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About this Song
Pop from the Philippines has long drawn from the country’s sprawling, eclectic landscape of underground and mainstream creative movements, blending raw, regional storytelling with wide-reaching sonic accessibility to carve out a distinct cultural niche, and that dynamic interplay anchors Shantidope, tied to the Filipino rapper Gloc-9, a trailblazer in the Pinoy hip-hop scene whose decades-long career redefined what popular Filipino music could achieve. Born Aristotle Pollisco in the Rizal province port town of Binangonan, Gloc-9 cut his teeth in the country’s burgeoning underground hip-hop circuit, first honing his craft as a member of the gangsta rap group Death Threat. Adopting the stage name that would make him a household name across the archipelago, Gloc-9 refined his technical skill and narrative vision with every release, including the group’s 1997 outing Kings of da Underground, which earned quadruple-platinum status and cemented the collective’s place as foundational voices in Filipino hip-hop.
