It's deja vu for me, as another MegaMix of mine of OPM Hip Hop was featured once more back at my good friend, SoulSonic TV's Pinoy Hip Hop blog. It was July last year when he first posted my MegaMix featuring the late great Francis M and this time around, another icon and familiar face in the Pinoy hip hop scene (back in the 90s'), MastaPlann, was also featured over his friendly neighborhood blog.
For more authentic Pinoy Hip Hop stuff, events, exclusive videos, unreleased tracks and mixes, please visit SoulSonic TV, the only Hip-Hop culture newsletter in the Philippines, which has now evolved into a video-magazine blog, giving a bird's eye view of Filipino Hip Hop around the globe.
After the sudden demise of the Master Rapper, Francis M a few weeks back, a thought came up to my head one fine day and gathered some materials from this old school Pinoy hip hop group composed of 2 MC's and 3 DJs, who are just one of a few excellent Pinoy Hip Hop artists that I tend to admire along with Francis M, coz' they don't try too hard to imitate those black gangsta' rappers and just do their own thing, rhyming it up Pinoy style.
MastaPlann was formed back in 1992 in the Philippines, with its original members Butch Velez a.k.a. Tracer One, Johnny Luna a.k.a. Type Slickk, with DMC (Disco Mix Club) Champs, Sonny Abad a.k.a. DJ Sonny, Noel Macanaya a.k.a. DJ MOD, and Lopi Guzman a.k.a. DJ Ouch (brother of RSL main man, Ramsey), managed by Jesse Gonzales of DMC Philippines. They did all their rhymes in English, but still fused some Pinoy elements and samples for their original tracks (Manila, I'm Home (sampling Hotdog's Manila), Tumalon at Sumayaw, True Asiatiks, and some Tagalog words incorporated in Here We R).
They were able to release three albums, which all went multi-platinum and there are currently talks of a reunion sometime this year I hope, as published by my friend, Soul Sonic TV's Pinoy Hip Hop blog.
Butch and Johnny were balikbayans from the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles, CA, Sonny a balikbayan from Hercules, CA, near the San Francisco Bay Area and Noel and Lopi native Filipinos. In 1995, Butch and Johnny went back to the states to take a hiatus from the scene. In 2000, they released a third album through BMG Records, under the new sub-label, Red Egg Records entitled Mastaplann.com, an obvious reference to their newly developed website. Additionally, the group scaled down their line-up to just Butch and Johnny, and then added Johnny Krush, another balikbayan from the San Francisco area. This album has already obtained gold status in the Philippines, and is also still selling. Currently, the group is based in the States where they still perform and make music. Mastaplann is currently working on their fourth album, yet to be titled, to be released under True Asiatik Productionz.
Now, let's change genres and delve away from 80s New Wave for the meantime, as it has also been quite a while since I last mixed some hip-hop tunes for y'all, and sample my Mega Mixx via SoundCloud. Just click on the PLAY button and enjoy Original Pinoy Hip Hop sound from The MastaPlann posse. Freak Da Funk!!
I'm jumpstarting the week with a combination of the best of both worlds, old school OPM hip/hop and classic new wave. Here's a nice mash-up between Pinoy hip-hop pioneers, MastaPlann and the original gothic rockers, The Cure.
Mastaplann is an all-Filipino Hip Hop group that was formed in 1992 in the Philippines, with original group members Butch Velez aka Tracer One, Johnny Luna aka Type Slickk, Disco Mix Competition DJs Sonny Abad, Noel Macanaya aka DJ MOD, Lopi Guzman aka DJ Lopi, and managed by Jesse Gonzales. Butch and Johnny were balikbayans from the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles, CA, Sonny a balikbayan from Hercules, CA, near the San Francisco Bay Area and Noel and Lopi native Filipinos.
On the other hand, The Cure is an Englishrock band that formed in Crawley, Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several lineup changes, with frontman, guitarist and main songwriterRobert Smith—known for his iconic wild hair, pale complexion, smudged lipstick and frequently gloomy and introspective lyrics—being the only constant member.
Now, here's what I got when I decided to mash-up two classic tunes from exactly different genres.
