Guest Contribution by: Mark Villegas
Pilipino Americans are known to be quite talented and successful in hip hop culture. For street dance and turntablism, it is almost a given that Pilipino Americans are a formidable force. Even for emceeing, in the past 9 years they have been making a big mark on underground hip hop, with top acts like Blue Scholars garnering a multiracial and multigenerational national audience. And it does not need mentioning the strong Pil Am presence in the San Francisco Bay area emcee scene.
But, for Pilipinos in the Philippines, the roles seem to be switched.
During my visit to Metro Manila this July, I was able to interact with a handful of talented Philippine emcees, producers, DJs, and dancers who express the difficulty of attracting a Philippine audience. For them, especially for the emcees, Pilipinos are very skeptical of their hip hop performance. While Pilipinos love hip hop from the States (Kanye West, Flo-Rida, Jay-Z, etc.), they tend to look down upon their own local talent. While rock bands have been a staple to the Philippine soundscape for a while, it has been an uphill battle for Philippine hip hop to gain acceptance. The reasons, of course, are multiple, contradictory, and complicated.
Nonetheless, there is a faithful circle of hip hop heads trying to break into the Philippine music industry, and ultimately to gain global exposure.
Will Pil Ams embrace their Philippine hip hop counterparts?
I created a short documentary during my visit to the Metro. The film, Lyrical Empire: Hip Hop in Metro Manila, is premiering at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival on Sunday, May 2nd. I would appreciate your support! This film is dedicated to the hip hop artists in the Philippines, but also for Pil Ams who may not be familiar with the Philippine musical soundscape (and only think Philippine hip hop is Andrew E or Francis M.).
Hopefully, this film opens up a new musical world for Pil Ams, and encourage us look to the Philippines as a leader in hip hop music, rather than seeing it as second-rate. I hope you will be surprised and inspired!
Here is more information on the festival and the premiere:
Sunday, MAY 2
PROGRAM 31
1:30 PM
Laemmle SUNSET 5
8000 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood, 90046
LYRICAL EMPIRE: HIP HOP IN METRO MANILA
(United States/Philippines, 2010) Dir.: Mark Villegas
Take a glimpse into the lives of hip hop artists from Metro Manila, in a country where hip hop culture is under constant scrutiny from a skeptical public. What will it take for these artists to prove their skills? Will hip hop become big in the Philippines, or will it be forever discarded as "jologs," underclass, and uncultured? These hardworking hip hop heads show you the passion and style they bring to the game where lyrical boundaries blur and innovation is prized.
Video, 20 min., color, documentary
RSVP at the Lyrical Empire Facebook event page HERE.
Visit the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival page for info on box office, discounts, and ticketing.
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By mv on April 30, 2010 - 3:24pm
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Comments
Hopefully i get some of the terms right in the Evil Monito article below. Your thoughts are appreciated:
http://evilmonito.com/2010/04/30/lyrical-empire-metro-manila-emcees-over...
@marc i think that the meaning of "true" hip hop here in the philippines is debatable at best. i expressed my opinions about this when i wrote my article here:
http://thepoc.net/thepoc-features/buhay-pinoy/buhay-pinoy-features/5169....
"As I see it, the source of Filipino hip hop’s identity crisis has always been the one-two punch of colonial mentality and overt patriotism. As it is with other art forms not indigenous to the Philippines... there will always be the question of authenticity whenever something is not expressed in the native vernacular."
the problem isn't really that the local hip hop scene isn't being properly recognized or validated by the public. it doesn't start there; that's just a symptom of the sickness. the problem is that Filipino hip hop in the Philippines lacks a cohesive identity -- there is no real unity, so there is no real direction and no real push for greatness. this is why no matter how many crews get together to make bigger and bigger waves, it still only amounts to a minuscule drop in the bucket.
if there are people (emcees, djs, bboys, enthusiasts and what have you) in the scene who still don't respect the totality of local hip hop culture, or still accord differing amounts of respect based on the audience targeted and the language used, then we are lost. it shouldn't matter anymore! kung hanggang ngayon may pagkakaiba pa rin -- kung hanggang ngayon ang pilipino/tagalog/bisaya/atbp ay jologs and ang ingles "conyo"/"maarte"/"pang-mayaman," eh paano na 'to?
I think everyone should start injecting money where they mouth is and stop making excuses. The States and Pinas are of different leverages. We should inject funds into the scene so it becomes an industry. Pinas is a whole different ball game, and no Fil Am can teach us how to grab this scene by the neck. And generally Pinoy are very hospitable and will take it for what you say its supposed to be but all in all -- I think Fil Am's should trust Pinoys with their talent and understand that we are of different struggles with similar goals. And yo, Pinas doesnt come short of respect and keeping it real moments -- but more over than that -- I think hiphop in Pinas is more fun, than the desperation and saturation of the market abroad. We hope this little film gives you quite an insight on how you look at hiphop in Pinas -- cause freal, we come correct and we get noticed internationally without having to depend on racial issues, we just bring what we can to the mix and compete at high level of both play and risk.
And don't think for one second that we are uneducated heads. I made straight A's, go head and try to degrade us.
Love, live life, proceed; progress.
WWW.SOULFIESTA.BLOGSPOT.COM
Props to Mark V! When will this be shown here? were excited already. :)
@Marc - Growth of hip-hop in the P.I. does not depend on the teachings of Filipino-Americans. If you've ever been to the Philippines and experienced the scene/culture for yourself, you will know the passion of hip-hop heads here. Words like "true" or phrases like "keeping it real" are not new. Heads here are no different from heads there; it just so happened that we are in a different place, and the issues we are fighting for are different.
I sure hope you watch the documentary. educate yourself.
download the Mixtapes on the sidebar of my blog,
http://www.spiltmillc.tk
you might be surprised.
If there's anything Pinoy hip-hop needs from Filams, its just support.
great stuff Mica. I would love to show it sa pinas. pero, i am depending on YALL to point me to what venues I can send it to. kung wala, then i'll just throw it up on Vimeo (with password) for yall especially.
but please do let me know if there are any festivals or gatherings I can send it to doon. Marquiss said he might know of one.
salamatz
MV
whattup folks,
you know as a filam, i was ignorant on the whole hiphop scene back home and it's beautiful.
I have no doubt that folks are keeping the Hiphop artform, real and true. On my first night checkin the scene I was met by JayMasta and C-Lo, OG's in the Manila bboy community. JayMasta learned original dance styles back in 1982 and he straight up schooled this kat from Berkeley on his poppin set. They schooled me too! (an old skool FL bboy from the 90s).
I think we need to veer away w/words like "should be taught" and having preconceived notions about our folks. I mean I felt the same way before, it's very American/Western to think nothing of quality exists outside our country. The reality is, folks like Philippine Allstars are the most business savvy, realest, dedicated hiphop troupes i ever met in my life. AND they know how to navigate all the mainstream entertainment scenes. check our their YouTube clips on how they took World Hiphop competitions twice.
I was at Dyzee's jam in Quezon City, and yes, the bboys needed pointers how the whole world battles, but that was the most RAWEST events i seen in awhile. lil 3 year old kids rockin power, blowup and freeze combos with folks.
It's not an issue of "us" teaching them. but how do we support that growth? how do we get their names out? you know all pop industries follow big superpower capital (US, India, Korea), and the folks are well aware of that and they're tryna find their niche. I hope there can continue to be creative collaborations from Filipinos and our FilAm communities, there isn't enough, and we got a lot to learn. Also many of the Filipinos in the scene are FilAm too, who often go back n forth, and folks are REAL fluid in their international connections.
On top of keeping it real, I can say that our folks are so versatile it's unbelievable. Hiphop MC's that are on point in both tagalog and english. dancer's who have all styles from breakin to lockin to waackin to krumpin to the TEE. The beautiful thing bout hiphop is I heard it playin in the worker communities, seen folks freestyle on the street, to seein my cousins all have a krump routine in the provinces. It's all about who has access to that type of knowledge.
I'mma close with this quote from Sheena of Philippine Allstars, "we're building this scene, this community, not only for us but for our country, so our brothers and sisters can be proud of who they are" and that's real. talaga.
for reference, check:
http://www.myspace.com/turbulenceproductionsmusic
http://www.myspace.com/philippineallstars
http://www.myspace.com/lyricallyderangedpoets
soulfiesta.blogspot.com
peace, boogaleo
Marc, very poignant observations. It is also important to remember that this process of Filipino and Filipino American back and forth hip hop cultural contribution has been occurring since the 80s, especially in regards to dance. But MastaPlann, who are featured in the film, are probably the more notable figures because they are from Southern California and made a huge splash in the Philippines starting in 1992. So yes, U.S.-styled hip hop has been brewing in the Philippines for a while now and they (artists) are not that foreign to it. It is the general public that is still hesitant in incorporating it.
I think the growth of hip-hop in The Philippines will be heavily dictated by how much Pilipino-Americans can teach them the essence and meaning of "true" hip-hop. I know that using words like "true" or phrases like "keeping it real" are cliche, but I definitely think that these ideas are very new to many people in The Philippines and should be taught/displayed so that they can create something that is respected amongst the general population...making it known that hip-hop is not merely just a form of entertainment but also a culture that has roots and respect.