Ruby Ibarra: 'Who Is Going to Tell Their Story If Not Me?'

"WEAR THE CROWN Earlier this year Ruby Ibarra was announced as NPR Music's 2025 Tiny Desk Contest winner after submitting her single 'Bakunawa.' PHOTO: Gino Lucas "I look at the people in my Filipino-American community and how a lot of them often still don't have the opportunity to share their stories and highlight who they are and where they came from," Ibarra says. "Who is going to tell their story if not me?""

"A distinct element Ibarra uses to showcase her culture is the multilingual flow of her words, in and out of English, Tagalog and Bisaya. "It only becomes natural that I do a lot of those language switch-ups in my lyrics to help illustrate those stories even more," Ibarra says. "It's a conscious decision of wanting to highlight these languages on a visible level in hip hop.""

Ruby Ibarra won the Tiny Desk Contest in May after submitting a trilingual, intergenerational performance of her single "Bakunawa." She was born in the Philippines and immigrated to the East Bay at a young age. Her music tackles identity, immigration and the "American Dream," reflecting personal experiences. The Filipino community in the Bay Area motivates her to tell community stories through music, and she will perform in San Jose's Music in the Park on Sept. 21 with LaRussell, Souls of Mischief and Kung Fu Vampire. Ibarra uses English, Tagalog and Bisaya language switches to illustrate stories and intentionally highlight these languages in hip hop. The Bay Area's vibrant music scene cultivated her love of hip hop.

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