Lập's musical career began in 1993–1997, when he took classes on
performing arts and
vocal techniques in the Department of Theatre of the Hanoi College of Art. In May 2006, during Bức Tường's long hiatus, Lập was asked to host
Hanoi Radio Television's game show "Vượt qua thử thách" ("The Vault").
Bức Tường years On 26 March 1995, Lập cofounded the rock band
Bức Tường, in which he was the
lead vocalist and chief songwriter. The band is considered to have the largest fanbase and most persistent activity in Vietnam, having "The Road to Glory Days" as their
signature song. Lập wrote the song "The Road to Glory Days" in 1998, when his band was struggling to overcome financial problems. The following year, the band hosted a live performance of their debut album (this was also their first live performance); it was estimated that about 10,000 people attended the first rock show in Vietnam. Although this show was prepared carefully and was well received, Lập regretted that the show was not as successful as he had expected. The live show was named one of 10 notable Vietnamese cultural events of that year. In 2003, Bức Tường had a live performance in the Visages Francophones Music Festival in France. A year later, Bức Tường became the first Vietnamese band (and the only Vietnamese band at that time) to embark on a national tour. Four performances were held in
Hanoi,
Haiphong,
Da Nang and
Ho Chi Minh City. In 2006, Lập's Bức Tường announced that they would give a farewell show named "Last Saturday". The band's fans who were not in Hanoi could watch the show on
Voice of Vietnam. After a four-year hiatus, on the
Millennial Anniversary of Hanoi, Lập and his bandmates reunited and released their fourth album
Ngày khác (
Other Days), which showed a significant change in their musical style from hard rock/metal to modern rock (or
alternative rock). The album's CD cover art included the tattoo on Lập's right hand. A year later, they performed a show called "Nhiệt" ("Heat"). The band was one of the acts performed at the ASEAN Rock Music Festival in
Indonesia. On 14 December, Lập and his bandmates performed on tour in
Da Nang; this show was well received by Vietnamese rock fans.
Other activities In the summer of 2007, Lập performed his song "Dế mèn" ("Cricket") in the opening ceremony of Kim Đồng's Children's Book Fair that was held in Hanoi's Children's Palace. In the same year, he served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the
Asian Football Confederation. Starting in 2008, for three consecutive years he served as Rock Storm's programming director for a variety of events. In 2012, Lập was one of the judges in the gameshow
The Voice of Vietnam (season 1). He attracted attention after supporting and praising the singer Bảo Anh, even though she had been criticized by others as "a disaster", and letting her pass the show's qualifying rounds, drawing many critical comments from the online community. A few days later there was an angry public reaction when he responded to the criticism by saying "leave us alone, don't mess with us". Criticism of Lập's bias towards Bảo Anh intensified. Some said that Lập was damaging his own image through his decisions on that show. There was public criticism of Lập's role and the staging of the first season of
The Voice of Vietnam. In 2013, he released an
autobiography titled "Bên kia Bức Tường" ("On the Other Side of The Wall") that focused on his rock music career and his tenure with Bức Tường. In 2015, he appeared on the cover of ''Men's Culture and Sports
magazine.'' == Later years ==