His hip-hop looks can be deceiving

The look – from head to toe – is unmistakably hip-hop. Jay-R’s hair is cropped super short, almost skinhead style. He sports a single stud earring, wears loose T-shirts and pants. But the 24-year-old Fil-Am is not your typical devil-may-care hip-hop guy.

Take his music, for one. Jay-R’s hit song, Bakit Pa Ba? is no syncopated piece that inspires jerky movements, but a smooth ballad Filipinas swoon to. He doesn’t paint the town red in his free time but writes music with his three-man band, Smash Brothaz, his home studio.

"That’s the misconception," rues Jay-R. "People think you behave differently just because you dress the hip-hop way. But it doesn’t follow. It’s just a style of dressing for me."

For all his American background (he was born and raised in the US), Jay-R is your typical guy whose Pinoy parents talked to him in Filipino and taught him respect for elders and other Asian values. He sends money to his parents and treated them to a vacation in Europe like a dutiful son. Again, like a typical Pinoy, Jay-R regrets putting his studies on hold to pursue his dream of becoming a singer.

That dream has not only brought Jay-R back to the land of his ancestors three years ago, but to an unfortunate experience in Japan, where he got detained at the airport to wait for fellow performers who got banned from entering the country (his was not a deportation case, though).

"That’s why I sympathize with Rudy (Fernandez) and Alma (Moreno)," says Jay-R (the two made headlines in a recent deportation case in Japan).

But the pain of that experience pales in comparison to the other highs Jay-R is enjoying. Regal Films, banking on his hunky image, cast him as the desirable Adonis in its upcoming comedy, Hari ng Sablay. Jay-R’s second film (after last year’s So Happy Together) is a walk in the park for this one-time cover boy of Cosmopolitan’s 69 Most Gorgeous Bachelors issue. His role is second skin to him: that of a Fil-Am rap singer. As expected, he delivers an a cappella song, to the delight of the ladies in the film, Rica Peralejo and Nadine Samonte.

"I didn’t feel like I’m acting at all," says Jay-R of the shoot.

Besides, his life being the one smooth easy ride that it is, Jay-R feels more at home in happy movies like this one than in drama.

"It’s hard for me to cry," he admits.

Neither does Jay-R hide the fact that he’s been going steady with US-based Filipina accountant Liza Calove for six years now. In fact, he will fly to New York on Dec. 24 to join her and his family for Christmas.

Next year promises to be just as fruitful for this SOP mainstay. His home studio has tapped Jay-R to host a celebrity dance show for QTV 11. The show will be right up his alley, since it will let Jay-R display the footwork those who saw him in Footloose found so engaging.

Because of Footloose, Jay-R will not think twice about getting another crack at musical theater.

And, to prove where his heart and soul really belong, Jay-R shares his ultimate dream: "I want to put up a recording label that will give aspiring singers a break."

Go for it, Jay-R. The countless talented but underrated singers out there are counting on you.