Ruby Ibarra is a Filipino-American rapper, music producer, and spoken word artist from San Lorenzo, California. Known for her intricate lyricism and hard-hitting flow, she has described her style as “90s hip hop vibe with elements of raw poetry,” citing Lupe Fiasco and Raekwon as her main influences. As a young child growing up in Tacloban, she was inspired by a TV performance by rapper Francis Magalona, and after immigrating to the Bay Area, she performed with SickSpits and other spoken-word collectives as a college student at UC Davis.

In 2010, Ruby began releasing videos on Youtube, which created a buzz after several were featured on XXL Magazine and Worldstar Hip Hop. Her videos “Game Up” and “Dosey Doe” each amassed over 100,000 views, eventually garnering the attention of DJ Kay Slay, who gave her the nickname “Hip Hop” and went on to host her 2012 mixtape. She signed to independent label Beatrock Music in 2015, home to fellow Pinxy labelmates Bambu, Rocky Rivera, and Prometheus Brown, among many others.

She raps mainly in English, Tagalog, and her family’s Waray dialect, using her music to educate and bring more visibility to Asian-Americans in the media.