Behind Morato’s Most Wanted: An Exclusive Inside Look Into Hev Abi’s First Concert

It was 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 28 and we had just arrived at New Frontier Theater. 

The venue was still quiet, only hearing a few murmured conversations about soundcheck as you walked by. The stage was gradually being engulfed by smoke while the crew were doing last-minute touch-ups on each side.

There were people moving all over the venue, making sure the final pieces were all in place — from the production team sorting through wristbands backstage to those in the tech booth working through minute difficulties. 

This was, of course, all in preparation for Hev Abi’s first concert. 

While the young rapper is no stranger to stages, amassing thousands-strong crowds at university fairs, festivals, and club gigs, this was the first time he put on a show like this — in fact, it was the first time a Filipino rapper has ever held a show of this caliber.

Titled Morato’s Most Wanted, the concert was designed to be a full showcase of Hev as the artist he is and the artist he’s pushing boundaries to be.

So, in true Hev Abi fashion, he brought the crowd to Tomas Morato. 

Upon first sight of the stage, that was abundantly clear. From the street bollards that were embellished with “DTQ” to the 7/11-inspired Downtown Q sign to the street railing he’s posed beside on the cover of his latest album to the LED backdrop of the city streets, the stage was his home — now, in more ways than one.

There’s nobody that reps Morato louder than Hev Abi; you hear it in his songs, as he proudly claims ownership of the city and takes pride in how it’s raised him. And so, when creating the show, representing his city was one of the first things Hev really set out to do. 

“City boy talaga si Hev eh [Hev is really a city boy], so we wanted to show that in the stage,” says Creative Director Ernest Macasil. “We really wanted the audience to see who Hev is, so we really played around with the design and we made sure that everything really represented him. And so, we brought Morato.”

Now, for the past couple of months, we spent a lot of time with Hev Abi — most notably, when he graced the cover of our first-ever Hip-Hop issue alongside his fellow monster hip-hop rookies. Then, he was quiet and timid but he takes on a new persona when he sets foot on a stage. 

Even when he was simply running through the night’s setlist and smoothening out technical difficulties, he was beamed with energy, revealing the smug rapper that’s taken over the charts. He takes on a new life when doing music, you see it in the sheer thrill he felt rehearsing with his band days before the concert and the joy in introducing his frequent collaborators during soundcheck. 

While you’d expect nerves and anxiety to fill the air as the hours countdown to showtime, Hev and the production team were more excited than anything else. Even as everyone ran around hectically putting the show’s puzzle together, it was all smiles.

Even though we only witnessed the last couple of hours before showtime, there was no doubt that this show meant a lot to everyone involved.

It marked the beginning of something great — not only for themselves, but for an entire community waiting to be shone the spotlight. 

This concert was a product of brotherhood and an unrelenting passion for music. These were people that wanted to see each other succeed, all motivated to push each other and Filipino hip-hop forward.

You saw it in the way they all put together the final pieces of the show with a mix of excitement and anticipation, and the pure joy that washed over their faces seeing their vision come to life and their hard work come to fruition as confetti washed over the venue after Hev’s closing song. 

Even as they greeted the Billboard Philippines team, members of the crew said, “Sabay sabay tayo aangat [We’ll all go up together].”

By the end of the night, there was no doubt that this show was more than just a stepping stone for a singular artist’s career. While yes, it was Hev Abi’s big moment — one that he clearly deserved and so grandly delivered on, the show marked a massive step forward for Filipino hip-hop. One that we hope continues to take local hip-hop from the streets to the world.

“When Hev Abi joined TMP Industries and Urban Department, he specifically told me that he wants to produce an album and a concert because he knows that it hasn’t been done in the local hip hop scene,” echoed TMP Industries CEO and Urban Gathering Founder Doug Brock.

“It was a huge risk that we took as a team. I just hope that there’s a lot of collectives, labels, artists, that can hold more concerts. More brands that can trust this genre what hip-hop in the Philippines really is. It’s about building momentum for everyone else to build on.”

From rehearsals to backstage, check out Billboard Philippines‘ exclusive inside look into the making of Hev Abi’s first concert, Morato’s Most Wanted.