From Hi-Fi to the Motherland and Back: Building the Bridge with Hot Tropiks

Growing up in Hi-Fi during the 80s and 90s, there were no "Historic Filipinotown" signs up yet. Back then it was just the neighborhood where we grew up. The daily routine was walking to school at Precious Blood Elementary, playing with my cousins on Commonwealth, spending time with my grandma at Manila Terrace on Temple all while dodging neighborhood gangs, and trying to avoid getting into fights.

Thank God for my older cousins who got me into DJing and the arts early on. Seeing them planted that seed of DIY culture early; watching my cousins and their friends from the neighborhood form music labels, art studios, clothing brands, and community really inspired me early on. I took that indie mentality to the Philippines, where I would spend the next 20 years. 

I lived and breathed the underground scene, diving deep into the creative community at Cubao Expo with Gold Digger Records and launching Black Market in Makati as a sanctuary for underground artists. Eventually, I took those lessons in community-building and tech to co-found Kumu to connect the global Filipino diaspora in real time.

Recently, I found myself going down memory lane with Joe Bernardo on the This Filipino American Life podcast. It is wild to look back at where we started and see the global recognition Hi-Fi is getting today. Those same blocks just hosted Baryo Hi-Fi, drawing global giants like Nike presenting the “Second Nature” art exhibition, alongside corporate heavyweights like Sprite, Topo Chico, Mr. Pibb, SmartWater, TFC, MYX, and GCash, all sharing space with Fil-am staples like Seafood City, Jo Koy, Boba Guys, SoulPhil, Drink Narra, and Cafe 86.

Seeing Joe Bataan headline Baryo Hi-Fi on the streets where I grew up is pretty surreal. Funny story, I opened for Joe Bataan at the 2012 Malasimbo Festival in the Philippines. Back then, he shared stories about running a Latino street gang in NYC in his youth. Back then, he didn't know what it meant to be Filipino. To see him now, bringing that identity full circle as the headliner in one of the biggest Filipino American festivals, is truly wild.

Seeing everything come full circle like that reinforces the vision of Hot Tropiks. After spending most of my adult life immersed in the Philippines' creative scene, I saw a massive gap between the incredible talent in the motherland and the global market. We wanted to be that bridge. We are building a commercial pipeline for independent media and creators from the Philippines who deserve a global stage. Drawing on my experiences from growing up in Filipinotown gave me the resourcefulness and DIY drive for this venture; we're giving our diaspora direct access to the stories and media that define our culture. We're building the Seafood City of culture, yo!