Philippine-made!
Music
The Top 20 Singles
Find out who's on top!
Deathmatches
Spoofing the spoofmasters.
My Music
My own attempts at songwriting. mp3s not available.
Album Reviews
Some albums I've taken the time to listen to and rate. What do you think?
Music Interviews
Supporting Philippine independent music (and major label players)!
Gig Articles
Some gig's I've covered, usually underground and quite enjoyable.
Literati
My Work
Some poetry, a little fiction, and a lot of chutzpah.
Mere Writers
Freelance writers' organization.
Me
Online Resume
I am not much. But I am.
Contact
My contact information.
Links
Some other websites I think are phat.
Lost?
Just click on the mere madness at the top and it will bring you back to the home page.
Skooled in Hiphop
It feels like a scene out of your typical action film, white boy surrounded by five nasty motherfuckers, except this time, they’re on my side. I’m with Madd Poets and Chinese Mafia in a corner of Glorietta Four’s Food Court, getting the 411 on producers, the four elements of hiphop and why selling out is all a question of perspective.
“We started out in 1995, working with Andrew E.,” Nikusheen On, a.k.a. D-Coy, says. His fellow Madd Poets, Roy Bajamunde, a.k.a. Lowkey, and Lee Katindoy, a.k.a. Quaizy, listen on. Jeffrey Tam, a.k.a. Chi-nigga of Chinese Mafia, rubs a tattoo. Absent are Madd Poets’ James Espina, a.k.a. Owpo and Chinese Mafia’s Brian Comandao, a.k.a. Klutch-B.
“We recorded for Dongalo Records,” D-Coy continues, referring to the record label Andrew E. founded. “We rapped and wrote for him, compilations, Christmas albums, part of a ten-album deal he signed with Viva Records.”
Back then, Madd Poets and Chinese Mafia were billed as Ghetto Dogs. “We would wear masks and perform without showing our faces.” They eventually performed as R.A.P., or the Rap Artists of the Philippines, where they were given proper billing. Today, a newer incarnation of Ghetto Dogs raps without the masks. The original Ghetto Dogs are wiser, more than anything else.
“It’s all about royalties,” Lowkey scoffs, “we never got paid right, never got what we worked for.” The album went platinum without a single ever released to radio. “It was music for the masa,” D-Coy interrupts.
The underground hiphop scene certainly does its part to spread the gospel of rap, but even that isn’t enough. The two groups promote heavily in Tondo, a fact which takes me completely by surprise (“there are hiphop people in Tondo?!”). They’ve played crappy gigs, including one at a hotel where the celebrants couldn’t have cared less about their brand of music. It is up to them to take matters into their own hands.
Next Page
Back To My Music