Happy Birthday Francis Magalona

Francis Durango Magalona or as he is also known FrancisM, Master Rapper, and The Man From Manila is credited as being the first Filipino rapper in the Philippines to successfully crossover to the mainstream. He is also popularly known as the "King of Pinoy Rap" and is one of the most idolized, celebrated and influential rappers within the genre.

He's my hero and this is my tribute.

FM was the eight of nine children of late Philippine movie screen legends Pancho Magalona and Tita Duran. Grandson of the late Senator Enrique Magalona.

Starting out as a breakdancer in the early 1980s, he followed in his parents footsteps and ventured out into acting, appearing in several Filipino movies; he branched out to emceeing and released the groundbreaking album Yo! in 1990 garnering the nationalistic hit Mga Kababayan (My Countrymen), making Yo! the first commercially released Pinoy rap album in the Philippines.While rapping politically conscious and thought-provoking rhymes in both English and Tagalog, the album was a total success and helped instantly catapult Filipino hip hop from underground to mainstream status and also marked the birth of Makabayang or Nationalistic rap in Filipino hip hop.

In 1992, Francis Magalona released Rap Is FrancisM (1992). With tracks addressing the various cultural and social problems that plagued his country such as drug addiction in "Mga Praning" (Paranoids), political instability in "Halalan" (Elections) as well as the detrimental effects of a colonial mentality in "Tayo'y Mga Pinoy" (We Are Filipinos), the record's complexity and conscious message quickly earned it its classic status and became the standard by which future albums of the genre were to be compared. This album helped tag FM as one of the most politically conscious voices of his generation.

The release of his third album, Meron akong ano! (I Got Something!) in 1993 marked the beginning of FM's experimentation with Pinoy rock. He introduced the merging of Pinoy Rock and Rap to the Filipino music audience becoming an exceptional artist in both genres of music.

Freeman was released the following year, 1995, and firmly established FM's legitimacy in the Pinoy rock scene. Tracks like "Three Stars & A Sun", "Kabataan Para Sa Kinabukasan", "Suckin' on Helium/Kaleidoscope World" would become defining touch-points in FM's body of work. "Kaleidoscope World" went on to win 1996 Awit Award for Best Produced Record of the Year, and the 1996 NU 107 Rock Award for Song of the Year.

FM's next album,Happy Battle, was released in 1996. In this album, he collaborated with Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan with side project band Planet Garapata who would later become Sandwich, and pioneer Filipino punk band Betrayed. In keeping with the nationalistic theme in his work, 1-800-Ninety-Six was written in celebration of the centennial of the Philippine revolution of 1896. "Rainy" won Best Folk song, and the album itself would became the only album to win Best Rock and Best Rap Album at the Katha Awards. When FM was diagnosed with Leukemia, he and his wife Pia would use the album name "Happy Battle" as a reference to his fight against cancer.

The 1998 album The Oddventures of Mr. Cool is a full hip hop album and feature the song "Whole Lotta Lovin'", whose music is a sample of the Eraserheads song "Alapaap". Later albums would include Interscholastic (1999) which featured adaptations of various artists' songs; and Freeman 2 (2001), a heavy-metal rap album which would echo many of the themes that had made the first Freeman album so popular.

FM's contributions to the genre have been featured in several international hip hop publications including the All Music Guide to Hip-Hop: The Definitive Guide to Rap and Hip-Hop (2003) published by Backbeat Books; as well as the May 2004 issue of the U.S. based publication The Source. FrancisM was also given the Pioneer Hall of Fame Award by Empire Entertainment at the 1st Annual Philippine Hip-Hop Music Awards in 2005.

In 2002, with the assistance of then FUBU Philippines' management employees Carlo Maniquiz and Nick Tuason, Magalona launched a compilation album of the same name. Later that year, Francis Magalona's greatest hits album, The Best of FrancisM was released.

He was also the only arist that was accepted by both Pinoy rap and rock fans.

Over the years FrancisM has also branched out to numerous hosting responsibilities; and has been part of several television shows including the longest running daytime television show in the Philippines Eat Bulaga!, as well as being a VJ for MTV Asia. FM is MTV Asia's first Filipino VJ along with Regine Tolentino and Donita Rose. He worked with MTV from 1997 up to 2000. He was also chosen by Fremantle Media, owners of American Idol as one of the judges of in the first Philippine Idol season that aired on ABC (now TV5) alongside Maestro Ryan Cayabyab and Ms. Pilita Corrales, Asia's Queen of songs. Aside from television, he also hosted live events and presentations.

On March 6, 2009, the master rapper went home to his master.

FM was not just the "King of Pinoy Rap" but also "The Father of Pinoy Hip Hop".FM's contributions to the genre have been featured in several international hip hop publications including the All Music Guide to Hip-Hop: The Definitive Guide to Rap and Hip-Hop (2003) published by Backbeat Books; as well as the May 2004 issue of the U.S.-based publication The Source. He was also given the Pioneer Hall of Fame Award by Empire Entertainment at the 1st Annual Philippine Hip-Hop Music Awards in 2005.

FM was the recipient of the MTV Pilipinas Video Music Awards Generations Award in 2006 "in recognition of his career that has spanned decades and broken boundaries, and for his music which continues to inspire generations of artists and music fans both here and abroad." He was the second person so honored, the first having been singer Gary Valenciano at the 2005 rites.

On March 18, 2009, the Philippine Government - through the efforts of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts -- recognized FM with by awarding him a posthumous Presidential Medal of Merit. The award's citation noted that it had been given “for his musical and artistic brilliance, his deep faith in the Filipino and his sense of national pride that continue to inspire us.”

FrancisM's legacy lives on.