FlipTop Battle League

FlipTop Battle League

Industry	Battle rap
Founded	2010
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)^[1] and Romeo Borrondia (known as RYME B) in 2010.^[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, King of the Dot and Don't Flop, which inspired the creation of FlipTop and other battle leagues around the world.^[3][4]

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. Scripted or non-scripted bars are allowed. Profanities and insults are allowed in the battle provided that contenders must not take it seriously or personally.^[5][6] 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 and rapping style.^[3]

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

Concerts and Performances

Aside from battle rap, the league also hosts concerts and seminars about hiphop culture, commonly named as Mindfields.

Format

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

• Written - Now the most common in all FlipTop tournaments, it has no background music. The bars have no measure but it has a rhyme.
• Freestyle - At first the most common in all FlipTop tournaments, there's still freestyle battle but not so often as the written format. Sometimes it has background music and sometimes it doesn't have. The bars have no measure but it has a rhyme.
• Old School - Commonly used on tryouts. It has background music, and sometimes combined with Freestyle.

There are different variations of rap competition in FlipTop:

• Dos por Dos - Tag-team freestyle rap contest. Emcee or Femcee. It can be Freestyle or Written.
• Five on Five - Five-member team freestyle rap contest. Emcee or Femcee. It can be 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.

List of Events

Notable 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 channel gaining more than one million subscribers and two million likes on its Facebook fanpage.^[8][9] After it gained success and reputation via social media,^[10] many amateur and other rap battles arose such as Sunugan, Word War, Bolero Rap Battles, Versus Verses, 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.^[11][12][13] It caught media attention in that some emcees involved in FlipTop have gained commercial success like Abra, Loonie, Smugglaz, Shehyee, and others.^[1][14]

References