Written by Adrian Jade Francisco
The local rap scene has built a habit of reshaping globally familiar sounds into something closer to home. Filipino hip-hop interpolation thrives as cultural déjà vu rather than just familiarity—KXLE and Maxy Presko inhale Post Malone’s “Psycho” and exhale something local known as “Marlboro.”
The track opens with an instant earworm of a chorus, with lyrics “May chick ako na psycho / Di niya ko niloloko / Nandiyan lang sya palagi / Yung yosi nya Marlboro.” Its lyrical hook can sound silly, as in NATEMAN’s “IMMA FLIRT,” but its catchiness still lands just as hard. This time around, KXLE leans on his honed cloud and pop rap production. Drawing from his long experience in the genre, he filters “Psycho’s” melodic memory into the humid texture of Pinoy rap.
While it lacks added sonic flavors in its instrumentals compared to its contemporaries who interpolate music from previous years, it instead thrives on its raw infectiousness. The interpolation doesn’t sit on top of the beat; however, it is the beat’s backbone.
In “Marlboro,” that tradition continues not as imitation, but as translation—where borrowed melodies are reshaped into something that feels unmistakably local.
SUPPORT THE ART & THE ARTIST: