Take no prisoners

At 13 years old, Alex Bruce has already built a name for herself in the local hip-hop scene

- Giselle S. Barrientos

The proverbial history book of Filipino hip-hop is filled with one thing: a long list of men. Not only that, but there’s also a deep-rooted misogyny in the culture that many of the people thriving within it have yet to confront. Considering the predominantly macho culture of rap makes the feat of any female rapper that much more impressive.

But there is no one more attention-grabbing in recent times than Alex Bruce. Hailing from Batangas, the young emcee first made waves in the music industry at age 11 with her fiery bars laid over trap beats—a genre which has its foundations in subject matters of drug use, violence, and promiscuity.

The irony is evident once you see Alex off-duty, as she transforms from a rising rap star to a regular preteen girl named Thursten Alex Bruce. Who would think that a child would have the capacity to flip the script of hip-hop and reject themes of discrimination and violence that reappear in its music time and again?

Alex is creating her own rules by rapping about empowerment—embodying all of the attitude the genre has, but none of the dirt. “What I don’t like about hip-hop is dissing each other, raps about disrespecting women, and anything related to violence,” she tells us. She aspires for singularity apart from the material wealth braggadocio that dominates hip-hop. She’s in it to let people know she’s the “illest” not because of a Ferrari, but because she’s unapologetically herself.