OPM IS KILLING 2012 LIKE NO OTHER YEAR!

Dash is releasing his album officially tonight Sept 21 at B Sides

We've all seen the article, the literature on OPM being dead. And yes I've read it, seen how people put their defenses up on this subject. We saw the people fight, shared their plight and well created a forum of sorts.

Turthfully, I couldn't give a shit about it. Will explain why in a bit.

Early this week, I was having dinner with a cat -- yes whiskers and all. And we chanced on this topic of OPM being dead. The cat shared her story to me, purred and said it was a matter of perspective. Rightfully so, music will always be around, songs umbrella feelings, emotions, logic, despair -- and create a higher sense of awareness. Everything has been said under the sun, every chord has been played, every progression in music has been explored --its hard to determine the limit of what original is in such great complex times.

The cat told me that we needed to see the variables around the writer and the way it was driven. That for industry heads, it seemed a like a public relation drive for the upcoming Eraserheads Reunion in North America - that it seemed to bank on the 90's and the subsequent release of a concert later this year by Eraserheads. Related or not, it dawns on me that we've reached a place where we don't believe what people have to say -- all the time. That music still carries out a personal mission in our lives for us to just believe what one person says. 

Up Dharma Down - OO; Terno Records, where art thou?

There are some universal truths in this OPM issue and the diagram of selling music. Content is King, but distribution is Kingkong.

It is not the music that serves as the problem, but the distribution channels and the power they carry. OPM for me, has become a treasure hunt. Gone are the days of OPM being only power ballads, folk songs and at most rock songs from college bands turned into professional musicians. Those days are long behind us - but if those were the days of golden OPM music for you, I would like to inform you the new OPM movement isn't spoon fed. Your traditional distribution channels are TV, Radio and Record Stores; well these are all corporations -- so originality isn't the premium they risk on, its another thing.

See what Francis Magalona had to say about radio, here.

Again, for me -- OPM is a treasure hunt - remember the time when you bought the album before everyone did, the time when you were already singing the second single while everyone was stuck on the first single, the time when you spent on a cassette tape just off of the design of the album alone? Why did you do those? Cause the experience of the music began from within, not from a boring DJ instructing you what to buy, telling you whats hot or not. People have to lose the idea that TV and Radio makes the musician, cause it doesn't - it makes them available thats all.

The newer, bolder distribution channel -- Internet is limitless. OPM is now seen and heard by the world through this channel. Regional artists are taking over the hearts of many through social media plus its a world wide stage where you can now compare bands like Bernardo Carpio with legends like Dream Theater - but the internet is also a place we can lose our perspective.

Again, its a distribution channel -- not a place where we cultivate music.

The OPM issue is a mirroring of a generation.

OPM isn't spoon fed like it used to be. The ingredients have changed, the chefs have lost their touch, but the hunger remains. Where do you go? You look at the mirror and decide on your own. Let the hunger to find the answer lead you to where OPM lives.

I told you earlier, I could care less of this issue. I still don't give too much shit about it really. The people totally affected by it are people from the rock circuit. The labels haven't signed bands like they used to back in the day -- the top rock bands have been taking a break, we are now left with only a handful active acts that can command an audience.

Lets be frank and admit that the industry has abandoned hiphop for a few years now, and we've survived. More than that, we've thrived. We've even taken shots from traditionalists that hiphop isn't even music. We've seen production power house FlipMusic release quality OPM songs almost every week for the past two years, we've cultivated our own awards nights no matter how complex it got, we've brought back Mastaplann to be heard by this new generation of hiphop fans, we recognize that OPM isn't only based in the Philippines and reached out to even Pinoys around the world, we've aligned ourselves with Urban Myx to generate more rooted content for proper hiphop on local TV, Yumi & Thryo's "Kiss" rocked local charts as an independent act that topped the charts for weeks, we've used even piracy to our advantage -- spawning local hood celebrities in 187 Mobstaz, Repablikan and the likes, we've strengthen our regional base in La Union, Laguna, Davao, Cebu, Bacolod, Ilocos, Baguio, Pampanga and more; we see Manny Pacquiao invest in a hiphop group, DRP; we've appreciated new artists in DJ's and even producers, we are holding weekly events for producers to showcase their original beats -- and creating a community dedicated to making new OPM music, we've become good businessmen with OPM as the foundation of pushing our ideas, we've seen Fliptop & Sunugan get respect nationwide and worldwide notoriety with the support we get from people who love these brands of hiphop and hiphop music. All these and more.

Download the free Turbulence App for Android and Iphone users. Innovate. 

Hiphop's movement is very much based on its music. Hiphop has gotten a great partnership with the rock scene and cultivates more music than you can ever imagine. Catch a Barangay Tibay show, see Champ perform in CDO with a rock band, see Cosmic Love tease you with Island Loving, Stick Figgas' latest member is none other than Kat Agarrado.

Our OPM is very much alive.

Quest's Sige Lang, is still one of the biggest OPM songs this year!

I find it stupid when that OPM Is Dead article is released while Gloc 9's "Sirena" is pushing the envelope for originality - a first person point of view on being a repsonsible gay man, peaking at number 1 on the charts and even generating good enough sales to be number 1 in record stores over its foreign counterparts. Beyond the market value of the song, its dent on society cannot be measured. I find it stupid when this article is released in the midst of a song like "Sige Lang" by Quest -- that has aided the Smart Gilas Basketball Team be inspired and show us that it can be done, winning the Jones Cup. Don't believe me? Ask Coach Chot.

Again, OPM isn't spoon fed like it used to be. The ingredients have changed, the chefs have lost their touch, but the hunger remains. Where do you go? You look at the mirror and decide on your own. Let the hunger to find the answer lead you to where OPM lives.

Move with the sound, where there is sound there is movement.

FIN

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