FHM.com.ph

Talk about the talent level here in the Philippines, and how we compare internationally.
As with everything, the Philippines has potential and has the talent to make it.

As for whether we reach the mark, in most things, I think we still fall a bit short. There are a lot of sick cats no doubt, like, in both English and Filipino and even in Bisaya.  

But I think a lot is lost in translation in the sense that they get hooked up to the wrong hiphop from the West. America sends us whoever their mainstream artist is, and that’s what the people listen to.

At the same time there’s a different demographic that doesn’t even get exposed to that. But what they’re exposed to is a bunch of groups that took their own direction in hiphop and didn’t bother to know where it came from, and knowing where it’s gone.

If you know where something came from, where it’s gone, and where it can go, only then can you really come up with your own hiphop persona or whatever, your own music, your own stance, your own ideology, whatever.

Because little do you know that you could be saying the same shit that this guy already said, that a hundred guys have already said.

And in a sense, there’s nothing wrong with that, but you’ve got to advance things, of course. You can’t get stuck with the same concept.

What do you look at when judging a battle?
Quality of punch lines, basically. You can break it down in any which way you want. There’s delivery, there’s flow, there’s rhyme scheme, cadence, timing, swag. All that shit.

Where do you want to take Fliptop going forward?
Basically, right now, we just want to gain exposure for everyone else, and whatever we make from this, it’s just going back to the projects anyways. If some day like we have enough money to actually fly over some good hiphop acts from the States, and sponsor the event, then why not, right?

 At the same time, we’ll have the sick cats here performing. We’ll have workshops so like people will exchange ideas and shit. Basically, anything that’s hiphop-related, but still done sort of like guerilla style.