image by: Kanade-Chizuru
J-Nick, Repablikan, Loonie, Zaito, Target, Dello, Breezy
Girlz and the opposite gender’s counterpart, Breezy Boyz are the biggest names
in Philippine Rap industry nowadays. Most of them made their way to the top through
“street rapping battles” called Flip-Top. It’s where rappers come together to
battle each other. Each city or town can organize their own battles and work
their way up to the national championship.
One of their videos has more than 9.1 million hits on
youtube and that’s not counting the hits of others who reposted the original
video. However, none of them are signed to any major label. They release their
songs on YouTube and their social networking sites. The support from their fans
is pretty unbelievable. Their fans create their own music videos for their
songs. There is one song that had more than 20 user generated music videos, all
that for a song that never saw our radio airwaves. Take that Eminem!
So why are they still unsigned? There is hardly a chance the
labels haven’t heard of them yet. Three of them are, in fact, in the show
Bubble Gang. There is only one reason a label wouldn’t sign an artist, if they
don’t see a viable business. Most of their supporters come from the Lower C and
D. People from these classes wouldn’t exactly put CDs as their financial
priority.
The question now is why are they still underground? We know
there is a market out there for rap. The late Francis Magalona created that.
Andrew E. and Michael V. capitalized on that. Was it a fad for us Pinoys? Is it
a genre we can truly embrace?
For us to answer this question, we need to go back to the
roots of rap. Understanding its beginning will allow us to understand the very
essence of the genre and how it fits to our culture.
First, let us define the terms. There are three basic
assumptions:
- Rap is talking in rhyme to the rhythm of a beat
- Hip-hop, on the other hand, is a culture. It is a way of life who identify, love, and cherish rap, break dancing, DJing, and graffiti
- Rap is a musical genre born from hip-hop[i]
