When it comes to blowing up internationally, it was a year of firsts for many of Asia’s sports and entertainment stars.
Take Hàng Lâm Trang Anh, more popularly known as Suboi.
This 27-year-old rap queen from Ho Chi Minh City became the first Vietnamese artist to ever be invited to the world-famous SXSW Music Festival in the United States. She was chosen as a campaign ambassador for Kenzo x H&M, and photographed by no less than Jean-Paul Goude (of that “Break the Internet” cover for Paper magazine).
She also famously rapped for U.S. President Barack Obama when he made his historic visit to Vietnam in 2016.
“Yeah, that was a life-changing moment,” she says, still slightly bewildered by the experience. “The most powerful man in the world comes to Vietnam and then asks you to rap for him….in Vietnamese.”
It’s testament to Suboi’s wit and talent that she can in fact roll out Vietnamese rhymes on command for a world leader.
Suboi, 27, is known as Vietnam's "Queen of Hip Hop."
Tim Gerard Barker/Mott Visuals For Forbes“Rapping in Vietnamese is hard when you write it because there’s a lot of words that have a fixed intonation,” she explains.
No less of a challenge for Vietnam’s subversives is the all-too-real presence of its communist, and often suppressive, government. You’ve got to get creative to get real, according to Suboi.
“Being honest here in Vietnam is quite different. There’s certain things that we’re not supposed to talk about. But you know, that’s like, everyday life -- so I write everything between the lines or I use metaphors. And I think it’s good because it makes my poetry more…..poetic.”
It’s individuals like this who were chosen as members of the second Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia Entertainment & Sports list -- men and women who are fighters in their fields, not content to let external forces dictate their destiny.
People like Joseph Schooling, who in a landmark year for Asian sports took home Singapore’s first Olympic gold medal when he edged out swimming demigod Michael Phelps in the 100m butterfly in Rio.
Watch: Meet Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, The Man Who Beat Michael Phelps
Or Japan’s Kosuke Hagino, the versatile swimmer who took home a medal in each color -- including a surprise gold medal win over Phelps’ teammate, Chase Kalisz.
It was the sportswomen who truly broke the mold in Rio though. Women like Sakshi Malik, India’s first female wrestler to take home a medal, or Dipa Karmarkar, also Indian, the first female gymnast to ever represent her country at the Olympics. Fu Yuanhui made headlines around the world when she openly discussed her period on-air with Chinese media, leading to a long-overdue discussion of the taboo there of women’s health in athletics.
Another notable first in sports was Ariya Jutanugarn, the first Thai golfer to ever win a major golf championship. At the tender age of just 20, she's already won over $3 million in prize money. Not bad for someone who can’t legally order a beer at Pebble Beach.
And Asia's entertainers were no less exemplary. Chinese-Canadian heartthrob Kris Wu, formerly of boyband EXO, became the first Asian face of Burberry, making him the first ever non-British ambassador for the iconic English luxury brand. India's "it" girl Alia Bhatt continued her ascent into megastardom with box office smashes and lucrative endorsement deals. And South Korea's famed celebrity interviewer turned K-pop star Eric Nam cracked the coveted U.S. market with his first English single (performing to sold-out crowds at LA Staples Center and Boston's Prudential Center).
But some of this year's most prestigious members are the ones who aren't chasing fame or fortune -- but rather fighting unabashedly for a cause, using their art form to advance their activism and possibly change the world. This includes Pakistani filmmaker Shahnawaz Zali, who earned a Student Academy Award nomination for his documentary on suicide bombers.
And Paradise Sorouri, who, like Vietnam's Suboi, earns the distinction of being her country's first female rapper -- in Afghanistan.
Sorouri's unapologetically critical lyrics addressing the treatment of Afghan women under the Taliban has had horrific real-world consequences, including death threats and one vicious attack where she was beat by multiple men and left in the streets. She was told by police to stop rapping, to stop speaking out. Nevertheless, Sorouri persisted. Afghanistan's queen of rap fled her home country and continues to release music from Berlin, spreading her message of gender equality around Europe and -- hopefully soon -- the world as a documentary about her story is due to be released in 2017.
And these are just some of the incredible and inspiring people forging new ground in sports and entertainment.
See Forbes’ full 2017 30 Under 30 Asia list here.
See the full Entertainment & Sports list here.
Follow the project on social media: #ForbesU30Asia
