Creative Artist: Tuan X
You should know by now that I love to toot the horn of artist that move me. What I’ve always known about New York is that you could literally walk any direction and you’re going to find an actor, a model, a dancer or a singer. The possibility of them possessing the “It” factor that makes you stop what you’re doing to give them your undivided attention is rare. I find that even when I’m at places, such as an Open Mic Night, most often I’m checking facebook or updating my blog via my wordpress app. It takes talent on some other wordly shit to get my attention and even more than that to actually keep it.
I’ll be honest, when I first “met” Tuan X, I didn’t know what to think. I hadn’t actually met him. I met an old acquaintance at Tuan’s monthly open mic and that friendship led to me learning about a LOT of amazing artist. People praised all things Tuan X. They told me that Tuan X was one of the best singers they’d heard. They said his music was dope. His performances were solid and so the story goes.
I wasn’t convinced. This would have to be my own fault since I hadn’t taken the time to see him perform. My only encounters with Tuan X was through “Last Request,” his monthly open mic that he hosts in Brooklyn. Every now and then, he would sing a song but looking back in retrospect, that wasn’t enough to form a full opinion on his artistic merit.
Over time, I’ve gotten to know him more. I say that liberally. I’ve gotten to know him more as an artist. To this day, I couldn’t give you his full name. That will change. I’m hoping to interview him soon for Shiva’s Muse. I digress. Over time I started following him on twitter. He’s hilarious and addicting. I started going to CrazyDopeTastic.com ALL the time and if these short posts and links were the inner workings of his mind, I was hooked. I LOVE THAT WEBSITE. It’s always so interesting to see what influences, inspires or intrigues someone and I just can’t say enough about what must possibly goes on inside his head. Recently I saw him perform a few pieces at a different open mic where he was a feature. I really enjoyed his poetry. I realized I had started becoming hooked. Blogger. Twitter. Poet. I loved it all.
But what I found was that I was still hesistant regarding his music. Sure, I’d downloaded some of his stuff before…which he offers for free every Tuesday via his facebook page and website. Even still, I didn’t find myself writing home about him.
Yes, he has a beautiful full voice. Sure his lyrics are dope as shit. But….ok, I’m going to be honest and Tuan, I hope its not offensive, I just felt like the one or two songs I’d seen him perform…I was watching him perform. And what I wanted was something more authentic. I wanted a story to be told. I just wanted more.
But even still, despite my pickiness, people love his music. So forget all I’ve said. If you’re in to his type of stuff, I’m sure he’ll rock your world. I digress again. This sounds like a negative review and its anything but.
Listen, last night Tuan X took it to another level for me. This time another young lady hosted his open mic and he was one of the features. He did a mini set performing some “new shit” as they say and what happened was….. it was other wordly. In four short but POWERFUL songs entitled, “Letter To The Past”, “We Are Survivors”, “Walk In My Shoes”, & “Book Of Revelations”, I took back every hesistancy I ever had about him as a singer. Well, it didn’t even take four songs to get me there. After the first verse of “Letter to The Past,” I was hooked on Tuan X, the singer/songwriter.
Before he sang Tuan told us this music was so new. He also said he’d probably stumble over a word or two. The one time I noticed him stumble, only a little, I found it added to the beauty and authenticity of his performance. I say “beautiful” in the sense of a volcano being beautiful. Or a mighty thunderstorm with 100 miles per hour wind. I did not see Tuan X “perform” last night. I saw art.
I’m not trying to be dramatic and I’m definitely not a groupie, but you just had to be there. I saw a vulnerableness. A tender, gut wrenching rawness. An open, ballsy, confident but wonderful transparency. There was so much power and strength in those songs. So much growth from his ballads about “butts.” I wish I could find the lyrics to all the songs. I feel like I was watching him write his soul out in a journal. It was as if I shouldn’t even be there. It was that personal and real but he let us be there with him.I LOVE WHEN ARTIST, especially singers are like that!
Remember what I said about my attention span being short. Yeah, it has nothing to do with ADD. Trust me. It’s moreso, people (artist) aren’t that engaging to justify having my attention at times. BUT this. Tuan was singing and I had goosebumps all over my body. I was stunned. I was silenced. I felt raw. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH. I could go on and on.
I said it last night and I say it again, Tuan X thank you for sharing that with us. I know it was new and there are some kinks to work out and its going to sound dope as all shit when you have the perfect sound…but even still, what we experienced last night was amazing and perfect.
I’ve never questioned whether you had the talent and gift of song or performance. You do. You know just what to do with your vocals. You know when to pull back, when to articulate. You know what the fuck you’re doing. But last night, you let us see your soul…that dark, messy, redeeming beauty that is found at the core. And that… that makes me kick myself for not bringing my camera. I wish I could have captured what happened. Tuan’s about to go “Eyjafjallajökull” on you. (It might take you a minute to get that one.) I hope you’re ready. Be on the look out for him to be featured on Artistic Liberties as well as some other amazing artist.
Find him. Friend him. Follow him.
photos via Tuan X’s facebook page and of course they were taken by Sirreal. 
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