Illustrado - Self Titled Album Review

ALBUM REVIEW: ILLUSTRADO - ILLUSTRADO

Hip-hop has grown over the course of three decades in the Philippines. Growing up as an avid listener and a long time follower of the genre, I can’t help but find myself be stuck watching over Western rappers and their involvement in the culture. Leaving no room for me to look back on our own as well. Then there’s this independent hip hop label named UPRISING, headed by Fliptop’s head honcho Anygma. The label was to many, an eye opener for other local hip hop listeners to see their favorite battle rapper get signed and release a full-length album in the following. On my perspective, I felt like there was a missing imprint of getting to know what made UPRISING the premiere, hip-hop record label in the country. It’s not your usual flashy, commercial distributor like EMI, UNIVERSAL, or POLYEAST Records. UPRISING has handled some of the best, if not the best hip hop tryouts, freestyles, and music gigs I’ve seen in a while. In fact, I’ve been following their roster tour around the country through their Facebook page for the past couple of years, ever since their inception as a record label.

I was a young sport back then, getting to know who and what are these local emcees doing in the scene. UPRISING made me step inside the local hip-hop scene, and it was more than meets the eye; I never wanted to peek through the windows of an outsider and see activities like breakdancing, emceeing, tagging, and even skating. Instead, this made me want actually to engage half of their events for the better. There’s always this spark of curiosity that will always hit me when I see something that interests me, especially if it has to do with performance art and using that performance art as a platform of change.

The year 2015 was when I heard the announcement that Batas would be forming a group with one of the most widely recognized battle rappers in the league. I was easily coaxed by the idea of having three of the most versatile emcees hop in one album, and that alone will surely get me sold on the hype but is it worth the ticket when listening to this album? We’ll get to that.

The serious question aside, thank god Illustrado has released their debut album in long last. Heck, I was stunned by how their album launch was well organized and set up to be this hard-hitting music festival that cuts the bullshit in half, and got on the music for a solid four and a half hours. This gang of four which consists of emcees namely, Batas (f. Kampo Teroritmo, f. Teknikal Brutal, Xeno Devata Project), Sayadd (fa. Kampo Teroritmo), Goriong Talas aka Spade [formerly in the Pharm (this is what I know when watching Fliptop for almost a decade)], and producer and long-time beatmaster Apo Lerma aka Moki Mcfly (who in my opinion is the most outstanding experimental producers here in the country). Their latest music video Hayop screams Jedi Mind Tricks all over, and It’s an all out war of words with these three.

Illustrado came about when I played the CD and repeated the album twice in a row. I honestly felt like this shouldn’t be placed with one of those essential albums UPRISING has ever produced, but this puts somewhere else --- it deserves to be archived in a shelf full of hardcore groups like Pamilia Dimagiba and Ghetto Doggz for its style and subject matter.

At first, I came in walking through its 50+ minute runtime; I had no choice but to jog to its length. Illustrado was making progress, albeit rather a slow experience. I find it tiring listening to this in one sitting. Then by the time I listened to it the second time, I set sessions and sessions of listening to it; I had to cut out some tracks where I thought I needed to take break times in the middle of listening to the album. Because oh man, oh man, I had sweat running down my forehead when hearing too much of that *hardcore* rapping.

There are some moments that I enjoyed in the album. Specifically, I like the lyrical jabs and uppercuts in the title track “Illustrado.” Moreover, I want to highlight the punches that trade in “Hiwaga” and “Bartolina,” its excellent storytelling. The cockiness of “Barya,” “Hayop” with its violin sample that pictures a beautiful death of hope and dreams, and lastly, “Lehitimo” and its cynicism in different viewpoints, that haunting ringing bell sample, and Sayadd’s incredible verse. Those details are the things that I felt fits the tone of the album, the rest felt like it was missing something. With the tracks mentioned above being exceptionally good. It seemed like they were planning to get on track to track left and right hit-and-run. Those 16 bars times three really felt like an exercise to me. It’s exhausting. The way the emcees structured their verses, I have no problems, but I cannot catch up on the three as much as fans of lyricism and punchlines.

Thinking of these rappers in a context where I grew up watching them in Fliptop, I find that to be an issue in my opinion. I always think of these rappers battling each other with Apo Lerma’s beats playing in the background. Sayadd is an incredible writer, he needs to release solo singles, Spade was average lyric-wise, and Batas felt like he’s still in the field of a rap battle. Don’t get me wrong, he slightly toned down on the simile game, he has those straightforward, hard-hitting spots in his verses but I can’t stand much of the diss. It didn’t feel like it hit hard to where he is getting. I always think of it as shock factor or just filler to me.

The last half of the album didn’t brought that much power sonically. Sure, the first half was warming up with tracks that are on the right pace, the middle half of the album got me in an “in-your-face” mood. Put this project in the context where you contemplate on the country being gone to complete shit, and you’d completely relate to these emcees in one way or another. But try to listen to this album when you’re in the gym, when you’re commuting, or when you’re in the mood for a regular hip-hop jam. It didn’t feel special in some moments. Nonetheless, it’s still a solid hip-hop album.

Now is to answer the question moments ago, Is it worth the ticket when listening to this album? Yes, if you’re big fans in serious, dark, misanthrope type showdowns and if you’re a big fan of old school production being backed in the 1’s and 2’s, you’ll love this album for sure. Overall, Illustrado’s debut album has put up a flag on following a legacy of other hardcore groups that cemented their place in the hip-hop genre. But it took a hard time for making a lasting impression in response to UPRISING’s predecessors.

FAVORITE TRACKS: ILLUSTRADO, HIWAGA, BARTOLINA, BARYA, BAKAL, HAYOP, BAWAT BUHAY, HULING MINUTO