Tag: Trap

  • ALBUM REVIEW: Gaspari – GAS STATION

    ALBUM REVIEW: Gaspari – GAS STATION

    Written by Paolo Elwick

    After a standout 2025 filled with hits like “KODAK BLU” and “SO DIZZY,” Greenhouse Records’ rapper-producer Gaspari entered 2026 with just as much vigor by enlisting O-SIDE Mafia star Costa Cashman for the energetic single “I BE LIKE (DIFG).” But every hot streak eventually begs the question: how much gas does he have left in the tank? 

    If debut album ‘GAS STATION’ is anything to go by, Gaspari seems to have come prepared with a full tank — and maybe enough fuel to actually go the distance. And he wastes no time proving just that. 

    From the very first track, “GUDSHIT,” Gaspari puts his foot on the gas, kicking the album into overdrive with an adrenaline-inducing track bolstered by a barrage of drums, keys in the background, the occasional sound effect, and of course the voices and flows of SCOOP DOGG, HELLMERY, and Gat Puch. “DUMB & DUMBER” with Sica, however, shifts gears with an unexpected beat switch that trades a whistle-assisted instrumental for a more aggressive, almost menacing, combo of kicks, snares, and hi-hats. Then there’s “COUNT 2 10” with HELLMERRY, a raunchy and frustratingly witty track built on the premise of counting to ten before eventually counting back down to one. While it’s HELLMERY who delivers the eventual title drop, Gaspari’s verse has no shortage of simple but enjoyable punchlines like “Eight, para kang dinibdiban ng ape” or “Three, bayaran mo aking talent fee / ‘Lam mo naka killing spree / Suntok ko nalang yung free.” He even gets to shout out his signature 777 with  “777, sabi nga nila ay living legend.”

    But even the smoothest rides are bound to run into a few bumps along the way. While Gaspari is clearly capable of carrying a track on his own, he often sounds at his best when bouncing off a feature or when collaborators are given the green light to bring a much-needed change of pace in delivery, flow, and overall texture. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — knowing how to work with other artists and bringing the best out of each other is a skill in itself. It’s just that, by comparison, solo tracks like “AIN’T WORRIED” and “VIBES GAG*” can feel, at best, underwhelming and, at worst, forgettable when that extra dynamic isn’t there.

    It’s fitting, then, that the album closes with another collaboration. The “I BE LIKE (MECHA KIMOCHI)” remix brings together Japanese emcees MIKADO, T.i.G skysea, and HARKA, to help give Gaspari one last turbocharged chance to step on the gas — and that’s exactly what he does. Their infectious energy and contrasting styles make for a lively finale, sending ‘GAS STATION’ across the finish line with a well-deserved bang.

    Despite its occasional missteps and slow stretches, ‘GAS STATION’ still makes it clear that Gaspari is heading in the right direction. Albeit his best moments come when he’s surrounded by artists who match his energy and push him into different pockets, those very same moments also show just how much potential he actually has to build on. So what else is there to say? There’s plenty left in the tank; the engine is already roaring, and as long as he keeps those wheels of his spinning, then there’s no reason to think that he’ll be slowing down anytime soon.

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  • MIXTAPE REVIEW: Zae – STREETZ MIXTAPE

    MIXTAPE REVIEW: Zae – STREETZ MIXTAPE

    Written by Adrian Jade Francisco

    For years, Zae thrived on rolling 808 hi-hats and crisp snares, forging her own identity as a household name in the Philippine local hip-hop scene. Her previous catalog, with hits such as “Edi Wag” and “Filipina Killa,” serves as the very blueprint of her sound. But on ‘Streetz Mixtape,’ the Filipina rap sensation detours off the trap-heavy loops, letting her R&B sensibilities come through certain tracks while retaining the fierceness that made her bangers. 

    The project, composed of 13 tracks, is a testament to Zae’s significant maturity of her penmanship and refined technique. In “BOMBA,” She refuses to be overlooked, using flirtatious and boastful lines to reinforce her individuality and place in the industry. The direction of ‘STREETZ MIXTAPE’ steers toward a slick R&B duet with Sica on “I Can Be The One,” balancing lyricism of street independence and its romantic undertones. Halfway through, the album’s street-centric theme remains with “Thug Life,” featuring THUGSTA. With its boom-bap instrumentation, it tackles community survival and hood loyalty with kinetic delivery. “SWAG” serves as a send-off, wrapping up her overarching themes of self-confidence and a middle finger to industry gatekeepers. 

    ‘STREETZ MIXTAPE’ suffers from occasional tonal whiplash as it splits its identity between aggressive trap and smooth R&B. This jarring contrast leads to disjointed sequencing, stripping the record of a cohesive flow. Instead of blending these styles, the record plays out like two completely different materials fighting for space. Mid-album tracks “tell ur boyfriend” (feat. Fern.) and “Xxxbaby” (feat. Nazty Kidd) lose that sharp edge, causing the momentum to slow down before picking back up toward the final stretch. 

    Still, ‘STREETZ MIXTAPE’ proves Zae won’t be boxed in by her own success. Her leap beyond trap shows an artist testing the limits of her versatility. The mixtape may struggle under its own dual identity, but that tension is the sound of Zae shattering her own formula. Even after breaking out of her shell, Zae still needs to bridge her two worlds; blending her trap bite and R&B polish would turn this promising pivot into a cohesive statement.

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  • TRACK REVIEW: Delinquent Society – Kuha Bag

    TRACK REVIEW: Delinquent Society – Kuha Bag

    Written by Julia Harumi Kudo

    You’d expect a hip-hop track entitled “Kuha Bag” to dead stop at mere materialism, but this one does not. Burgeoning around it are 808s, clipped hi-hats, and even a puny horror-sorrow verve. Formed in 2016 and hailing from Davao City, Delinquent Society continues to attest to its prowess in transcending not only the confines of the hip-hop enclave but also the cultural barriers that traditionally demarcate artistic movements. This gritty act emerges not merely as a linear progression but as a powwow of cultural forces, weaving its way into the collective consciousness of an expansive and diverse audience.

    “Kuha Bag,” featuring longtime collaborator Rjay Ty and now a new chapter led by Aud and Contemplate, introduces a creeping tension before the rhythm locks into familiar trap demeanor with frigid beats. Yet producer SCOOP DOGG crimsons those expected elements with layers of distorted electronic texture, an ebbing interference that makes the entire beat feel unstable, almost hacked. Aud’s prose views success as an escape velocity, “Para to sa mga stuck hood and they still there. Now we in the building ‘di mo ‘lam yung feeling”, while keeping the hood in memory although it refuses to just solely be trapped within them. Contemplate muses, “Raming nag hate, alam kasi nila kami favorite ni God. Partida pa nga to hindi pa to sinagad, malala”, with the confidence of someone who has overcome countless doubts that criticism now is just futile background noise. Delinquent Society sounds older now, not tired. Sharpened. Less interested in proving they belong because they never really needed permission.

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  • MIXTAPE REVIEW: Dexter1ne&only – 1nderfuL

    MIXTAPE REVIEW: Dexter1ne&only – 1nderfuL

    Written by Noelle Alarcon

    Pampanga’s Dexter1ne&only gained recognition in 2022 for his hit “In Luv:” short and sweet, pushed forward by trap beats, and dripping with codeine. After dropping a single in March, he finally returned to music this May with the mixtape ‘1nderfuL.’ In all its 23 minutes and 11 seconds, the rapper flaunts a more complex and sonically realized direction in his discography. 

    ‘Gunaw’ starts the mixtape off with a bit of familiarity due to its similarity with his older music. It’s a song that lays the ground for the more upbeat innovations in the tracks to come. Arranged on a straightforward beat that eventually envelops you in the fog-like synths that drone on and provide texture to the track, it’s as crunchy as the peso bills in the artist’s pocket. 

    Dexter1ne&only’s pivot to mumble rap and pluggnb is an intentional, well-thought-out choice. Every element chosen in this cocktail of synths, leads, and airy 808s makes every track essential to the listening experience. It’s also in this chosen avenue that he’s able to express the lightness of vulnerability in the mixtape’s underbelly, like asking someone if they’ll be there to support until the end, or being unable to wait just to see someone you love that you end up asking to FaceTime.

    All nine tracks on ‘1nderfuL’ are incredibly diverse, each one of them able to stand on their own as they possess their respective sonic identities. But of course, there are standout tracks as well where Dexter1ne&only and the rest of the Stunna4Life roster truly outdid themselves. 

    “Yao Ming,” featuring fellow S4L artists GOget Cal2x and Allfred, speaks of success through the symbol that is the Chinese basketball player—and even sprinkles in a bit of longing and worries that come with encountering triumph. There’s a poetic quality that comes to the trio’s rawness; “malabong di ko ‘to gawin ‘gang pumuti yung uwak,” they repeat as they embrace the exhaustion that comes from counting money.

    “Frog Eyez” with Allfred and YPC is another exceptional track, starting off with a series of plugins so amusing you wouldn’t be able to predict how the rest of its runtime will unfold. Laden with multiple sound effects and percussion that just work together, it’s like an auditory representation of the high that they experience. There’s charisma to be found in its self-proclaimed hedonism; ‘yan ang guapanese.

    ‘1nderfuL’ goes to extremes and explores its depths; it explores the casual playfulness of artistry and values staying true to oneself, above all—may it be through authentic accents or stories of humble beginnings. While sharing stories of success, it’s also not afraid to echo hardships and the anxieties of being human, which make it all the more raw, its cool exterior aside.

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  • ALBUM REVIEW: Hev Abi – Maduming Timog

    ALBUM REVIEW: Hev Abi – Maduming Timog

    Written by Gabriel Bagahansol

    Around this time two years ago, Hev Abi had control of half of the top 10 spots in Billboard’s Philippines Songs chart. After emerging as a sleeper hit towards the end of 2023, he received commercial success and critical acclaim as a baby-faced lover boy with a playful charm and a hint of naughtiness — along with an occasional gangsta persona who reps the Tomas Morato area. With a good ear for beats and interpolations, a pen that flows out nothing but swag, satisfying feature appearances for other artists, Hev Abi’s tales of mischief and romance set in downtown Quezon City made a hit artist out of him, and helped kick off a landmark year for OPM in 2024.

    But last September, in the comments section of one of the loosies he’d been uploading to YouTube, someone complained that his new music won’t appeal to the masses. His response? “Pasabi sa masa wala nakong pakielam.”

    Those loosies, it turned out, were his explorations toward hazy, AutoTune-drenched mumble rap. Pivoting away from the soulful beats and smooth rapping that sent him to superstardom, he began an artistic transformation that also set off that all too familiar phenomenon of Filipino listeners clinging to familiarity, to the point where they end up stifling an artist’s creativity. But after hustling for close to half a decade as an MC, he definitely needed to explore different musical horizons that match the lifestyle he’s writing about now, and these experiments culminate in the release of his highly-anticipated second album ‘Maduming Timog’.

    A nod to the seedy nightlife within Timog Avenue – and, perhaps, to the Dirty South hip-hop genre that birthed the trap music and mumble rap that make up this album’s artistic DNA, this album sees Hev Abi indulge in the impulses that fuel the Kyusi underbelly. On “WELCOME2TIMOGMAGULO,” he reintroduces himself as the man who gets every party started, the street-scarred host who’s got all the drinks and drugs for everyone who’s itchin’ to sin. But as he clasps his numbed hands to confess himself to the Lord, he admits that he does all this to escape his loneliness – a foreshadowing that would come to haunt this album as it progresses.

    But what does he do with this bit of self-reflection in the meantime? If the next two tracks are any indication, it seems that Hev Abi has made up his mind in continuing these bad habits. For “AYUSIN ANG SIRA,” he gets in his R&B bag to belt about never wanting to let go of his demons. The seductiveness he usually reserves for his most romantic declarations works so well when he talks about the joys of getting high, and the autotune in his voice adds to the zoned-out bliss of his drug-induced numbness.

    After pre-gaming in the first four songs, Hev Abi kicks off the party in earnest on the album’s lead single, “ALL NIGHT LONG,” a bouncy synth-funk track whose echoes of golden age hip-hop bring a feel-good atmosphere to a set of already-loaded songs. His romantic pursuits in this joint also commences a run of the kind of songs he usually does best, except the consummate lover boy is hardly anywhere to be seen. Sure, Hev Abi can still turn on his charm and try to be devoted to just one woman, as heard on tracks like “ISANG GABI LANG,” and on the Jess Connelly collab “AWAY,” where the R&B singer’s calm, breezy singing is a pleasing response to Hev’s frantic platitudes for a girl he swears is the only one he’s seeing.

    But the Hev Abi we’ll be hearing throughout the album is a callous heartbreaker who answers to his most wicked impulses and won’t think twice about seeing other women. His hedonistic pursuits are best captured on “WALANG HIYA,” where Hev Abi keeps up his prowess in putting his rendezvouses – unbridled debauchery now included – into some of the smoothest and most cinematic rhymes in OPM. (“Di ka nagmamahal pero andito ka parin nagbababad / Sa usok na binuga ko, binuga nya, binuga mo, bilog ang buwan”)

    Halfway through the album, however, we get to a set of songs that continue the vibe of a delightfully devilish night out but doesn’t do much to progress the narrative the start of the album had suggested. Past the Manila Sound-sampling “ASO’T PUSA” interlude, we hear Hev Abi and frequent collaborator LK brag about racing down the Skyway on “SIZZLING,” and on a rare all-English number in “FADED OFF” with Manila Grey, Hev Abi tries once again to make amends for his sins.

    But while the latter track is a fairly decent collaboration, it’s clear that Hev Abi has a long way to go in writing English lyrics that are as dynamic and exciting as his writing in Tagalog. Furthermore, while tracks like “LIL SHWTY” and “NAGHAHANAP SILA” have memorable samples and hooks, it really feels as though we’re beginning to hear the party wind down to what should be its natural conclusion.

    Except it doesn’t. In the rage track “2PACCIN,” Hev Abi tries to restart the excitement by enumerating everything that makes up his idea of party, but all it does at this part of the tracklist is make everyone who can sense an incoming hangover leave. It does seem he can sense this, too, though: the last three songs on ‘MADUMING TIMOG’ see him telling his lover that he’s choosing his hedonistic lifestyle over her.

    This non-resolution would’ve been alright for the kind of character he’s portraying – if only he hadn’t jumped the shark after meandering for so long. “HANGGA’T MAY ORAS PA ‘KO” lacks the slightest bit of sincerity that would’ve made up for the necessary absence of his aura, and the strain in Hev Abi’s voice as he’s trying to channel 808s-era Kanye West isn’t helping either. And listening to “FROM TIMOG MAGULO, WITH LOVE” and “HONEYMOON” feels like drying out in the Timog Avenue sunrise, listening to the chatter of a man who won’t let the night die while you deal with a hangover and the boredom of being a junkie.

    At the end of ‘MADUMING TIMOG,’ Hev Abi claims he’s no longer a rookie. While that may be true, his attempt to present a new persona in his artistry ultimately got caught up in its excess, and he winds up looking like an amateur again by the end of it. Listening to the final stretch of ‘MADUMING TIMOG’ is like witnessing a crash without a flame – a wasted-but-still-promising athlete struggling to make it to the finish line. But by the time Hev Abi gets there, people have already switched their TVs to play yet another AI-generated cover of “Alam Mo Ba Girl”.

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  • ALBUM REVIEW: PRAY – THANKGOD4ALLDIS$WAG

    ALBUM REVIEW: PRAY – THANKGOD4ALLDIS$WAG

    Written by Elijah P.

    PRAY is one of those Manila rap outliers who know how to play the game from the very beginning. On his debut project ‘THANKGOD4ALLDIS$WAG,’ he walks in already dressed for the role: “gangway” street styling, flex-first instincts, and a slightly pitched-up delivery that turns his nasal cadence into its own signature. The tape runs under 20 minutes and barely lets any track breathe past the two-minute mark, which is part of the point. This isn’t a rap “album” in the old sense. It moves like an Instagram timeline refresh: fast, glossy, and prepped for replay.

    For all its iced-out production luster, PRAY’s strength isn’t merely identifiable trap aesthetics. He understands how to sit inside production and steer it. His ear works like a DJ’s. The beats across “MONEY COUNTER,” “RA$TA,” “F*CK AGAIN,” and “$YRUP TSAKA DOPE” hit that sweet spot where rage energy and cloud-rap drift start bleeding into each other; Trap hi-hats flare up, melodies blur into neon haze, then PRAY slides through with a calm, almost smug control. He raps like he’s narrating a lifestyle he’s already living, pitching into his dreams he hopes to buy into. He even plays a Kodak Black sample of “counting money” as one of the “freakiest things” he’s ever done.

    Lyrically, he plays the expected cards: money, lust, lean syrup-soaked bravado. Still, the project doesn’t collapse under cliché, because PRAY knows how to sell a line. His hooks land, his timing stays sharp, and his vocal tone has enough character to keep the tape from feeling like another copy-paste flex mission.With all its charismatic end result, THANKGOD4ALLDIS$WAG won’t convert the experimental rap purists, and PRAY isn’t aiming for that crowd anyway. This is music for the city’s wired-up nights, for kids who treat Instagram as a moodboard and ground zero for the come-up. PRAY enters 2026 with real potential, and this debut proves he can get ahead of the game.

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  • TRACK REVIEW: maki! – popout

    TRACK REVIEW: maki! – popout

    Written by Elijah P.

    “Lahat sabog/ fuck it, we get lit,” maki! declares on “popout,” a year-opener single that wastes zero time pretending it’s anything deeper than adrenaline and appetite. But that’s the trick: what sounds like disposable turn-up rap is also a tight little mission statement. maki! opens the track greeting the listener like he’s clocking into a shift, then asks for love with the kind of hunger that most rappers like him wouldn’t barely achieve. maki! does it effortlessly. 

    “popout” runs under two minutes, and it moves at the speed of an online reel. The beat leans into bitcrushed, 8-bit textures, turning trap into something glitchy and pixelated. maki! slides across it with melodic autotune warps and chopped-up vocal flickers, tossing newly heated ad-libs. The parking-lot setting in the song’s music video feels right: fluorescent, chaotic, nocturnal, and ready for trouble.

    What separates him from the usual mumble haze is that he actually commits to a slightly tilted rise of momentum. He gets from point A to point B cleanly, no dead air, no lazy hook crutch, no filler bars pretending to be vibes. With the internet pushing this slayr/CHE-adjacent strain of pixel-trap forward, maki! sounds tapped into the mutation early, proving local rap gets to catch up, sharpening their skillset into something truly their own.

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  • TRACK REVIEW: Ada Meniv – Placenta

    TRACK REVIEW: Ada Meniv – Placenta

    Written by Lex Celera

    Ada Meniv is a solo project by Philippines-born, Hong Kong-based producer, instrumentalist, vocalist, and sometimes rapper, Tisch Nava.  Beginning with 2024’s ‘THE ONLY WAY THROUGH IS OUT,’ Ada Meniv’s music doesn’t feel like a loaded experiment in genre-blending as much as it is an assertion of taste and aesthetics. In laying bare the connective tissue between dark ambient, progressive metal, rap, and grunge, their tracks echo each genre’s most resonant qualities: an intensity of emotion and a stylistic choice to break convention. 

    All of these qualities are realized to a greater extent with “Placenta.” Compared to Adam Meniv’s other releases, “Placenta” presents itself as more restrained in exploring its aesthetic impulses, with a third of its runtime meditating on a grunge-inspired riff. At the same time, esoteric wordplay and ethereal chants come together without wearing out their welcome. Its genre switching comes in turn and in healthy doses.

    Ada Meniv is more than capable of straight-up pursuing a dark ambient or grunge track worth listening to. But “Placenta” presents something more interesting than just embracing the abstractions that defined its sonic foundations. Neither the tinges of grunge-driven riffs nor the droning, trap-inspired rap would work as well without each other’s presence, taking turns. You don’t have to destroy to build something new.

    We might live in a world where genres are being pushed to their farthest ends in the name of experimentation. Ada Meniv seeks out new meaning from within instead. 

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  • TRACK REVIEW: GRE! – Sa’kin

    Written by J.K. Caray

    QC-based producer/rapper GRE!’s latest single is unlike anything you’ve ever heard from him. Released mere days after his other single “äll.gre!,” ‘Sa’kin’ shows a completely different side to GRE!’s capabilities, all without the cost of stripping his signature style. This track marks another turning point in his ever-changing discography.

    In a natural evolution from his usual sonic aesthetics, “Sa’kin” displays the masterful marriage of two genres: Pluggnb and Hyperpop. Bound within the flawlessly tight production, GRE! displays his musical prowess in a way that furthers both. Starting off with dreamy and atmospheric synths, the performance in this track impresses with its vocals, reminiscent of hyperpop artists like glaive and ericdoa, encased within the confines of ice cold autotune. 

    The infectious trap beats, piercing chiptune melodies and heart-thumping string sections create a behemoth of a song that sounds larger than life at times; a refreshing yet much-needed style to alleviate the plugg scene from his repetitive contemporaries. It’s obvious that GRE! knows exactly what he’s doing and he’s not afraid to switch it up. As his third single for the year, the track could very well be a part of a new album or a new era but if one thing is for sure, it’s that he’s going to go far. After “Sa’kin,” you’re left to wonder, just what else can he do? How far is he going to go? And most importantly, can you still keep up?

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  • TRACK REVIEW: japercc – Way too ahead

    TRACK REVIEW: japercc – Way too ahead

    Written by Aly Maaño

    japercc is an up-and-coming hip-hop artist from Cebu who began releasing music on SoundCloud in 2023. Since then, he has been continuously serving the cloud rap scene with head-bopping tracks that blend synth-derived melodies and chiptune elements woven into rage trap beats.

    For your serial Playboi Carti enjoyer, one of his latest releases, “Way Too Ahead” produced by anthonyramx, passes as an instant banger. japercc successfully executes the low, slurred vocals akin to the mumble rap genre. The catchy, repetitive hooks and bass-heavy, gummy beats easily bring listeners to a codeine-induced frenzy. The high-pitched vocal swishes at the bridge add a playful flare before the second verse.

    While it is a sonic treat, “Way Too Ahead” doesn’t stray away lyrically from the snazzy, braggadocio rap template. But overall, the outward swag and quality of the whole production compensate for its lack of lyrical variety and substance. japercc tastefully gathered and fused the ingredients to whip up an effortless bop for fellow flared jeans enthusiasts.

    Although it might not fit everyone’s palate, “Way Too Ahead” makes sure to leave an impression; it adequately encapsulates what rage rap is all about. With japercc giving us a taste of home-cooked trap music, it’s exciting to know what he can bring more to the table. We’re just going to have to let him cook.

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    https://soundcloud.com/japercc/prod-anthonyramxs?si=3de7fc096e9445a38f99c4ced8388ce8&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing