Mama Filipina

Allen Pineda Lindo (apl.de.ap aka "The Alligator" of The Black Eyed Peas) having been born and raised in Pampanga, Philippines (up until he was 14 years old) is fully aware of the stark realities permeating his homeland. Nevertheless, he's still fiercely proud of how his people do the best they can with the cards they've been dealt with. In the 2003 Black Eyed Peas track, "The APL Song" (Pineda/Williams, 2m:54s, Elephunk, A&M/Interscope Records), Mr. Pineda unleashed, "Everyone helpin' each other whenever they can We makin' it happen, from nothin' to somethin,' That's how we be survivin' back in my homeland..."

Despite the nation's many beautiful places and people, poverty directly and indirectly caused by cultural, socio-economic, and political forces limit the opportunities of many to reach their full potentials. The Filipino Diaspora continues. Mama Filipina, we'll always come back home. We'll always come back home.. ~ M.S.





"Mama Filipina" by: Apl.de.ap (video above posted by youtube user, tmudirector)
Album: U Can Dream (Jeepney Music Inc.)
Director: Michael B. Chait
Produced by Elevate Films and TMU Pictures LLC for Jeepney Music Inc. and the Elevate Film Festival.

mama, mama filipina
i never meant to give you up
i had to move to america
mama, mama filipina
i never meant to give you up
i had to move to america

listen everybody i got somethin to say
about the place where i came from back in the days
how we used to run around outside in the rain
and we didn't have much but we had everything

i'm reminiscing how we used to be
fresh fruits, blue sand but no equality
where the rich stay rich
and the poor stay poor
but if you look inside there's so much more

now it's a simple life
can't forget what it's like
weather so warm you can even swim in the night
but we still want to taste that american life, life
american life

mama, mama filipina
i never meant to give you up
i had to move to america
mama, mama filipina
i never meant to give you up
i had to move to america

i remember how we used to be
growing up in the land of poverty
now you gotta leave home
to feed the family
gotta make it in the land of opportunity

politician corrupting the economy
how they plan to buy the lies of the currencies
and they fail to see the sight and the real beleif
of my philippine island, beaches with white sands
hot springs made from volcanoes erupting
how people make life from nothing to something
filipina mama raising me right
for she still wanna taste that american life

mama, mama filipina
i never meant to give you up
i had to move to america
mama, mama filipina
i never meant to give you up
i had to move to america

i just wanna show you that i missed ya
i just gotta show you that i missed ya
miss ya, miss ya
i just wanna show you that i missed ya
i just gotta show you that i missed ya
miss ya, miss ya
and i never gonna let you goooo..

mama, mama filipina
i never meant to give you up
i had to move to america
mama, mama filipina
i never meant to give you up
i had to move to america
mama, mama filipina
i never meant to give you up
i had to move to americamama, mama filipina
i never meant to give you up
i had to move to america