FlipTop Rap Battle League is the first and largest running professional rap battle conference in the Philippines founded by Alaric Riam Yuson in 2010. 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 (US), King of the Dot (Canada) and Don't Flop (UK), which inspired the creation of FlipTop and other battle leagues around the world. The league also branched out into several divisions after its success. The league is currently under management of a self-produced events and artist management company, FlipTop Kru Corp which was established also by Yuson.
FlipTop Battle League
Battle rap is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults, wordplay and disses. Battle rap is often performed, or freestyled, spontaneously in live battles known as Rap battles, where participants will compete on the same stage to see who has the better verses.
1979 Bronx rap battle flier. Design: Buddy Esquire. Image courtesy of Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.