sexualized in one scene, and then cheeky in another. We need more eccentric personalities in rap.

I can’t get Nene saying “banana boat” out of my head lol. I’m about to do the “banana boat” dance every time now.

SAILORR, Summer Walker - “Pookie’s Requiem” [hehe look y'all I made it longer]

SZA just smashed her appearance at Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show, performing “All the Stars” and “luther” with Drake’s No. 1 nemesis. SZA’s spiritual successor SAILORR, a Vietnamese American alt R&B singer, could reach those heights someday. Her buzzy song on TikTok, “Pookie’s Requiem,” is extended with a feature by Summer Walker. SAILORR’s label BuVision is trying to bridge audiences I see.

Keshi - “Inside Out”

I wrote an artist bio on Keshi years ago. One of the quotes he gave me about being a singer, songwriter, and producer was understanding “the ins and outs of a world you build for someone to listen to and live inside.” His latest song, “Inside Out,” pays tribute to John Mayer’s Born and Raised era. It’s a sweet song about getting butterflies over someone. I love the jam session at the end with his band. This is a sign to send it to your crush.

I’m including line-up announcements for these in case you missed them. Head in the Clouds link up?