Fil-German rapper fights off would-be robbers

VIRAC, Catanduanes—Filipino-German rapper Kay One, number one in Europe, had been in his mother’s country barely two days when he had a couple of experiences he won’t soon forget.

Now in this his mother Anne’s hometown, six-foot Kenneth Glöckler, 27, told the Inquirer about fighting off two holdup men near the five-star Makati hotel he was billeted at after arriving in the country on August 11.

They got nothing though as the six-foot blond Filipino-German nearly broke the jaw of one of them and gave a shiner to the other, leaving them crying in pain on the pavement two blocks from the Dusit Thani hotel.

Glöckler said that despite his mom’s admonition not to venture out alone in Manila, especially at night, he left the hotel at 11 p.m. to clear his head after getting into a disagreement with his brother Leigh, 28. He also had had a few drinks, he admitted.

On the street outside the hotel, he said a thin man came up to him and asked if he wanted a girl. When he said no, the man continued to follow him and was joined by another man, who also asked if he wanted a girl.

He turned into a street from which he could see a wide avenue but before he could get there, one of the men tried to reach into his pocket. He turned around and punched the man in the jaw, sending him down.

The other guy kicked him and pulled out a switchblade, swinging the knife at Kay One but missing. The Fil-German decked him with a punch to the left eye.

With both of the men down, Kay One entered a nearby store from where he watched the two get up and run. He said he would have given them P1,000 had they just asked him nicely.

The incident was not reported to the Makati police, which 15 hours earlier had sent out four patrol cars to look for Kay One after he failed to return to his hotel following a party on Governor Chavit Singson’s yacht on Manila Bay. That was another experience for another day. Fernan Gianan, Inquirer Southern Luzon