Patricia Mariz V. Hilao
his article argues that FlipTop rap battles, as recorded and uploaded events in a digital streaming platform, function as performances of archiving. These are acts that preserve and transform the meaning of cultural dissent. I situate these performances within theoretical discourses of liveness (Auslander, 1999), archive and the repertoire (Taylor, 2003), and platform politics (van Dijck, 2013; Gillespie, 2018). I also examine YouTube’s capacity to mediate the aesthetics and, therefore, the politics of Filipino rap and hip-hop. By closely reading (watching) two specific rap battles—one from 2012 and another from 2024—I trace how performances that are separated by a decade shift embodied practices, audience participation, and digital spectatorship. Finally, I contend that FlipTop’s digital archive not only documents dissent but performs it anew. It has created an ever-evolving repertoire of resistance that continues to resonate and echo across time, space, and screens.