"My brother from another mother and best friend, Rob Boothe, is my long-time partner in crime in the group Rhythm Speaks and we decided to perform one of our go-to live beatbox/MC pieces in homage to MC Slick Rick and Doug E Fresh. Hip Hop is a universal language that seems to be a great tool to connect send great vibes of peace, unity, community, and having fun." - Jon Jon Rivero, Founder, Balikbayan Project.
5 months following the most devastating Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, our @balikproject team returned to be with our @streetlight_ph family to implement @mynameistrauma workshop. In the middle of the 4-day workshop, we decided to still have our annual Pagpasabot Self-Expression Festival as part of our healing process.
“Rob Boothe, one of my best friends, joined us for the first time in the Philippines while he was living in Thailand. In Canada, Rob and I have sung and performed together in various musical bands, groups, and hip hop crews and this was a very meaningful opportunity to use our passion for music with our surrogate family in the Philippines. Rob created instant bonds with hundreds of people that year and ironically now lives in Manila with his beautiful wife and baby daughter. Despite the distance that separates our families, we still are connected for life through our music, faith, and love of positive hip hop self-expression.” - Jon Jon Rivero, Founder, Balikbayan Project