“BIRDS of Prey” actress Ella Jay Basco has teamed up with Filipina American rapper Ruby Ibarra to release a song about brown skin despite society upholding colorism.
Their latest collaboration titled “Gold” talks about accepting the color of your skin and being proud of it.
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“GOLD ft. @rubyibarra is out now!!! Mainly streaming on Spotify, Apple, and BandCamp so go check it out!!! We wanted to make a song that speaks out to brown pride and the color of our beautiful golden skin,” Basco wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday, January 27.
Basco, 14, was born to a Filipino father and Korean American mother, and comes from a lineage of actors. She is best known for her role as Cassandra Cain in “Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn),” which stars Margot Robbie and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
“I definitely remember seeing kid actors in the business and I remember telling my mom that I wanted to be in the industry and I wanted to be seen on the screen,” she told the Asian Journal in a Feb. 2020 interview.
She has also appeared in television shows like “Veep,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Teachers,” “Superior Donuts,” “Happyland” and the short film “Glimpse of Heaven.”
Outside of acting, Basco is a singer/songwriter and accomplished musician, playing the guitar, piano and ukulele. She is also a trained dancer.
Ibarra, 29, was born in Tacloban, Philippines. She moved to San Lorenzo, California at four years old.
In a previous interview with Asian Journal, Ibarra shared that Filipino rapper Francis Magalona was one of her musical inspirations along with American artists Tupac, Lauryn Hill and the Wu-Tang Clan.
She released her debut album, “Circa91,” in October 2017 where the rapper shared her story and struggles as a Filipina American millennial raised in the Bay Area.
“When it comes down to it, my music will always be a reflection of my experiences and who I am as a person, so I don’t want to ever escape from my music being Filipino,” she told the Asian Journal.
Ibarra studied biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California, Davis and juggles being a scientist and a musician.
