On July 25th, Fliptop Battles (a Filipino battle league), released a semi-final battle from their 2 on 2 tournament. The battle featured Loonie and Abra teaming up to take on Shehyee and Smugglaz. Already known for getting an insane amount of views on their battles, it exceeded even Fliptop’s usual numbers, and reached over 1,300,000 views in just 2 days. It has since continued to gain views at an alarming rate, and currently sits at just over 3 1/2 million.
Someone took the time to transcribe the battle in English, so those outside of the Philippines can understand exactly what is going on in the battle. The person who transcribed the battle does a really good job of explaining the context of certain bars, and giving backstory where it’s needed. While the video is over 45 minutes long, it’s definitely worth at least skimming through, just to see what all the hype is about.
Cultural differences aside, it’s interesting to see that the content of the battles isn’t all that different to English battles. There are plenty of personals, both factual and made up, jokes, questions about whether or not their opponent is top tier, talk of opponents stretching words just to fit their schemes, and quality bars over filler. What is most interesting, is just how enthusiastic the crowd in attendance is. After nearly every bar, the crowd erupts, and they even chant battlers names in between rounds, as well as some of the punchlines. This battle is just another testament to the fact that the world of battle rap is just that, a global culture that continues to grow across the world.
