Battle Review: FlipTop 2-on-2: Manila vs. Olongapo

10.15.2011 | 11:11 a.m.

I know. I’m not music or poet critic or a legit hip-hopper but it’s been a while since I dig some rap battles from FlipTop which turned out to be another worthy on my playback button. And dig this, folks. How about a 2-on-2 battle like this one from a recent event from the said battle league?

Ahon 2, a rap-battle event which held last July 1, came up with a package of heavy rap battles which can be translated into some hundred thousands to even millions of views on YouTube for some time later on. And one of the duo-versus-duo battles featured in the event was the so-called "clash of the regions" from factions Kampo Teroritmo (NCR) and Bloodline (Central Luzon).

Kampo was represented by Apoc and Dhictah while Bloodline, the group from Olongapo, was fronted by Toma Hawk and Nico.

I can’t tell you the entire details about the fight since I only personally saw that on YouTube but you should see it for yourself here. (I hate to do the spoiler’s chore anyway.)

But here’s my take: as far as the three rounds are concerned, I can tell that experience was a big factor in this fight. Even before FlipTop exists, the guys from Pasig had shown better experience on throwing up a fight. Perhaps blame it on the two’s previous setbacks. Dhictah lost in his opening game against Cameltoe while Apoc's battle career took a bad hit when he had chokes (literally) that cost his game’s winning chances. But all of them are set aside. Teamwork wise, I’ll give it to KT. They performed more than just like that. Dhictah has its own time to throw punchlines and so was Apoc.

Individually speaking, this game was considered as Apoc's big comeback battle. No doubt he was at the spotlight of the league nowadays when he appears to be one of the judges of the battles especially during Grain Assault events and so on. People may think that this guy may be a "choke king" in his early goings of his battle, but I think some emcees are on the same boat as the way he does. Example? Abra from LDP. Check his first two battles with Batas and Nothing Else. And it was only on his third battle with Harlem when he had been improving much steadily. So for the so-called fans of Filipino hip-hop, observe first before you judge.

Dhictah. I honestly don't know if there's something improved. But if you're asking about this battle... man! He even became more solid. Comedic-line wise or even personal hit. Perfect delivery.

Nico, on the other hand, was the one who never went shy and had been up to the challenge, especially if you talk about the difference between the cultures of Central Luzon and the center of the entire Philippines. Though I noticed one thing: he's trying to be more even courageous when he throw bars relating to the battle, like going up against those heavyweight shits even if his homie toma Hawk joined their opponent.

Toma Hawk was a good emcee, though the only problem is he got lost in concentration in some of his lines. He's good in his comedic lines should he not be intimidated by KT.

Round-by-round:

1: Apoc and Dhictah had a solid 8-bar-recital to start it out. It contains the names and trends of the local legends of hip-hop in the country; specifically, way back to the previous decade. See Apoc' Facebook note.

Nico and Toma Hawk on the other hand, was close to them. Very solid start, some of the lines were even good to be remarkable. Technicality wise, it's tied. But impact-speaking, I'll still give it to Heavenly Host.

2: Those Manila-Gapo comparison jokes made it a win in favor of Kampo. Full of comical punch lines. While Bloodline has been slowed down when Toma Hawk lost a little bit. And I think they're the first group who threw personal lines against their opponent during the battle.

3: It was the Kampo Terroritmo peeps whom recited their version of personals, and they even came up with the "bulkier ones." No doubt about the fact that they dominated the finale. Gapo's reppin' crew on the other hand did not go home without a fight. Props to them it was a good game to witness.

(p.s. I read Apoc's comment on a post related to this battle, saying that "the battle was supposed to have a promo OT, but due to technical difficulties FlipTop haven't been able to add it up." Also, photos posted in this blog entry are the snapshots courtesy of its video.) 

Author: slickmaster | (c) 2011 september twenty-eight productions