Hip-hop artist Kurimaw is on the rise and he is in the forefront of pushing the country's hip-hop music to the top.
Its five tracks – with production credits by Calix and The O’nonymous – notched over 80,000 plays in a matter of weeks.
WITH the rise of hip-hop music internationally, we tend to forget our own OPM hip-hop genre in the Philippines. Kurimaw is on the rise and he is in the forefront of pushing our local hip-hip to the top.
The eldest child of a lower-middle-class household, Brian “Brav” Bravante grew up the son of a pastor outside Metro Manila.
For much of his childhood, songs of praise were all the music he knew; in his teens he swore by punk rock and emo. He’s spent most of his 25 years away from hip-hop, which makes one wonder how he has so casually yet boldly strolled into it.
On January 30, Kurimaw dropped the ‘buzo_Omp’ EP on Soundcloud.
Its five tracks – with production credits by Calix and The O’nonymous – notched over 80,000 plays in a matter of weeks.
Kurimaw hit Spotify in late February and has since become a rising name among purveyors and patrons of Filipino hip-hop.
Kurimaw’s mischievous singing, rapping and sing-rapping evoke the playfulness of today’s youth, but the songs also deal with relatable themes: growing up and having fun, yet facing uncertainty.
‘Buzo-Omp’ sounds like a melodic rendition of scrolling down a social media feed filled with your friends.
Like so many, Kurimaw came across hip-hop while hanging out on the streets with his friends and classmates. In 2012, he was struck by the bravado of Gagong Rapper, Francis M, Death Threat and other local acts heard blaring from the speakers of the PC shops and street corners he was frequently in.
By November 2019, he released a music video for ‘Wasakulap,’ which has since racked up close to a million views on YouTube.
‘Wasakulap’ is a term he coined that, in the context of the song, means getting as high as the clouds. When you say ‘buzo_Omp’ out loud, it gives the impression of something having just sped by – which ties to its meaning of something going really fast.
Kurimaw’s manager CB came into the picture shortly after the final mixing of ‘buzo_Omp’.
He had known Kurimaw since 2015, whom he often saw lounging at the back of crowded gigs.
CB, who has organized a series of shows called Friendly Thursdays to showcase up-and-comers, fancies himself an appraiser of new talent.
Upon hearing of Kurimaw’s work in late 2020, he immediately wanted to collaborate.
“Kurimaw’s lyrics are grounded, relatable, and even offer a trace of sadness,” CB says. “Brav doesn’t flex his vocab, he uses familiar words with a slightly new sound, cutting grammatical corners like the end of the main hook in ‘Di Laging Sunday.’
His audience, the young people, are facing increasingly unpredictable times, struggling with the notion of what it is to be young.
Kurimaw has emerged from the fringes, and in a short period, riveted Filipino youth with his unconventional hip-hop.
For now, he and CB are looking to produce a music video to match the hype created by ‘buzo_Omp’.
The pair even have their sights set on political satire, a much needed counterpoint to the current state of affairs in the Philippines.
But that’s a plan for the future. “For now, I’m still planning my attack,” Kurimaw teased..
(NP)
Tags: #music, #hiphop, #Kurimaw