Andrew Ford Valentino Espiritu (born July 30, 1967), known professionally as Andrew E., is a Filipino rapper and actor.[2][3] He is best known in the Philippines for his 1990 debut hit single "Humanap Ka ng Panget" (Find an ugly person). Andrew E. won a 'Rap Album of the Year' award for his latest album Clubzilla at the 2010 PMPC Star Awards for Music. His latest single is "Shoot Shoot Part 2" which later used as instrumental for campaign jingle "Heto Na Inday Sara."
Career
Espiritu first worked as a DJ in a popular club, Euphoria and was discovered by guitarman Ramon "RJ" Jacinto in 1990. He made his television debut on That's Entertainment, a variety show hosted by the late German Moreno on GMA-7. He eventually started his professional career in December 1990 when he released his debut single "Humanap Ka ng Panget" (transl. Find Someone Who Is Ugly).
In mid-1997, Espiritu founded an independent rap label named Dongalo Wreckords for the purpose of discovering and producing new rap talents, one of them being the rap group Salbakuta, with their debut single "S2upid Luv" becoming a best-seller and spawning a theatrical feature film starring Espiritu.
Espiritu spent some time in Japan in the late 1990s, performing in clubs and eventually releasing a CD single with two rap songs in Japanese about the misadventures of a tourist in Tokyo. This got the attention of a Japanese producer, who offered to help promote him if he would apply for Japanese citizenship.[4]
In 2000, he was a consultant to Caloocan mayor Rey Malonzo "for entertainment and cultural affairs".[5]
On March 25, 2002. he released the album "Porno Daw"[6]
In 2010, he was one of the judges in ABS-CBN's noontime variety/talent show Showtime. He later returned as a judge in the Showtime segment "Hype Best".
Espiritu returned to acting in 2016 as Uge, the biological father of Serena (played by Liza Soberano) in ABS-CBN's drama series Dolce Amore.[8]
Andrews first Star Cinema movie was "Raketeros", a comedy movie was released in 2013 for the film company's 20th anniversary of Star Cinema and ABS-CBN Film Productions.
Andrew returned to acting with the comedy film Sanggano, Sanggago't Sanggwapo, marking his returning to Viva Films since his last film A.B. Normal College was released in 2003. Sanggano, Sanggago't Sanggwapo was released in theaters in September 2019, with co-stars Dennis Padilla, Janno Gibbs, Louise Delos Reyes and Eddie Garcia with Al Tantay as director.
Allegations of plagiarism
In 2018, Espiritu became involved in a plagiarism controversy when "Humanap Ka ng Panget" was accused of being an unauthorized translation of the song "Find an Ugly Woman" by DJ Cash Money and MC Marvelous.[9] A thread in the /r/Philippines subreddit called out the rapper for allegedly making a cover of "Find An Ugly Woman" without Cash Money Marvelous' permission, just after the noontime variety show ASAP aired a tribute performance to Espiritu.[10]
Personal life
Espiritu married Mylene Espiritu in March 2000. The couple have three children.[11]
