Fliptop
MANILA, Philippines -- Vim Nadera: Could you tell us the history of Philippine Flip Top?
Alaric Yuson: Basically, I've been into HipHop for as long as I can remember which would involve enjoying all of its elements and activities, and ultimately, battle rap. I try to stay as updated as possible when it comes to other leagues, other formats, and so on. After having watched it long enough, I figured, 'Why not try it out here?' And since I have had prior experience in organizing events and the old format battles, it was a matter of applying it to a much larger scale. This was during the last semester of my final year in college and despite my academic requirements and all sorts of personal setbacks, I just proceeded to plan and organize. The product was our very first event on 6 February 2010.
VN: So it's just a why-not-try-it-over-here kind of thing?
AY: Of course, it's never really as simple a fancy as 'why not try it over here?' There are a lot of things regarding HipHop and the scene that I didn't like and thus felt like I could fix with the movement. At the same time, I can't just Rambo my way through with my plan and preferences. I then took the necessary measures to build FlipTop from the ground up without stepping on anyone else's toes. As generic as it sounds, this involved having to be completely prepared for anything and everything. To give you an idea, here I am, in the middle of a sea of supercharged egos (yes, like it or not, ego in HipHop has its own flavor of unpredictability), I see that if these egos were to fight more than they already do or have, it'll paradoxically lead to unity, if not order. And yes, it's a lot, lot harder than it already sounds. A whole lot of diplomacy is involved, predicting certain things like preventing already existing animosity from escalating, how to deal with certain personalities, how to deal with personalities when more money is involved. In other words, imagine getting an insanely varied spectrum of people who
Alaric Yuson: Basically, I've been into HipHop for as long as I can remember which would involve enjoying all of its elements and activities, and ultimately, battle rap. I try to stay as updated as possible when it comes to other leagues, other formats, and so on. After having watched it long enough, I figured, 'Why not try it out here?' And since I have had prior experience in organizing events and the old format battles, it was a matter of applying it to a much larger scale. This was during the last semester of my final year in college and despite my academic requirements and all sorts of personal setbacks, I just proceeded to plan and organize. The product was our very first event on 6 February 2010.
VN: So it's just a why-not-try-it-over-here kind of thing?
AY: Of course, it's never really as simple a fancy as 'why not try it over here?' There are a lot of things regarding HipHop and the scene that I didn't like and thus felt like I could fix with the movement. At the same time, I can't just Rambo my way through with my plan and preferences. I then took the necessary measures to build FlipTop from the ground up without stepping on anyone else's toes. As generic as it sounds, this involved having to be completely prepared for anything and everything. To give you an idea, here I am, in the middle of a sea of supercharged egos (yes, like it or not, ego in HipHop has its own flavor of unpredictability), I see that if these egos were to fight more than they already do or have, it'll paradoxically lead to unity, if not order. And yes, it's a lot, lot harder than it already sounds. A whole lot of diplomacy is involved, predicting certain things like preventing already existing animosity from escalating, how to deal with certain personalities, how to deal with personalities when more money is involved. In other words, imagine getting an insanely varied spectrum of people who