Asian American woman rapper makes national debut at the Grammy's

Ruby Ibarra 

IF YOU watched the Grammy's last week where Bruno Mars won six Grammy awards, you also watched the national debut of Filipina/American rap artist Ruby Ibarra.
Well, she wasn't exactly "on" the show. During the Grammy's she appeared in a MasterCard commercial that featured female singer Sza in a cover of Willie Dixon's "You Can't Judge A Book." The commercial showcased several independent (read: not mainstream) artists, including Ruby, who almost stole the show.

MasterCard also produced a mini-documentary on the making of the video that provides some of the background of the seven incredible new artists join together to share how they followed their passions. As one of the artists says, "We're the misfits."

Ellen deGeneres kicks off Mastercard’s #StartSomethingPriceless campaign with an early  look at their brand new music documentary in which six groundbreaking artists come together to create a cover of “You Can’t Judge a Book,” with surprise guest SZA.

The official music video:

Can't get enough of the San Francisco-based Ruby Ibarra? Here she is being interviewed by Nikki Sun:

RELATED: Ruby releases her phenomenal "Hate."

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2018 Grammys: It's a 24K Magic party for Bruno Mars!

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Bruno Mars won in six categories of the Grammy Awards.

BRUNO MARS had a helluva night at the Grammy Awards show Sunday. The performer won in all the categories in which he was nominated. 

Mars won six Grammys at this year’s show held in Madison Square Garden Sunday night. His wins included Album of the Year (24KMagic), Record of the Year (“24K Magic”), Song of the Year (“That’s What I Like”), Best R&B Album (24K Magic), Best R&B Performance (“That’s What I Like”), and Best R&B Song (“That’s What I Like.”

The 32-year old Mars also teamed up with rap sensation Cardi B to bring down the house with their remix of "Finesse" that included a dance break that included choreographer Phil Tayag of the Jabowockeez dance crew that had the audience out of their seats dancing and clapping along.

When he won Record of the Year for "That's What I Like," as his hit song blasted when he approached the song, he tried to get the tune to continue playing for the audience, "Turn it up, play it again, too many ballads tonight!"

This is the second timee he won Record of the Year. Back in 2016, he and Mark Ronson’s collaborative global hit “Uptown Funk” won the category.

Each time his name was announced, the Filipino/American made sure to thank his fans. After winning the big one, Album of the Year, he paid tribute to the artists, the rock and soul pioneers who wrote and performed the songs that helped launch his performing career while growing up in Hawaii.

"Those songs were written with nothing but joy and love ... and that's what I tried to do (with 24K Magic) ... that's what I wanted to do. Bring back that love and joy."

Meanwhile, the animated feature set in Polynesia, Moana, had a winner with it's song "How Far I'll Go," sung by Aulii Carvalho and written by Lin Manuel Miranda, won in the category  Song Written for Visual Media.

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TGIF Feature: Bruno Mars up for six Grammys

Cards B and Bruno Mars will team up at the Grammy Awards this Sunday.

THANK GOODNESS for Bruno Mars. If not for the Filipino/Puerto Rican Hawaii-born artist, there would barely be any AAPI presence at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards this Sunday.

Mars will be at the music industry's awards shows celebrating the best performers and performances in a big way.

He has been nominated in six categories: Best Album for his 24K album, Best R&B album, Song of the Year for "That's What I Like," Record of the Year for 24K, Best R&B of the Year for "That's What I Like," Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance for the same song.

In addition, Grammy producers continue to acknowledge the energy he bring to the room by his always spectacular performances. He doesn't need fireworks or legions of dancers to enhance his performance. Mars just needs his band and backup singers.

This year, he'll be performing his song "Finesse" with Cardi B, who is also up for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song (“Bodak Yellow”).

RELATED: Mars recreates "In Living Color" with new video

Unfortunately, other recordings or performances with, or by, AAPI artists most likely won't get any airtime. They  are:

Best Contemporary Classical Composition:
Zhou Tian: Concerto For Orchestra — Zhou Tian, composer (Louis Langrée & Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra);

Best Song Written For Visual Media:
“How Far I’ll Go” — Lin-Manuel Miranda, songwriter (Auli’i Cravalho) from the movie Moana;

Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media:

Moana: The Songs — (Various Artists);

Best Regional Roots Music Album:

Ho’okena 3.0 — Ho’okena

Best New Age Album:

Sacred Journey Of Ku-Kai, Volume 5 — Kitaro

The 60th Annual Grammy Awards will broadcast from Radio City Music Hall, NYC, on CBS.

CORRECTION: Earlier versions of this post incorrectly cited Bruno Mars' ethnicity.
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