5 Big Questions In Life Answered By Rapper Phúc Du And Host Thùy Minh

Phúc Du is a well-known underground rapper and the 2019 Beck’Stage Battle Rap winner. He first gained public attention after collaborating with singer Bích Phương in Từ Chối Nhẹ Nhàng Thôi and officially debuted as a mainstream rapper in 2022.

Known for his mastery of rhyme and rap skills, Phúc Du is also a talented streamer, content creator, and articulate speaker. In this Have A Sip episode, Phúc Du and host Thùy Minh discussed 5 big questions in life, offering diverse perspectives from two different generations and careers.

1. How do you define happiness?

Phúc Du: Happiness is spending a few hours writing music, sipping a glass of black coffee while chatting with my closest friends, or composing a song to express my feelings. Most importantly, “happiness” is my name (“Phúc” means “happiness” in Vietnamese).

Thùy Minh: Happiness comes from comfort. A restful mind signifies good health, and easeful emotions embody love itself. Happiness is listening to a good podcast episode at the beginning of the day, picking up my children from school, or coming up with a great idea while… brushing my teeth.

Happiness isn’t hard to decode, is it?

2. How does money relate to happiness?

Phúc Du: We should see making money as a necessity, not a burden. You can't say, "I earn money so that I can be happy." Both paths must go hand in hand.

Thùy Minh: Money is the result you get after working hard. Earning money shouldn't leave you exhausted, sad, or overly focused on material things. When you do well, others recognize your efforts and pay you; then society will gradually acknowledge your contributions.

3. What does love mean to you?

Phúc Du: Love is something for which I am willing to fight and sacrifice. There's always something for me to love: my lover, my family, or simply my own passion. Love is also an addictive experience because on the way to finding it, I can receive a lot of happiness.

Thùy Minh: Love sometimes makes us act... crazy, like a tree growing wildly beyond the gardener's expectations. Love is also the experience of confessing and being rejected, or simply having someone you care about in your life.

4. Can we have both love and career?

Phúc Du: Absolutely, if we know how to balance our priorities. Love can be the catalyst that motivates us to develop our careers. When we have love, we feel naturally healthier and stronger in our efforts to protect the people we care about.

Thùy Minh: If a guy says, "I need to focus on my career, I'm not good enough for you," it’s not that he takes love lightly, but that his feelings aren’t strong enough.

5. How do you perceive your journey to happiness?

Phúc Du: I see my journey as resembling the story of The Pilgrimage in Journey to the West. Tang Sanzang and his disciples aim to collect Buddhist scriptures in the West, but after going through 81 trials, they transform into new versions of themselves. The initial goal is no longer so important.

It means that after all the ups and downs, one will be better, more creative, more developed, connected to the things they love, and, most importantly, happy.

Thùy Minh: Destination is something we find inside ourselves, knowing what we want and who we are without conforming to external expectations.

Like a story I once read: A traveler walked a long distance to find a yoga center. Feeling close, he asked a boy by the road how far he had left to go. The boy replied, “There are still 16,994 miles left.”

"Why is it so far?" he lamented.

The boy immediately replied, “But if you go in the opposite direction, it’s only 4 miles away.”

Translated by Thúy An