SHOW REVIEW: EX-BATTALLION 1.20.18
Author's Note: Unfortunately, i wasn't able to put in effort in changing the lighting and putting a bunch of effects in these photos. So please excuse the guerrilla styled photography.
And yep, you read that right.
I spent my January 20, a Saturday night, going to an Ex-Battalion show. It’s been a while since I’ve been in to a hip-hop show and I thought that it would be appropriate to start off my 2018 with something very different and unexpected from my audience. Now, I’m not going to start this blog entry with hate because I came in this show with an open mind, opting to carefully observe the show in its entirety. I totally get the appeal that the group is getting, so why not see how they roll when it comes to touring, keeping the crowd off of their seats, and just know how they want to put up a show?
Now you might be thinking, why in the world did I ever attend at one of Filipino hip-hop’s most polarizing groups today? For those who don’t know, Ex Battalion is a supergroup that consists of members from the hip-hop scene like Skusta Clee of O.C. Dawgs -- their most famous member -- J. Roa (now working as a solo artist and is curently signed under a major label), Bhoxsz1ne (not sure if I spelled his name right), Flow G, and a few rappers that appear occasionally in their tracks like King Badger, Emcee Rhen, Kent MNL, and Bullet D. The group is known for creating easily digestible tracks that have catchy hooks, easy to memorize lyrics, and the autotune work which is skillfully executed by Skusta Clee. They’ve been releasing hit after hit with tracks like “No Games”, “Need You”, “Come With Me”, and their most well-known track to date, “Hayaan Mo Sila”. They’ve been making waves by generating thousands of fans, toppling international artists in the charts, and appearing in public television programs like Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho and Wowowin.
Ex Battalion has been making astounding numbers in their music videos, concert attendances, and hate comments on Facebook. The majority of their hecklers are in a competition of who’s hating who or who’s the coolest hater of Ex Battalion. One track that had stirred controversy was “Hayaan Mo Sila”, released around November 2017. Sometime around January of this year, the group had been accused of ‘jacking’ (or “taking” in layman’s terms) beats from a producer online. The group had been deemed responsible, and sadly their public relations (if they even had someone to speak about the “beat stealing” issue) failed to immediately quell the backlash. As of February 13, in a more favorable turn of events for the group, they brought brack “Hayaan Mo Sila” in YouTube and this time with the exclusive rights to use the beat, solidifying its hold in the momentary public consciousness. I was completely flabbergasted to the fact that the track and the news surrounding it had led it to become more heated than Bhozx1ne’s obscene track “Fuck Buddy”
Now you might be thinking, why do I still keep up on the news and events surrounding this group? It’s easy; I had to keep an open mind despite the controversy to truly see what their appeal was. Other than that, I had to catch up what’s going on in and outside of the scene.
That day was Saturday. I prepared my transportation money and I called up a few of my friends to witness with me what it was like to see Ex Battalion. I had no plans for self-hype even if the Uber driver had a playlist full of Ex Battalion tracks while he was driving on our way to the venue. The place was really strange for a venue. It was located on the outskirts of Caloocan, the bordeline between Fairview and god-knows-where-I-am in Bulacan. The place was a foodpark which was really something that most hip-hop fans would really be pondering about. Why in a foodpark? But anyways, once we had arrived at the venue, my friends and I had to deal with a short line. We had arrived early, but the staff had only allowed in the fans that bought tickets to the show in advance. Fortunately, we were able to secure tickets just as the sun went down. As the store lights started to flash brighter, I began to observe several differences.
The venue was really small in comparison to the other bar shows and clubs they’d been performing at. The stage was in the middle, the center part of the stage had this small fence where only children and women can reserve their seating. Surrounding the stage were an array of food stalls that were painted with all sorts of colors and many other decorative lights. The show started around 8pm and the first rapper was on stage and I can’t remember what’s his name and what’s the name of the group that he’s representing.
The local rappers opening for Ex Battalion here are very unknown except one guy that probably was known for releasing a viral video 2 or 3 years back, I think it was Kawayan from the All Star Productions group. Maybe these Caloocan-based rappers are recognized by their district as that guy who knows how to rap in a beat that’s made with the basic 4 bar piano love rap production. If I can recall correctly, there were around 12 rappers who opened for the rap group and almost no one in the magic 12 never made a memorable impression. There were kids in the front row waiting for Ex Battalion while the teenagers were piling up themselves near the stage. The show host was one of the worst hosts I have ever seen in a show. In hip-hop shows, they usually get hosts that are straight to the point, building off of the flow of the program and succintly introducing each performer. This host, however, tried (and failed) to make this show akin to a stand-up comedy night. Not really into comedy where I went to see the headliners in the first place. It’s frustrating rather than being barely laughable.
Midnight was approaching; the people were screaming “Ex B” and many other kinds of chants I can’t remember. I was tired at this point, I felt like walking out but there were too many people inside of the venue, blocking off any entrance, every second a crawl of anticipation to see the group in the flesh. I overheard a (rather loud) voice in the crowd stating that roughly around 800 people were inside the foodpark that I was in. That’s a whopping number of people for a hip-hop group in their prime.
The men of the night walked their way on stage amidst the screams and livid reactions from their loyal fans. Ex Battalion had formally arrived and they immediately started their performance with Skusta Clee performing his solo material with only “Dami Mong Alam”, wasting little time in breathing life into the crowd. Then after Skusta came Flow-G with his exhibition of rhymes and flows that left me a bit surprised that he wasn’t rapping about being “gwapo” in a room full of women.
Their third song is now Boxz1ne’s turn, he came in with the song “Come With Me”, another one of Ex Battalion’s songs that is commonly known to be a guilty pleasure even from their non-fans. Throughout their performance, Skusta Clee had the tendency to fit in his vibrato mid performance. I’m very sure that he did this just to add more flavor. His vocal pitch changes sounded like he did on the spot. His skill of working those vocal twisting was a thing to mention about and I’d give props to the guy.
Then Boxz1ne’s song called “Fuck Buddy” followed…god, what. a. song. This track made me cringe, although I didn’t mind reviewing it for this writeup. If anyone wants to listen to this song, be my guest, search it on YouTube and enjoy. Then right after rapping that terrible track, they proceeded to their last track and their most well-known yet, Hayaan Mo Sila. The place was shaking with kids and fans stomping their feet and jumping along to Bozx1ne’s hook and many other of the rappers’ verses. Seeing them live is impressive when it comes to oozing so much charisma on stage. They are born to entertain and give everyone they wanted even if Boxz1ne hesitated to rap about a song being someone’s fuck buddy.
Overall, they know how to perform in front of hundreds of people. My issue with this group is their content. Them having fun with women doesn't excuse the fact that they're being bad boyfriends.
This event was met with a roaring reception from fans. The majority that came are in their young teens, throwing massive cheers to the group amidst the haterade they’re receiving lately. The hometown opening acts wasted their opportunities by falling in the same taste as their previous generations had already rapped about 8 years ago. Love rap is a tired formula but an effective one if done well. Will this group ever last, I doubt that they’ll be remembered but for sure there are so much hip-hop tracks that are a lot more relevant than a bunch of lovelorn rappers. Ex Battalion has caused controversy, a thousand rage comments, polarizing a bunch of vets and rookies alike. They are this generation’s Salbakuta. When there’s Stupid Love, then there’s Hayaan Mo Sila.
Happy Valentine's everyone!