Last Friday, Billboard Philippines premiered its special episode of Billboard Philippines Studios featuring the Pinoy Hip-Hop Class of 2024 — the cover stars of the magazine’s latest hip-hop issue.
O Side Mafia, Tus Brothers, Felip, Zae, Hellmerry, PLAYERTWO, Illest Morena, and Hev Abi came together to highlight the sound of today’s flourishing hip-hop scene. The eight acts performed sections of some of their biggest hits: O Side Mafia’s “My Thang,” Tus Brothers’ “Run,” Felip’s “Rocksta,” Zae’s “Edi Wag” (Then Don’t), Hellmerry’s “Thai Freestyle,” PLAYERTWO’s “Shower Music,” Illest Morena’s “Faded,” and Hev Abi’s “Alam Mo Ba Girl” (Didn’t You Know, Girl).
With all eight acts in one studio together, the performance featured cute, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that couldn’t have happened anywhere else. Revisit the most memorable interactions of the Class of 2024 below.
FELIP hyping up PLAYERTWO Naruto-style
These two Bisaya acts are known as close friends and frequent collaborators, following the release of their tracks “FLYYY” and “Pagdali” (Hurry Up). Their friendship definitely shined during the episode, where you can see the PLAYERTWO boys hyping Felip up during the intro to “Rocksta” and Felip doing Naruto-style jutsus behind PLAYERTWO’s performance of “Shower Music.”
Illest Morena and Hev Abi’s duets
We got a sneak peek into what it would be like to see Illest Morena perform at Hev Abi’s Morato’s Most Wanted solo concert during Hev Abi’s performance of his hit “Alam Mo Ba Girl.” You can hear Illest Morena singing the second voice, accentuating Hev Abi’s flows. He sent the same love back to Illest during her performance of “Faded,” where you can hear him singing “Kakagising ko lang (I just woke up).” This is a team up we definitely want to see again.
Zae and Illest Morena
Zae and Illest Morena’s interactions were definitely a highlight during the episode. During Zae’s performance, you can hear Illest dropping in short and funny adlibs, like “Omsim” when Zae raps, “Kung ayaw mo sa akin, edi wag (If you don’t like me, then don’t).” Zae returned the favor when she introduced Illest, saying, “Let’s go, the one and only Illest!”
Hev Abi and RudyRude turning up for Hellmerry
Hellmerry‘s “Thai Freestyle” was one of the biggest hits of the past year, amassing over 18 million streams since its release. Hev Abi and Tus Brothers’ Rudyrude seemed to be part of those who joined the Hellmerry wave, dropping adlibs here and there during the YG rapper’s short and sweet performance.
Madman Stan and Illest Morena introducing Tus Brothers
After O Side Mafia’s bombastic opener, Madman Stan and Illest Morena made sure they’d keep the hype up into Tus Brothers’ performance. The two threw in “yeahs” and adlibs as the played the intro of “Run.”
Watch O Side Mafia, Tus Brothers, Felip, Zae, Hellmerry, PLAYERTWO, Illest Morena, and Hev Abi on Billboard Philippines Studios below.