Just found out about this Makati rapper named Waiian and honestly, his whole approach to music hits different. The guy's been making waves lately, especially after his BACKSHOTS album dropped last year, and there's something genuinely refreshing about how he approaches the craft.

So here's the thing - Waiian wasn't always flying solo. He came up as part of Kartell'em, this hip-hop collective built on graffiti, skateboarding, and the culture. The crew had that healthy competitive vibe where everyone was pushing each other to write better verses. But eventually he realized he needed space to express the vulnerable stuff, the real human moments that don't always fit in a group setting. He explained it perfectly: in cyphers it's all about swagger and showing how hard you are as a unit, but when he's alone, that's when he becomes a full human being.

What's wild is how uncommon that level of vulnerability is in the Filipino hip-hop scene right now. Most rappers stick to the standard playbook - money, chains, flexing. Waiian's like, why not just rap about what's actually real to you? Why not let people see that we have feelings and depths beyond the surface?

His first solo album WEYAAT? took two years to finish because he was going through it - grief, internal conflicts, losing alignment with himself. He admits it didn't come out the way it should have. But then BACKSHOTS arrived in 2025 and it was a whole different energy. Dude was introspective, focused, and got the whole thing done in three months. People started noticing when he performed at Wanderland 2025 - his friends joined in on the opening lines of MALAKING BIRD and suddenly half the festival was rushing to his stage.

Right now he's in this phase where he's stepping back, listening more, talking to people around Makati - creatives, taxi drivers, regular folks - because he believes those conversations feed his art. He's genuinely curious about people's stories, and that curiosity is shaping what he wants to say next as a rapper.

The bigger mission though? He wants to be a bridge for Filipinos who sleep on local rap. He used to be one of those people too, only listening to English-speaking rappers because he didn't know there was anything else. Now that he's a local rapper himself, he gets it. He's trying to show people that Filipino hip-hop deserves the same respect. Pretty solid goal for someone just trying to stay real with his craft.