A glimpse of the Pinoy Hiphop scene

Last December 17, a Fliptop battle entitled Bara ko, Barako  was held at the covered court in Naic Cavite. This event was organized by Cavite's Most Dangerous.

Event ticket

I haven't attended a fliptop battle before nor a hiphop event. Back in the university, I never missed the February fair at the UP Sunken Garden. Bands of genres ranging from metal to pop rock played at the UP fair. It is rare that a rapper takes a performance at those events; those I have watched were Gloc9 and Dello, I guess. So, deciding to watch this event was trying to see something you never knew. I have watched some battles in Youtube but seeing it live would be a fresh take.

I have invited my old friend, Julee to come and watch with me. Hiphop, in general, does not interest me, so why would we want to see something that really was not our interest? Simply because our old friend and batchmate in highschool, BLKD, was making history in the Fliptop battle scene, And to support him, we decided to see how the battle goes and how he throws his lines.

Photo credit: Julee Olave

Before the battles started, Anygma, President of Fliptop battle explained first the mechanics and brief updates of their efforts to gather people with hiphop lifestyles and to gear up the Pinoy hiphop scene towards progress and development, whatever it means. Well, from there, Anygma got my respect for taking that responsibility to influence more people, together with the league.

There were about at least seven to ten battles that night. They were different from the battles I have watched online. Some of the lines I did not hear because some spoke softly, to think that there were no microphones used during the battles. The audience had to respect each game and keep quiet until all the lines were thrown so that everyone would be able hear them. Plus the fact that all the battles were documented to be uploaded in Youtube, for all the fans of fliptop worldwide. Props to the videographer and the editor of those videos. All the battles uploaded online were properly edited so that all fans would enjoy them.

I could say that I enjoyed the event. It is nice to try something different and THIS was probably one of those moments and I think that I will want to watch an event like this again but not anytime sooner. ☺

I hope that the Fliptop battle league will continue to aim for progress so that the Pinoy hiphop scene will exceed the society's expectations, and will be of greater use as a medium for the changes that the people want.