On Cover: Al James

Manila, Philippines — For an artist who rarely speaks but whose music always travels far and stays relevant in our daily mixes, the silence around Al James has never been empty. It’s been a space for building, pausing, recalibrating. Years after reshaping the landscape with his distinct tone and unhurried confidence, he’s finally stepping forward again. Not louder, just truer.

After years of releasing sparingly and letting the music speak louder than his presence, his identity, he says, was never accidental. “Siguro nasa branding ko na siya as an artist… And sa pag-register ng boses sa mga tao.” What he considers his unshakeable core isn’t just aesthetic — it’s craft. “Hindi ko rin kinukulong yung sarili ko sa isang sound. Pero para sa akin, ang pinaka-DNA na siguro sa sound ko, ito yung mismo writing. Ando’n na mismo yung Al James.”

This is the headline of his return: not reinvention, but reaffirmation.

The Pull of The Stage

Even when people assumed he “disappeared,” he never really left. “Siguro yung term na ‘nawala sa scene’ is hindi lang nakakapaglabas consistently or madalas,” he clarifies. The truth is simpler: touring took over. “Na-busy sa tour life… grateful ako sa mga ganong opportunity. Ang hirap mag-pass, ang hirap niyang iwanan.”

But presence comes with a cost. Momentum shifts. Creativity dries. Detaching — even for sanity — feels risky. “Mahirap mag-detach kasi… baka pag nag-detach ako rito baka hirap nang bumalik.” And yet, he needed the silence. He needed the pause. And eventually, he needed to choose to return. “Hindi siya about timing… decision siya na okay, ‘okay na ako, game na ulit.’”

The Scene

The scene he returns to hardly resembles the one he stepped into a decade ago. “Yung current rap scene ngayon, syempre , sobrang ibang-iba… dati sobrang pili lang yung mga napapakinggan,” he says. What changed isn’t just accessibility — it’s acceptance. “Dati… may discrimination dati ‘pag Tagalog rap. Pero ngayon, kahit anong estado mo sa buhay, nakikinig na rin sila.”

And yet the evolution comes with new pressure. Artists now need not only skill but presence; not only music, but narrative. “Dati talaga hindi ako ma-post na tao. Ngayon kasi package na siya. Kasama na siya, yung personality mo as the artist,” he admits. The algorithm has made consistency king, but he remains grounded: “Yung soul nung product mo is yung paano mo i-express yung music mo.”

His challenge is the same challenge many artists now face: maintaining what he has built while evolving with an audience that consumes faster than ever. “Mas challenging yung pag-maintain, kasi mas marami ka nang obstacle doon.”

Still, he persists — careful with ego, anchored by community. “Sa industry… maraming judgment… Mahirap din kung yun yung aayusin mo. Gawin mo lang yung gusto mong gawin, basta wala kang natatapakan tao.”

Songs, Ghosts, Fights

His recent releases show both growth and grounding. Some tracks are old doors reopened, some are new chapters entirely. “Halo eh, may mga matagal na lang na record and may mga bago.”

“Get Dat” became a nostalgic pivot, intentionally shaped by the sounds he grew up with. “Maraming nanibago… parang binalikan ko yung mga music noong early 2000s.”

But creativity doesn’t return without friction. “Pag nawala ka sa momentum… dyan sila babalik, yung mga kalaban mo sa sarili mo.” These “kalaban” are the doubts, the second-guessing, the self-negotiations every artist tries to outrun. His way through? Release them — literally. “Kailangan mo lang ilabas yung mga naisip mong hindi okay.”

Healing, he’s learned, is part of the job. “Ang daming inspiration pala outside music… Ito yung about time na mga artist [dapat] i-embrace din… doon naghahalo yung work at yung hilig mo.”

And that healing starts with honesty. “Para makita mo rin yung mali mo, kailangan mong maging aminado rin sa sarili mo.”

These aren’t just statements — they’re compass points.

Forward Motion

Al James doesn’t claim certainty about the future, but he knows the direction he wants: not just maintaining, not just returning, but representing. “Representing na lang internationally… yun na talaga yung matagal ko na rin nakikita.”

He admits the guilt of stepping back — mostly for the people who waited. “Yung mga day ones… yun yung mga nakakaguilty.” But guilt is also motivation. It brought him back to the studio. Back to discipline. Back to the writing desk where the Al James DNA lives untouched.

He is returning not with noise, but intention. With patience. With craft. With clarity.

With a headline he’s writing himself.

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Artist AL JAMES Creative Director H Cover story JAS RICO Photographer JOB CORPUZ Videographer JOB CORPUZ Graphic Artist MONSOUR BRIZUELA Produced by THE NEW HUE Location ASTBURY

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