Hella in my upbringing comes straight from my Filipino side.” I went to an all-Filipino church for 15 years. My lola raised me in a biracial household, cooking and speaking both languages. “My direct portion is one-fourth Filipino,” he says. With his popular single “Chicken Adobo” (a love song inspired by his lola’s cooking) and his feature on Thundercat’s “ Dragonball Durag” (a tribute to the classic anime), Guap is constantly dropping hints about his Asian American upbringing and identity-though, most people admittedly don’t perceive him as Filipino upon initially seeing him. Alongside his Fil Am peers, Guap is voicing this in his idiosyncratic, hyphy-melodic way, narrating where he’s from and his journey navigating the world as a Black Pinoy. It’s a relatable truth for many Bay Area generations, who’ve grown up here with mixed backgrounds and a fluid sense of self. They met and decided to move to Oakland and that’s how my roots started in the Bay,” Guap says. My grandfather is Black and was a merchant marine out there on a military base. My grandma is a short, 5’3” lady from Zambales in the Philippines. (Estefany Gonzalez) A-Side: Chicken Adobo performs at Lights On Festival at Concord Pavilion on Sunday, Sept. It also doesn’t mention those Pinoys and Pinays who paved the path for this ascendance to happen. The list doesn’t even include the unquantifiable amount of genuine community work, activism and representation each artist has provided throughout Northern California and beyond over their careers and lifetimes. And I’m only talking about the past few months. Ibarra is literally a scientist and co-founded the Pinays Rising Scholarship Program. Rivera added “author” to her resume with the publication of her debut book. H.E.R won four Grammys and launched the Lights On Festival, with nearly 6 million followers on Instagram. P-Lo produced “About That Time,” the most-streamed song from this summer’s Space Jam: A New Legacy soundtrack, featuring verses from NBA All Star Damian Lillard, G-Eazy and White Dave. Saweetie has two chart-topping singles and a McDonald’s meal with her name on it. You can’t talk about Bay Area music in 2021 without mentioning him or the “ same squad, same squad ” of Fil Ams here, including H.E.R, Ruby Ibarra, Rocky Rivera, P-Lo, Kuya Beats and Saweetie.
If you don’t know Guap, he’s an essential player in the Bay Area’s latest wave of Filipino American artists who’ve taken over the scene with their eclectic, unparalleled and hella vibrant contributions.
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