Views from the Edge
Rap artist Ruby Ibarra released a new video March 8 of her 2017 rap Us just in time for International Women’s Day.
Fresh from her national debut in a Mastercard commercial, San Francisco Bay Area rapper Ibarra mixed Englsih and Tagalog lyrics with contrasting images of the Bay Area and traditional dressed women. The message is strong and empowering.
Music site Thizzler had this to say:
@RubyIbarra links up with @RockyRivera, #Klassy & @FaithSantilla to drop “Us”. These lady MC’s take the mic to display their Filipino pride & spit venomous bars in Tagalog. The video has them rapping in front of traditional dancers from their culture mixed in with the Bay Area culture these ladies picked up while growing up in the region. Check this dope visual in the player up top.
Alamin ang young ugat (Know your roots)! Strong emotions welling inside of me! Great pride rising inside of me. Hope bursting out of me! Images of my immigrant my wife, daughters, mother, sister rush by in a montage ….
The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Just hours after the video was released, Ibarra tweeted:
Thank you all for the incredible response to the #US video. It’s only been 6 hours since the release but the messages and reposts have been beyond what we expected. I know I also speak for the others on the track when I say I’m so grateful. Happy Womxns Day ✊? Today is for US.
— Ruby Ibarra (@rubyibarra) March 8, 2018
In this Trumpian age when White supremacists gain courage from the White House, Nazis marching in our streets and the KKK waving the Confederate flag, when Education Secretary Betsy DeVos trying to downgrade the public school system, weakening of the Affordable Care Act, deying climate change and the EPA, apparent kowtowing to Russian interests, Ibarra’s forceful lyrics gain more meaning.
In case you’re so caught up in the music, the beat and the images and you don’t get the message, towards the end there — in English — is the message for all of us!
Here are the lyrics to what could become the new anthem for modern Filipina/Americans (Click on the tagalog lyrics to get a translation.):
[Hook: Klassy]
Island woman rise, walang makakatigil
Brown, brown woman, rise, alamin ang yung ugat
They got nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us
Island woman rise, walang makakatigil
Brown, brown woman, rise, alamin ang yung ugat
They got nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us (aye!)
Isang bagsak!
[Verse 1: Ruby Ibarra]
Yo fuck a story arc if it don’t involve no matriarchs
Our mothers work from the ground up, they craftin’ air like ATR
With the butterfly sleeves naka Filipiniana
Pag nagsalita mga banat ay bala
‘Wag magtaka kung ako ay makata
Bulok na sistema, korakot sa pera, bagsak!
But we puttin’ our heart into darkness
They puttin’ these pigs into office
Oh you thinkin’ you schoolin’?
But you hella lost ‘cuz you Betsy Devos while I taught this
But Look at my ate she movin so cold
Can’t hold a candle to her when she glow
Flick of the wrist with the ilaw she hold
Pandanggo sa Ilaw, she drippin’ in gold
[Verse 2: Rocky Rivera]
We pullin’ up in a Jeepney
All of my soldiers greet me
Hand me bandanas and pull back my hammer
It’s warfare, when you see me
Skin you alive for my country, I live and die for my country
I kill a pig in a white hooded suit on the low….for my country
They got evil plans in the devil’s hands, but I don’t pray cuz I organize
They got new ways to impose strength
But I teach mine how to mobilize
We don’t fight for the money, for the greedy, for the White man
All we want is our freedom
And the right to live on on our motherland
[Hook: Klassy]
Island woman rise, walang makakatigil
Brown, brown woman, rise, alamin ang yung ugat
They got nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us
Island woman rise, walang makakatigil
Brown, brown woman, rise, alamin ang yung ugat
They got nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us (aye!)
Isang bagsak!
erse 3: Klassy]
Goddess of guerilla warfare in every lifetime
We don’t take no shit except an oppressor’s lifeline
If you step out of your line, I will protect what’s mine
Kahit merong rosaryo, sinong magliligtas sa’yo?
Puro dugo, pugot ulo, mula sa dagat hanggang mundo
Reclaiming what ours, the high and the low
These women are Gods, you already know
Roots deeper than water that run in our village
The river runs red, you’ll be dead in a minute
Like Nieves Fernandez, have you beheaded
Fuck with my tribe, quickly regret it
[Verse 4: Ruby Ibarra]
Abaniko sa kamay at isang mikropono sabay
At ang tapang ko gaya ng inay, at halimaw na ang sumasabay
Mga bara nyo lahat sablay, mga rappers na puro bangkay
Tinamaan ko lahat, patay, kaya, walang magiingay
I got that, Filipino phenotype: kayumanggi, mestizo-white
But give me that moreno like that Rufio or Keno type
My lolas they be speaking like, those balisongs or bolo knife
I breathe the ether need no hype
Two tongues that’s sharper with a mic
Anino in my history like from a land where greed is weaved in tight
They thieve until one piso might just turn to C-Notes, see no light
Hacienda like Aquino, right? Rodrigo vigilante type–
They kill my titos left and right, when smoke and mirrors fill the night
[Spoken Word: Faith Santilla]
So let it be known, if you don’t already
Pinays have always been part, and parcel, if not, imperative and critical to the struggle
Filipinas are no strangers to wielding our own power
Of all the privileges that exist in this world, none of which you may be a benefactor of
There is at least one you bear
And that is the privilege of having been born a Filipina
Your DNA contains building blocks made from the mud of over 500 years of resistance and survival
And when you are ready, sis, we’ll be right here
[Hook: Klassy]
Island woman rise, walang makakatigil
Brown, brown woman, rise, alamin ang yung ugat
They got nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us
Island woman rise, walang makakatigil
Brown, brown woman, rise, alamin ang yung ugat
They got nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us (aye!)
Nothin’ on us (aye!)
Isang bagsak!
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. Check out our Facebook page and our Twitter feed, Please consider interning, joining our staff or submitting a story for consideration.
