Gloc 9 Delivers His Valediction with Talumpati
Gloc 9, the fastest rhyme-slinger in Pinoy rap, released Matrikula, one of the most moving records, if not the best album, of 2010. It spawned the monster hit "Upuan" and the equally formidable follow-through tracks like "Tinta" plus a chilling remake of Asin's "Balita."
The rapper also known as Aristotle Polisco put together the record while on his fourth year in nursing school. He was practically on the move 24/7 juggling classes by day and hospital duty at night, composing new music during his spare time, and performing live on weekends.
He also got the chance to tour the US West Coast with Parokya ni Edgar and Kamikazee. On his own, he subsequently hit Seattle and Hawaii with the force of his rhymes tangled in funky kinda sad homegrown music.
Gloc 9 describes the experience: "It was amazing. There were crowds at every stop from San Francisco to Los Angeles. I think the Fil-Ams were equally thrilled to see us. I mean, there was Parokya ni Edgar and Kamikazee who were definite crowd favorites. Me, they must have heard my music on the radio and watched the videos on YouTube and the tour was their first chance to see me in the flesh."
A surprising development happened during the tour. Gloc 9 could have performed accompanied by pre-recorded tracks aka karaoke style, but members of Parokya and Kamikazee gamely agreed to be his backing band. Night after night, Gloc and his "pick-up" band delivered performances as close as possible to the spirit of his recordings, bringing the house down each time out.
Aris graduated March of last year and his harried life hardly made a decent pause. He collaborated with 6 Cycle Mind for one of the previous summer's biggest hits, followed by another one-off jam with Parokya ni Edgar.
Gloc shifted management to Soupstar Entertainment, which convinced him to form his own band. The group named Point Blanc is composed of bassist Cookie Taylo, lead guitarist Gino Aguas, Otep of Hardware Syndrome on drums and session man Benjie on keyboards.
While tweaking his connection with Point Blanc for maximum mileage in concert, Aris was in the midst of his review for the licensure exam by day, and making plans for his follow-up to the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Matrikula.
Gloc met up with Jonathan Ong to produce his latest record with the working title, Talumpati. Jonathan produced "Kami Na Po Muna," a tribute to the Apo Hiking Society, and Gloc's own "Lando" from an earlier album. The producer has his own system of working on the compositions and midway through the project, Gloc 9 knew they were on track to pull ahead of Matrikula's amazing run to the top of the charts and on critics' year-end best of lists.
He tells, "After recording six to seven songs, I felt me and my producer have achieved our aim of getting past Matrikula. Everything stated falling into place and I was already excited about mixing and mastering the final product.
"I really looked forward to how my latest collaborations would turn out. On my new album, I felt blessed to be working with the likes of Wency Cornejo, Yeng Constantiino, Aiza Segerra, Parokya's Gabriel Chee Kee, Tanya Markova, Imago's Aia de Leon and of course, with Point Blanc."
Like its predecessor, Talumpati finds Gloc 9 burnishing his sharp socio-political commentaries with a variety of sonic tints ranging from straight pop ("Bugtong") to heavy rock ("Intro ni Aristotle" with Top Suzara on guitars) to funky soul ("Akin Lang Naman") to a rap showdown and news broadcasts.
The album's carrier single, "Walang Natira," his collaboration with upcoming artist Sheng Belmonte, continues his uncanny interest in the fate of OFWs and the woes of the families and country they leave behind. The lilting reggae behind his rap is just as infectious as the trip-hop of "Upuan".
Gloc 9 was just 6 years old when his father started leaving the house for years on end. When he finally found out his father was working abroad, he also realized that "the airport was either the happiest or the saddest place for any child."
Gloc 9 envisioned Talumpati to be a livelier album than Diploma. After all, in real life, a "talumpati" is speech given usually by a winner—the summa cum laude of a graduating class, for instance. Sadly, the realities he mirrors in his songs on Talumpati are less than comforting.
"Baon" and ""Atik Laham" deal with love gone bad, and deadly. "Walang Natira" is about brain drain bleeding a nation dry of its greatest resource. Well, there's "Salbahe" where he ruminates on the aftermath of a fart.
At the 2010 Myx Music Awards given out last March 2, Gloc 9 won for Favorite Music Video ("Kasalanan" with 6CycleMind), Favorite Urban Video ("Upuan" featuring Jeazelle Grutas) and Favorite Male Artist. He bested the likes of Christian Bautista, Piolo Pascual and Rico Blanco for the coveted male honor awards.
Naturally, our favorite rapper downplays the awards, including some major haul in the Awit Awards, as mere icing on his "continuing triumph to be writing songs that gets across to an audience." Humbug. With "Talumpati", 2011 will be his vindication as the true heir to Francis M's enduring legacy. Long will he run.
