Metro Manila hip hop heads conquering the "Lyrical Empire!"

Lyrical Empire: Hip Hop in Metro Manila trailer from Mark V on Vimeo.

This is the new project I'm working on. As many of you know, I was in the Philippines this July and I got to get to know a few of the hip hop heads doin the do in Metro Manila. Lyrical Empire is an homage to those talented folks and also a serious investigation on the social, racial, and colonial context in which this hip hop scene emerges. The rhymes are dope, the beats is dope, the dancers are world champions, but it's also worth exploring how the Philippines is a unique and important place for hip hop to thrive.

"Get up on game!!" I want people in the U.S. to understand, because the scene in the Philippines is on the rise. These dudes are English-speaking, Tagalog-speaking, Ilocano, even Spanish... And most emcees stateside only got one language in they toolbox.

"My hand-eye coordination is impeccable
Spectacular vernacular
Everything I do is theatrical
Juggling words and phrases
Like a circus...
I'm the boss
The M. Bison of the game
You little Ryu's and Kens need more time to train..."
-Marquiss of AMP, "The Buzz" from Thinking Man's HipHop

Spectacular vernacular indeed! Marquiss not only flexes in English, he teaches you English. (No, literally, he is/was an English teacher for white people, ha!) Tiger uppercut!

And the beats? You need to check out Chrizo's Thinking Man's HipHop album. The Philippine's premiere beatmaster brings together the hottest, most talented emcees on this project. It's been on steady rotation in my iPod shuffle (that's bigger than a regular iPod, ha!). I have no idea how stateside people can get their hands on this thang. Chrizo, you gonna put it all up on the net or what?

And as SoulFiesta reminds us, it's been exactly a year since Thinking Man's HipHop's release!

There's so much to learn from these artists, and hopefully Lyrical Empire gives a little taste of the scene in Metro Manila and draws some curiosity from stateside audiences.

As the island-hopping (Guam, Hawai'i), Red Horse grippin, Bacolod City reppin emcee Aero spits in "So Pinoy":

"I'm so Pinoy, you call me promdi
I'm so Pinoy, you call me fobsy
I'm so Pinoy, I speak it konti...

I make it hard to rock shows
For those doing it after
A Filipino emcee?
Call me a lumpia rapper"

Lumpia rapper... oh so greasy these lyrics. Peace!!

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Legend lives on (in San Francisco)!

Just informing yall that my short doc Legend will be screening at the 16th Annual Filipino American Cinefest in San Francisco this Friday. It will be showing alongside the films of fellow comrades Eric Tandoc and Florante Ibanez. If ya in the errrya, reprezentzzz.

FACINE16: The 16th Annual Filipino American Cinefest

The FACINE festival is the longest-running festival of its kind in North America that features films by and/or about Filipino/a and Filipino/a Americans. Now on its 16th year, the festival runs for two days, November 20-21, 2009 at the San Francisco Main Library.

PROGRAM 1
Friday, November 20, 2009
1-2pm

Our stories from the ‘hood

Legend (Mark Villegas, dir & prod; 5 min, 2009)- Legend highlights the DJ career of Isaiah Dacio (aka DJ Icy Ice). Navigating through cultural history of Filipino youth in Los Angeles during the 1980s and 90s, Ice narrates the vibrancy of Filipino talent in the mobile DJ scene. Starting as a young DJ in Carson, reaching fame as a member of the DJ crew the World Famous Beat Junkies, and succeeding as the owner of his DJ business Stacks Records, Ice tells the story of his immersion in a rich Filipino youth expression that continues its legacy.

Got Book? Auntie Helen’s Gift of Books (Florante Pete Ibanez, dir; UCLA Department of World Arts & Culture/Center for EthnoCommunications, prod; 8:45 min, 2005) - short documentary on Helen Brown, the founder of Pilipino American Reading Room & Library.

Sounds of a New Hope (Eric Tandoc, dir; Mass Movement & Sine Patriotiko, prods; 41 min, 2009) - Tandoc follows Filipino American rap artist, Kiwi, through his work with youth both in the US and the Philippines where he uses music to raise political consciousness.

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Coincidentally, I'll be showing Legend in the Fil Am Experience class at UC Irvine on Thursday, November 19. Icy Ice will speak as an honored guest. He will talk about his experience as a Filipino in the hip hop industry. Thanks to him for blessing us.

Also, tonight I'll be screening my earlier doc Hip Hop Mestizaje in Florante Ibanez's Fil Am Experience class at Loyola Marymount University, near LAX.

This condensed Fil Am hip hop-edness week is purely coincidental. But glad its happening. Bring it.

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Wapak!

Congrats to Miguel Cotto for staying alive after a brutal beat down. All 12 rounds of Pac Man fist and lookin all pork face for pride?

Colonies are erupting in the living rooms of the Empire! "Wapak"!!

Colonial Funk! Pacquiao vs. Cotto: violent island intimacies

Pacquiao and Cotto painting on a jeepney, for HBO 24 7 show

"On the tube, I'm just watching Pacquiao box it up. How would I know HBO would get a shot of us? Sittin so close that we almost got snot on us."
-Jay Z, "Thank You"

"You know I get em with the rap's Manny Pac hooks!"
-Son of Ran, "For the Wax"

"My people pump your fists like you're Manny Pacquiao. Man-child with the wild-style, right to be hostile."
-Blue Scholars, "Solstice: Reintroduction"



The colonies is hostile this Saturday! Manny Pacquiao (representing the Philippines) and Miguel Cotto (Puerto Rico) will bout it out for WBO Welterweight supremacy. Moving up from 140 to 147 pounds, Pacquiao will once again be tested as he gains bulk, which is always a liability in terms of speed and power.

This blog has dedicated a lot of material to posing questions about Filipinos' relationships to other people of color. So, it is not surprising that the Pacquiao-Cotto fight is overheating the Hip Hop Lives thinking-engine.

As former/current colonies of Spain and the United States acquired by Western powers at the same time, the Philippines and Puerto Rico occupy historical discourses in almost identical colonial, cultural, and military relevance.

It's important to note that both colonies have a strong love affair with boxing. And--as hip hop heads know--Filipinos and Puerto Ricans in the U.S. have had a strong love affair with hip hop culture (Pinoys on the West Coast, PRs on the East). Finally, as demonstrated by Cotto's father's 25 years in the U.S. Army and by Filipinos' migration through military service, both colonies have for over a century been firm ground for military boots.

But of course a few things disrupt the otherwise seemingly perfect accord:

-The Philippines is in the Pacific, and Puerto Rico is in the Caribbean, bringing in some geographical dissonance.

-Although both are mixed racially, the Philippines has a large "Asian" population especially pronounced with a noticeable Chinese middle class, and Puerto Rico is home to a dominant African diaspora. After all, Afrika Bambaataa considers Puerto Ricans as "black."

-Puerto Ricans speak a Spanish vernacular and were not forced American English by the U.S. colonial administration. Whereas Filipinos were not taught Spanish because of Spanish prejudice against indio inferiority, but were/are instructed and speak a variety of American English. However, in the HBO 24 7 episodes, both Pacquiao and Cotto speak American English (but Pac-Man gets the subtitles! Doh!)

Political cartoon from the early 1900s. Uncle Sam disciplining the bad Filipino, Hawaiian, Puerto Rican, and Cuban children

A few questions can be asked about the upcoming fight:

1. What does it mean to gaze upon two Filipino and Puerto Rican bodies in violent confrontation--especially with millions of dollars at stake?

2. How will the audience categorize Pacquiao and Cotto? Will Pacquiao be "Asian"? Will Cotto be "Hispanic"? Black? And what does that mean for Filipino and Puerto Rican audience members (actually, all audience members) as they assess the other's body type?

3. In the HBO 24 7 biographical specials, the music and scenery (complete with food!) give vivid depictions of where these men are from. What kind of narratives can be written about the islands Pacquiao and Cotto represent? Will the shared histories of Spanish and U.S. colonization of both colonies be articulated, or are both effectively painted as completely incongruent? (I mean, check "The Battle of East and West" narrative written on the Pacquiao-Hatton fight. I'm wondering the marketing strategy debates occurring with this current one. Rice and fish vs. rice and beans?)

4. What does it mean to have non-Americans, especially Pacquiao, figuring as a boxing icon for the U.S. boxing imagination? Will the Floyd Mayweather, who is from Michigan, rescue the all-American boxing iconography? (Remember, Oscar De La Hoya, from East LA, is called "Golden Boy" for a reason)

Like hip hop, this boxing thang unearths some interesting queries about ourselves as Filipinos and people of color! So before yall crack open the San Miguel and let loose, some crazy juice for your thinking-engine as we prepare for the big fight on Saturday!


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Repost: Live and (DERANGED) from Manila: Part II

Peace and blessings everyone. I'm reposting this entry cuz some Japanese fooz hacked into my blog and post up sex solicitation ads in the comments on this particular LDP article. I don't know why, and I don't know how they do it. I have to delete their comments EVERYDAY. Hopefully once I modify the entry title, it will stop.

If you haven't checked out my writings Metro Manila hip hop, please check it out:

Live and Direct from Manila: Part I
Live and (Deranged) from Manila: Part II
Live and Direct from Manila: Part III: Hip Hop Talaga!
Live and Direct from Manila: Part IV: Mestizaje Talaga!
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: B-Roc talk
Arists breaking boundaries "Beyond, Beyond"

Stay tuned for more on hip hop in Metro Manila.

Filipino hip hop group Lyrically Deranged Poets. Look out, these young cats fast to catch ya: Abra, far left, Alex to his left, R-jay forefront

Oh this ignorant Fil Am is truly getting schooled. Its been a blessing meeting some very inspirational young folks here in Metro Manila. My journey into Filipino hip hop began with just one blog comment by the the guru himself B-Rocc of Turbulence Productions. Now I've been invited into a whole world that I'm certain few Fil Am hip hop heads know or even care about.

ET of Mass Movement TV was perhaps the first to introduce us to hip hop in the Philippines with his documentary "Sounds of a New Hope". Highlighting hip hop coming from the gang-affiliated youth of Caloocan, it opened many of our eyes to the power of hip hop culture in the Philippines among young people.

Last night I got a small taste of a sample of hip hop here. In the posh and hip Metro Manila district of Eastwood City, young people were dressed up and ready to party. It was the album release party of Young JV, a local artist getting mad love on the airwaves. The scene was just like the Filipino-patronized clubs and bars in Los Angeles or the Bay Area, well except, everyone is much younger (apparently there is no age restrictions in many of the night joints in the Philippines). Circa Bar was packed with Tim'd out hip hop heads and sexy party-goers alike. Right below the DJ (DJ Big Daddy), rappers took turns to rip the mic or beat box. LDP (Lyrically Deranged Poets, here is their MySpace) who are in their teens, and older more seasoned veterans such as Slick n Sly Kane and Mista Blaze shared the stage and showed deep love for the culture.

"Shout out to the world that I'm proud to be Brown!" -Abra of LDP in "Three Years in the Making"

In a metropolis canvased by billboards advertising whitening soaps and pills, where mestizo looks and status are virtually universally privileged, and where a distinct class of people have been ruling the nation's agenda for centuries, it seems that there are few spaces for alternative/resistant modes of racial and class identity. Today, hip hop provides one of these spaces. These rappers seem to be invested in making this way of being into a transformative part of Filipino culture.

I had the privilege of interviewing many of the rappers at the Eastwood City venue. LDP gave good insight to the culture here and expressed optimism that hip hop is only getting bigger. The talented and charismatic R-jay was hospitable and provided an excellent introduction to this particular independent hip hop scene in Metro Manila. Abra provided a tongue-twisting, hurricane-kicking Tagalog rap that'll test Bone Thugs' game. And Alex, a brotha of Nigerian descent, layed down some serious lyricism and gave some interesting perspectives on hip hop culture here and its promises of knowledge and dignity. His devotion to the Philippines is so deep that he even has a tattoo on his right arm proclaiming his Filipino pride.

LDP asks "What If?" in a track on their new album The Project. They pose, "What if there was no hip hop?" Curious question. But the important thing to remember is that there is hip hop, and the energy and commitment of the youth in Metro Manila show that hip hop is such a beautiful thing.

YOU CAPTION! Pacquiao at Wild Card

The Pacquiao-Cotto fight is on Saturday, November 14 at 9:00pm on HBO PPV. Have you been watching the HBO 24/7 episodes detailing the training and drama between the two fighters? Always good stuff. But why does Pacquiao have subtitles, and Cotto doesn't? Both speak English.

You know I'mma be all up ons the Philippine-Puerto Rico colonial funk happening here.

For fun, here's a snapshot of Pacquiao training at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. Yet another round of YOU CAPTION!

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Artist Spotlight: Mike "Dream" Francisco

Else1 dedicates a sketchbook piece to Dream

A few weekends back I had the privilege of attending the 11th Annual Mighty 4 in Oakland. Representin at the event were Lil John and Vogue 1, two Pinoy dudes I interviewed about 3 years ago at another Mighty 4 event.

Lil John is the brother of Mike Dream. Dream was a Pinoy brother from East Oakland who passed in 2000. Dream had been creating graffiti art since the early 1980s and his style became famous worldwide. The graff game is indebted to his creativity and genious. The hip hop world and socially-conscious folks miss his poignant political messages. This Artist Spotlight is dedicated to Dream, a beloved figure and pioneer in hip hop who stayed loyal to the culture and continues to inspire folks. It would be a huge oversight to not mention Mike Dream when discussing Filipinos in hip hop.

Remembering Mike Dream from Mark V on Vimeo.

Above are a number of interviews I did for my short documentary, Hip Hop Mestizaje. I created this Mike Dream addendum to the film because so many of my interviewees gave shout outs to Dream as an influential Filipino brother in the hip hop hustle. Here are the interviewees in order of appearance: Geologic (Blue Scholars), Davey D (Davey D's Hip Hop Corner), Paulskee (Mighty 4/Rock Force/Zulu Nation), Basic (The Alias Brothers), Lil John (TDK), and Vogue 1 (TDK). Youtube has an abundance of Mike Dream videos. This one has a good interview with the brotha. And apparently he was supposed to be in a Converse commercial.

To learn more about him, here is an excerpt from Dream's article, "Writing is My Life":

WRITING IS MY LIFE
by MIKE DREAM

"Writing is my life. I am a graffiti writer. Whatever people say about the terminology, I write. I've been writing since somewhere around '83...

I went through a consciousness phase in the writing, realizing that 'art for art's sake' was weak and that there was power in the message. I began to understand the roots of my own culture. My Filipino heritage taught me about the struggles and sacrifices of my people for equality in this country, opening my eyes to the racism that surrounds our lives, and all of our brothers and sisters of color. My pieces started to have more content and substance..."
CONTINUE READING...

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