Filipino-American Rapper Ruby Ibarra Gets Some Grammy Love in SZA Ad

| Posted on |

If you watched the Grammy’s on Sunday night, you may have seen the kick-ass Mastercard commercial featuring SZA (who led all women with five nominations). The commercial currently has been played almost 7 million times on Twitter alone and is buzzin’ all over the place.

In the video, SZA teams up with several indy artists to promote the “Can’t Judge A Book” tagline. As expected, the musicians break down barriers and go against social norms, highlighted by one Asian-American rapper, Ruby Ibarra, who totally steals the show. We literally ran the commercial back just to see her part once more.

https://twitter.com/Mastercard/status/955609832488357888

Ibarra, born in the Philippines, moved the U.S in 1991 and started writing hip-hop music when she was just 13 years old. In her music, she’s known to tackle subjects which are largely ignored — partly because of the culture, but more so because hip-hop seldom sees female rappers from her part of the world.

With that said, it’s not as if her message is the only unique part of her formula…Ruby Ibarra has BARS, and her delivery is on point. Her first full-length album, Circa ’91, was released earlier this year and is worth a listen for fans of the genre.

You can order it directly from her site.

#StartSomethingPriceless