FlipTop Battle League

FlipTop Battle League

Industry	Battle rap
Founded	2010
Founder	Alaric Riam Yuson
Headquarters	Philippines
Website	FlipTop Battle League on Facebook FlipTop Battle League's channel on YouTube

FlipTop Battle League is the first and largest professional rap battle conference in the Philippines, founded by Alaric Riam Yuson (known as Anygma) in 2010.^[1][2] The league promotes Pinoy hip hop. FlipTop is heavily influenced by the original rap battle leagues in the West founded in 2008 – Grind Time Now (U.S.), King of the Dot (Canada) and Don't Flop (UK), which inspired the creation of FlipTop and other battle leagues around the world.^[3][4] The league also branched out into several divisions after its success.^[5]

Battle

In general, the contest consists of three rounds with a time limit for each contender set by the referee. Overtime is applied if the battle is a draw. The first turn is determined by a toss coin. Written or non-written lines are allowed. Both sides can also bring props for the event. Filipino language is the primary medium although other languages or dialects can be used. The winner is determined by the decision of the judges. The criteria for judging are the usage of words, audience impact, delivery, and rapping style.^[3][6]

There are different conferences in FlipTop such as the Filipino Conference, Bisaya Conference, English Conference, and etc.

Concerts and performances

Aside from battle rap, the league has also had a beatbox battle competition, concerts, and seminars about hip hop culture commonly named as Mindfields.

Format

FlipTop has three different battle formats which sometimes combined with Freestyle:

• Written - This format allows use of written lyrics along with freestyle and is now the standard format used in battles.
• Freestyle - At first the most common in all FlipTop tournaments, this format is now rarely done and has generally been replaced by the written format. Lyrics must be thought of during the battle.
• Old School - Is essentially the freestyle format but is accompanied with an instrumental, and is commonly used on tryouts.

There are also different variations of rap battle within the FlipTop tournament:

• Dos por Dos - Tag-team freestyle rap battle. It can be Emcee or Femcee, Freestyle or Written.
• Five on Five - Five-member team freestyle rap battle. It can be Emcee or Femcee, Freestyle or Written.
• Femcee Battle - All-female rap battle. It can be Freestyle or Written.
• Intergender Battle - Male vs. Female battle.
• Royal Rumble - A rap battle consists of more than two emcees randomly attack or bash each other.
• Secret Battle - Same as the other battles but with limited audience. Sometimes it surprisingly appeared in the day of the tournament unannounced.

List of events

^ Video upload was on-hold first due to technical problems

* With Dos por Dos matches

** House party celebration. No battle is held.

Notable emcees

Guest emcees

Cultural impact and criticism

In its early days, FlipTop initially gained criticism for its use of strong language, mockery and bullying, prompting the city government of Makati to ban rap battles in the area.^[7] As time passed, the events gained acceptance, with the official FlipTop YouTube channel^[8] gaining more than one million subscribers which they received Golden Play Button Award, and over two million likes on its Facebook fanpage.^[9][10] After it gained success and reputation via social media,^[11] many amateur and other rap battles arose such as Sunugan, Word War, Bolero Rap Battles, Bahay Katay, Flipshop, Flipcap etc. Due to its freestyle and rhymed content, some academics considered it as modern-day "balagtasan" although some rap artists discourage the idea. Some educators considered FlipTop as 21st century Philippine literature^[12][13][14] It caught media attention in that some emcees involved in FlipTop have gained commercial success like Abra,^[15] Loonie, Smugglaz, Shehyee, and others. Also some of the lines spoke by the emcees in the battle became popular phrases used in the Philippines.^[1][16]

Lawsuits

Due to the nature of the league and its mechanics, bashing or shaming emcees' relatives is inevitable in the battle. The league has a long history of mocking emcees' relatives during the battle. However during an undercard match between Sinio vs. Shehyee on Ahon 7 that happened on December 16, 2016. Shehyee threw disrepectful lines on Sinio's wife Bie Sarmiento during the battle, which Sinio rebutted hard by dissing the internet sensation Ann Matteo, who is the girlfriend of Shehyee, that lead to Sinio's victory in the match. Their match was uploaded on FlipTop's YouTube channel on February 2, 2017 and went viral with over five million views within four days, and some part of the clip was also uploaded and shared on Facebook. Sinio's harsh words on Ann Mateo in the second and third round of battle sparked mixed reactions and controversy especially when Ann Mateo's mother watched the video, when she threatened Sinio with a legal case. Because of this situation, many netizens bashed Shehyee for being unprofessional in the battle, he was also blamed for not explaining to his girlfriend's mother about the mechanics of league. It became a hot topic on social media. Sinio made a clarification to his fans that Ann Mateo's mother plans to sue a legal case against him and Shehyee was not to blame, and that he understood Ann Matteo's mother's point-of-view. Shehyee also made a clarifications about the allegations, he said that he helped Sinio in addressing the issue with Ann Mateo's mother. Ann Mateo has not yet formally expressed her reaction regarding the match.^[17][18][19]

References