GRA THE GREAT shares how he discovered hip hop and his early influences in an interview, citing American rap icon Eminem and Pinoy underground rap group Repablikan Syndicate as his gateway artists to hip hop music.
The Filipino rapper sat down with content creator and entrepreneur Doug Brocklehurst in an upcoming episode of the latter’s DougBrock TV show and recalled how he first became exposed to hip hop. “Dati kung wala kang television, wala kang CD, DVD and shit parang ganoon, di ka gaanong [updated] dati,” (Before if you didn’t have a television, CDs or DVDs and shit like that, you weren’t that updated then), he said on a preview clip.
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He confessed that his knowledge of hip hop was limited to the media he was exposed to and had access to. “Ang alam ko lang music ng hip hop dati yung mga nabibili [CDs] ko sa Divisoria, yung Repablikan [Syndicate]),” (The only hip hop music I knew before were the ones available on CDs I used to buy at Divisoria, like Repablikan [Syndicate]), he continues, referring to how his first introduction to the hip hop genre was through CDs bought at a large shopping complex located in Manila City famed for its highly affordable items.
GRA THE GREAT cites Repablikan Syndicate, who gained popularity in the early 2000s, as an early introductory act to the genre. “Nagsearch ako sa YouTube noon kung ano ba talaga ang mga rap shit na ‘to. Start kong napakinggan sina Snoop, sina Dr. Dre. Pinakaumanting sa akin si Eminem,” (I then searched on YouTube what this rap shit was really about. I started listening to guys like Snoop and Dr. Dre. The rapper that really stuck with me was Eminem), he says, adding how Eminem was at the peak of his fame then.
Like most people, the rapper’s discovery of the genre was organic, with further immersions into the genre shaped by popular artists who dominated the airwaves and were easily accessible on the internet’s limited reach at the time, at least in the Philippines. The DougBrockTV show and podcast airs every Sunday on Spotify and YouTube.
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