Makati-based rapper Waiian makes it a point to be as real as ever

As soon as Waiian sat down for our interview in the corner of a studio, we had sprung on him a basic, yet probably annoying question to answer so early in the day: How did your interest in rap, and music in general, start? 

For many creatives who have been doing their craft for years like Waiian, it’s normal for them to struggle to pinpoint the exact moment it all took off. Their earliest memories of creating so much art have likely begun to blur together. But like clockwork, he recalled the time his senior high school film production teacher broke down the lines in Lupe Fiasco’s “Lamborghini Angels” in class — realizing right then that, hey, writing lyrics is nice. 

“Napaisip ako, ‘Ay ganun (I thought to myself, ‘Oh, that’s how it is), the lyrics are deeper than they are pala. I thought it’s just about shaking ass and blah, blah, blah,’” the 2026 Spotify RADAR artist joked.

About a year later, Waiian put his own skills to the test for the first time — and did so successfully — his crush’s tears serving as hard evidence. 

“I wrote a love song for my crush, and then I played it for her on Valentine’s Day 2017, and then she cried. And I was like, ‘Whoa, I have superpowers. I have this ability to write music that people can feel.’” 

Pablo Waiian Santos — or simply just Waiian — hasn’t seen music in any other way since. With that exact superpower, Waiian burst into the local music scene, and plans to revel in that for as long as he’s on earth. 

Solo mission

Waiian had already been a familiar face to longtime fans of Filipino rap as a member of the collective Kartell’em, founded on graffitti, skateboarding, and of course, hip-hop. They moved in tandem with each other, and the atmosphere was a good kind of competitive — the boys constantly challenging one another to come up with the next best verse. 

Within the collective, Waiian was a team player who was always thinking of what he could bring to the table. 

But in the name of keeping it real, he admitted that he felt limited when it came to always working with a hive. The 28-year-old rapper has always been the kind of guy to wear his heart on his sleeve. He’s a firm believer that his music doesn’t quite hit the same when he isn’t telling it all like it is. He needed an outlet to express his vulnerabilities, and he would only find that if he began to work on his own. 

“I love my friends. I’ll never get anything with Kartell’em. But there are some stuff that I only do with them, and there’s stuff that I can only do with me. For example, any group of men act differently when they’re with their homies. At the end of the day, when they go home and lay in bed and think about their lives, doon na siguro ako nagiging Waiian (that’s when I become Waiian),” he shared. “Sa cypher, usually, angasan lang, kung gaano kami kalupit as a group. Pero sa Waiian naman, doon naman ako nagiging human being.” 

(In a cypher, usually, it’s all about being bold and how cool we are as a group. But when I’m Waiian, that’s when I become a human being.) 

Pouring his whole being into every bar he fashions has become an earmark to his artistry, and his solo rebirth sees him play that up all the more. It’s a quality that isn’t exactly unique to him, but in the Filipino hip-hop scene, Waiian’s unapologetic show of authenticity definitely puts him in the minority. 

“In the scape I’m in right now, it’s not common for people to express their feelings in a very vulnerable way, the way I do it. So [I’ll] be the guy to do that so that other people can see that, we don’t only have to rap about bitches, money, and guns that we don’t have. Why not rap and write about songs that are real to you?” he said in a mix of English and Filipino. 

Yet when you aren’t in tune with the man you see in the mirror (or “MERROR,” rather), it’s always easier said than done. That’s why it had taken Waiian two whole years to finish his WEYAAT? album, which he eventually released in 2023. 

“WEYAAT? took so long because I was grieving, and I was also going through fights with my friends in Kartell’em and going through a lot of internal bullshit with myself. I was trying to finish the WEYAAT? album just to get it done… It didn’t come out the way it should have,” he explained. 

Waiian saw the album as the tarnished result of not being in alignment with himself — becoming the product of the accidental separation of who he is a human from who he is an artist.

“The Waiian during WEYAAT? was probably lost and didn’t know what to do yet with the music. He just knows that he’s kind of known, that people will listen to him. But he didn’t really know what to say at the time, so he just said that he doesn’t know what he is.” 

By the time his BACKSHOTS album came out of the vault in 2025, it was a totally different Waiian who came to the fore. He was more introspective than ever, so much so that he was able to put the whole record out in just three months.

Taking a step back

BACKSHOTS is by far one of Waiian’s most successful drops. He had performed a few tracks off the album during his Wanderland 2025 set, and as soon as his friends got behind their mics to sing the opening lines of “MALAKING BIRD” in chorus, curious onlookers who were scattered throughout the festival grounds rushed to his side of the stage to check out what was going on. 

With laser-focus, restored confidence, and the humor everyone’s come to love him for, Waiian appeared on stage and got the crowd to stay for his whole performance. But did all this newfound recognition come as a surprise to him? 

“Probably yes and no,” he said after a short pause. “Because I always knew that I had something in me na hindi natin makikita sa ibang tao (that we can’t see in others). It took a lot of self-work for me to get that work out. I appreciate all the blessings I’m getting, all the recognition I’m getting and receiving, but I know it always has to come with the work first. I’m happy about it.”  

Even with his new and improved sense of self, Waiian wasn’t done making things better just yet. A year after BACKSHOTS, he’s spending more time taking in his surroundings and figuring out what it is he really wants to say in his music. 

“It’s easy to write songs because it’s like I’m just talking. Before I find out what to say next, I need to step back and listen and shut up. I’m a really talkative person, and right now, I’m kind of stepping back and just listening to people, their stories, and finding myself after,” he said. 

That’s where his roots in the urban jungle of Makati come in handy — where, in the sparse absence of nature, he’s learning to turn to human nature. 

“Lahat ng uri ng tao, nakakasalamuha ko: mga creatives, mga hardworking 9-to-5-ers, mga regular taxi drivers, tricycle drivers. I’ve never skipped a conversation if I had the chance to talk to a human being, so that probably helped me become who I am because I always kept curious.” 

(I get to socialize with all kinds of people: creatives, hardworking 9-to-5-ers, regular taxi drivers, tricycle drivers. I’ve never skipped a conversation if I had the chance to talk to a human being, so that probably helped me become who I am because I always kept curious.) 

But beyond making space for softness in the local hip-hop scene, Waiian is on a mission to change people’s minds about Filipino rap in his own “weird and honest, yet light-hearted and critical” way by getting his music to reach more listeners who can resonate with it. 

“There’s a lot of Filipinos that don’t like local rap music. I used to be one of those people. And then I just found some English-speaking rappers kasi ‘yun lang ‘yung alam kong music. Dahil doon, dahil naging local rapper ako, naging mas into local music ako. So kung kailangan nila ng bridge from listening to only international, baka pwede ako maging gitna no’ng bridge.” 

(And then I just found some English-speaking rappers because that’s the only music I knew. Because of that, and because I became a local rapper, I got into local music. If they need a bridge from listening only to international, maybe I can be the middle of the bridge.) 

Just come and let Waiian’s verses do the talking. – Rappler.com

Listen to the Spotify RADAR Philippines playlist here.