MANILA, Philippines – Compelling. Sincere. Truthful, but hopeful. Fil-Am hip hop duo Q-York stopped by Rappler for a studio interview on Wednesday on #BalikBayan. Four years ago the pair decided to come back here not only to visit, but to to settle down and build a career in the Philippine music industry. They spoke about passion, volunteerism, social change, community empowerment, identity and much.

“When hip hop started (in New York), it was about making a positive change,” Lazarus told G. Tongi during the interview on #BalikBayan.

They said they were inspired by Gawad Kalinga and were active in giving inspirational talks to children in San Diego, because, they said, the area was known to have a high rate of suicide among Filipino American teenagers. (READ: Q-York on hip hop: Passion and fire)

The duo considered the experience an “awakening.”

Followers were given the opportunity to challenge their rhyming skills by tweeting random subjects for Q-York to rap about.

How did they live up to the challenge? These are the words Knowa Lazarus came up with after a request to rap about the controversial pork barrel scam.

Politics and government

society unravels

over corruption

the pork and the barrel

the pork and the beans

what does Napoles mean?

I think it is murder of the Philippine dream

Watch the rest of the performance here:

– Rappler.com

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#BalikBayan is a project that aims to harness and engage Filipinos all over the world to collectively rediscover and redefine Filipino identity.