Cultural Product Analysis

Fliptop

Hiphop, Streetdance, and now Fliptop. Fliptop is when two competing parties battle using clever lines and insults. The most clever and humorous insults win. The winner does not get any prize, he or she only gets fame and “bragging rights”.

Fliptop is a relatively new concept here in the Philippines. It was brought over by 22-year-old Aric Yuson aka. Anygma. He is the son of the very popular writer, Alfred Yuson. From the get go, he has always been interested in battle raps in the U.S. He brought the concept here, because he aims to progress the art of emceeing, and to educate the people on the culture of hiphop.

Fliptop started gaining popularity in 2010, when youtube videos of Filipino men insulting each other with rhymes using either Filipino or English surfaced. The rhymes were so amusing and clever that it amazed crowds and viewers. Some video’s got so popular that they reached more than 10 million views. There is no solid institution for Fliptop. Currently, it is still mobile. Anygma, the founder, and with his friends collaborate and organizes Fliptop events.

I choose Fliptop, because first, it is timely. Fliptop has only risen to stardom in 2010 and it continues to grow until today. Second, with its use of social media, it has received over 10 million views in Youtube. It did not get endorsers or get a time slot on national television to get its famous. It used social media and the power of gossip or word of mouth. Third, I am very interested on how it is so raw, because the battle rappers do not have any written down rhymes to rap. They think on their feet. And, its this amazement that attracted me to right about. To analyze Fliptop, I will be using Post-modernism and Post Cultural theories to dissect the product.

For post-modernism, one characteristic of Fliptop that I found is that there is no grand narrative. A battle wrapper can say anything to his challenger as long as it is insulting, has a main idea, and is funny. Also, each battle rapper has a different style of attacking his opponent. Second, Fliptop is very subjective even though there are rules. This is because judges who are also battle rappers and who are part of battle rap groups are chosen to choose who the winner is. It is only up to the judges to decide when party has given the most amusing and insulting lines. There is no handbook or written criteria of what a battle rapper should say to win. Third, Fliptop creates its own definition. Fliptop cannot be classified as Pinoy hip hop or Balagtasan or Jeje. Fliptop creates its own niche along side these categories and it continues to develop its own. It is not Pinoy Hiphop, because it does not aim to create music. It is similar to Balagtasan, but it has no grand narrative. And, it is not Jeje, because in many ways it is a mix of both those who are deeply influenced by the American Culture, and those who have the “ghetto” experiences that can rap. And lastly, Fliptop challenges Filipino culture, because “the Filipino is known to be non-confrontational” according to Anygma. The mix of the passive Filipino and the aggressive Fliptop, makes the Filipino to aspire to express themselves in a non-violent manner.

In contrast to the last postmodern idea, it pushes the shy and conservative Filipino to speak about their differences in order to create a string of words that are humorous, and intelligent. It is not the custom of Filipinos insult other people face to face. We are considered one of the happiest countries even in times of despair and disaster. We also make fun of our politicians rather than insult them. This is a theory from the French Cultural Studies, specifically the Carnival by Bahktin, wherein parody is used to undermine the hegemony. Fliptop uses the theory of Bakhtin where it uses amusing insults to make the insult more acceptable, because for Fliptop, the more humorous that more insulting. 

For post colonial, Fliptop is definitely a western idea, masked by the oriental language. As said by the founder, the battle rap in America inspired him so he brought the concept here. He merged the Filipino culture with battle rapping and created fliptop that uses both English and Filipino language. Fliptop is the hybridization of two cultures.

For a Fliptop video, I will analyze the content of the words said in the battle of Anygma and Dirtbag Dan. Anygma is the founder of Fliptop, while Dirtbag Dan is the president of Grindtime, the original battle rap league where Fliptop was copied from. In this event, it is Anygma’s first rap battle. Anygma started his one minute with references from economic class, and the disparity between the economies of Filipinos and Americans. Dirtbag Dan answered with references with pop culture, such as Manny Pacquiao and boxing. He also dropped racist comments. Anygma’s second round was in the theme of socio-economic and political with references from nurses, corruption, and history. Dan answered with homosexual and again pop culture remarks, with references from Cebu prisoners, and Shabu users. Anygma then started with religious and historical metaphors. And in his third minute, he expresses what he thinks about the Filipino society. This is the penultimate where he uses Fliptop to raise awareness on the depressing Filipino Society. Dirtbag Dan answered with very “shallow” insults that only attacks Anygma. He does not try the same strategy as Anygma, because he is not in his environment.

Fliptop made a huge impact via social networking websites, like facebook, and youtube. But, it is still not as popular as those in daytime television. Because of the type of people that organize and are avid fans of Fliptop, it cannot be considered as a mass cultural product just yet. Even thought there are a lot of groups that rap in and outside of Manila, some of them can’t cut through the language barrier, and the tryouts that some of the organizers conduct.

On the other hand, after seeing the battle of Anygma, the founder Fliptop, and, Dirtibag Dan, the head of GrindTime, it made me see Fliptop in a whole new light. Anygma, in his first battle rap, exposed his truths and reality through insulting is counter part, which is an American. He indicated culture, corruption, and our government to express how he strongly hated Dirtbag Dan. On the other hand, Dirtbag Dan didn’t play it in Anygma’s level. Dam kept it light and amusing, because for him that was the only point of the battle. Anygma’s very insightful and realistic raps placed him on a different platform than Dan.

Anygma’s battle rap with Dirtbag Dan, ignited a spark of anger in me towards the Americans, because he indicated a lot of issues concerning U.S. and the Philippines today. Anygma’s rap showed true battle rap credibility, as well as true nationalism.

  

Overall, the Fliptop culture still needs to expand to achieve its goal of education. It cannot be compared to the strong culture of Jejemon or conyo, because it didn’t originate from a group of people with in the country. Its only footing here is the hiphop and rap inkling of the people. In addition, the organizers themselves are hindering the growth, due to tryouts and the use of language. Even though, battle rappers use Tagalog as the language of rap, the organizers and the viewer themselves do not use this language. This makes those who are interested, but cannot converse, shy out of the competition. Truly, Fliptio still has a long way to go to achieve the Jejemon status it aims for.