Ruby Ibarra made history at her first-ever Tiny Desk performance.
Born in Tacloban and now based in the Bay Area, the Filipina American rapper won the Tiny Desk Contest out of nearly 7,500 entries (a record-breaking amount according to NPR), earning her the prize of performing on the desk. “Ibarra’s Contest entry, ‘Bakunawa,’ stunned this year’s panel of judges with its multilingual, intergenerational band and passionate emcee,” writes Elle Mannion of NPR.
Ibarra performed three songs for her set: “Bakunawa,” “7000 Miles,” and “Someday,” while singing in English, Tagalog, and Bisaya. She also brought in an all-Filipino band featuring Ouida (vocals), June Millington (guitar, vocals), Anna Macan (guitar, background vocals), Camille Ramirez (bass, flute, background vocals), Angelo “LASI” Macaraeg (keys, guitar), JoJo Gajardo Ramirez (drums), and Charito Soriano (background vocals). Also in attendance were Ibarra’s friends and family.
Here, we learn more about the breakout Filipina American rapper.
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Ruby Ibarra previously participated in the 2019 Tiny Desk Contest
Despite selecting a different artist, NPR gave Ibarra her flowers for her 2019 submission, “Someday”—a song she performed during her Tiny Desk performance.
“It is my declaration that my mother and I will make it in this country. I think that when we talk about immigration, especially in mainstream media, much of that is often romanticized and simplified; the experience and struggles are overlooked and the formation of identity and sense of belonging are neglected,” wrote Ibarra in her submission note to NPR.
Years later, she’d tell her mother during her Tiny Desk performance of “Someday,” “Mama, we gon’ make it here today.”
Her mother was an accountant in the Philippines
In that same 2019 submission note, she added, “When my mom moved to California from the Philippines in 1991, she went from being an accountant to a fast food janitor/cashier. She left everything behind in her motherland in hopes to provide better opportunities for me and my younger sister.”
She was a medical frontliner during the COVID-19 pandemic
Before becoming a full-time artist, Ibarra worked for a Bay Area biotech company, assisting in both vaccine development and COVID-19 test kit quality control during the pandemic.
“Growing up, as much as I loved listening to hip-hop, I was also that nerdy kid who was just so curious. I grew a fascination and interest in science and ended up attending UC Davis, majoring in biochemistry,” said Ibarra in a 2022 interview with NBC Bay Area.
Her music was featured in “NBA 2K23” and “NBA 2K24”
Two of Ibarra’s songs, “Us,” and “Switch,” were featured in “NBA 2K23” and “NBA 2K24,” respectively. She was also a songwriter and soundtrack artist for the TV series “The Cleaning Lady.”
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She started a scholarship program
In 2020, she began the Pinays Rising Scholarship program with Dr. Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, a professor at San Francisco State University.
She co-founded a label called Bolo Music Group
Consisting of Filipino American talents, her record label includes artists such as Ouida, Ian Santillano, Vince A., and herself.
“Bakunawa” has three languages
“Even in the Philippines alone, like, Tagalog is typically the language that, you know, people hear in mainstream music and in film. And I want—I’ve always wanted to challenge that narrative and to show people just, you know, the different vast languages that exist out there that very much deserve to be in music as well, she said in an interview with NPR, sharing the reasoning behind her singing in English, Tagalog, and Bisaya for “Bakunawa.”
Ruby Ibarra’s oldest YouTube video uses samples from Francis Magalona’s “Mga Kababayan Ko” and Apo Hiking Society’s “American Junk”
Titled “Who I Am,” Ibarra wrote the song for UC Davis 2010 Filipino Culture Night. She also dedicated it to Magalona, whom she refers to as “the talent who introduced me to rap music.”
