Hev Abi Riffs On 'Maduming Timog,' Skateboarding, and Why He's a Reggae Guy Now

Local hip-hop and R&B phenom Hev Abi is quietly letting his full melodic and sonic arsenal do all the talking with the recent release of his second studio album Maduming Timog last month.

The soft-spoken but cool as a cucumber demeanor of the 24-year-old rapper hailing from Quezon City contrasts his fearlessness in his retelling of his experience growing accustomed to the grit and the grime associated with his old stomping grounds of Timog, QC.

Abi, who was named 2024 Esquire Philippines' Man at His Best Music Artist of the Year, gets candid with us as we get up close and personal with how he's just scratching the surface with this LP, his latest obsession with skateboarding culture, and a bunch of curveball music and movie references he threw at us during our little chat.

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Talks of a new record from the rising new guard of the Philippine hip-hop game reached its fever peak when he dropped the first single "All Night Long," which immediately caught fire on streaming sites. We also swung by Hev's private listening party for Maduming Timog a week before release, and hearing the full tracklist in an intimate place like Teatrino in Greenhills gave us a short snapshot on how loaded his hit-making potential is for club bangers. You sure as hell don't hear that too often with local rappers and R&B singers.

We had to let the album marinate in our streaming playlists and gave it time to settle in before we took a crack at it. It's hard to believe how much sauce was put into this project and how addictive Hev's melodies have developed into.

It was endearing that his mom was in the crowd that night, and even more intriguing that she was so understanding of his craft despite the raw subject matter he tackles in his tunes.

"Sa awa ng diyos, maintindihin naman yung ermat ko. Alam nyo naman yung mga pwedeng kahinatnan. Kasi dati, singer din naman sya. May experience dun sya sa field na to. So, yun nga. Buti ka na lang. Understanding. Okay.

(Thank God my mom understands. You know what could've come of it. Because she used to be a singer herself. She has experience in that world. So yeah. Thank God. She's understanding. Okay)," he told Esquire Philippines, after we asked him about the jarring experience of having his mom listen to his musings on girls, drugs, and other partygoing shenanigans.

Take the song "Walang Hiya," for instance. The lead single off the album sees the rapper auto-tune croon over a trap beat and hypnotizing string leads for a certified on-repeat banger.

"Nung example yun, Walang Hiya yung beat na yun. Since na, ano, galing Dubai yun eh yung beat na yun. Tapos dito ko nagawa yung kanta. (For example, Walang Hiya -- that beat came from Dubai. Then I made the song here)," he said, commenting on how serendipity came into play in his songwriting process during the album's conception.

When asked if he intended for the song to be such a catchy radio hit, he said bluntly: "Hindi naman nagpapadala sa akin yung mga ganon. (I don't let those things carry me away)."

Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction also best embodied the recording, according to the rap superstar, who paid homage to the cult classic film in the music videos for the album.

Other standout tracks for us include "Masyadong Interesado," "Isang Gabi Lang," "Sizzling," "Away," and "Valerie," as well as killer collabs with the likes of Jess Connelly, LK, Manila Grey, and his longtime pal gins&melodies.

The brutal album art for Maduming Timog

A beaten, bloody, and emaciated Hev Abi in the album art at first glance gave us assumptions of his days getting ripped to shreds hustling in the mean streets of Timog, QC. The visual is deeply unsettling, especially on account of his apathetic expression, cigarette in hand and all. It reminds us a lot of Joji's nonchalant dissociation in the "Slow Dancing in the Dark" song art.

Well, he says he got the vision from a source you wouldn't expect: a skateboarding video. Whether he was channeling his inner Lil Wayne or Pharrell, we're all here for it.

"Yung idea na dugo-dugo ako, nakuha ko lang sa isang skate video. Habang nanunood ako, parang yun, nagiging ako siya, dugo-dugo na siya habang naglalaro ng skate.

(The idea of being all bloodied, I got it from a skate video. While watching, I became him, bloodied and still skating)," the rapper riffs on the striking album art.

He told us that skateboarding culture, fashion (beanies being his go-to fashion statement nowadays) and actually shredding at the parks have been longtime influences and hobbies that only recently translated into his work.

So what exactly is Maduming Timog? The actual joint in QC? A state of mind?

"Nalagay ko lang yung maduming dun in the sense of yung mga tao sa paligid ng Timog, alam mo naman yung lugar. Ang daming establishment at mga ganito. At kung ano na ang nangyayari sa loob-loob nyo, mga ganun. So parang dun din ang galing isalitang madumi sa title na yun.

(I just put 'maduming' there in the sense of all the people around Timog, you know the place. So many establishments and all that. And what goes on inside everyone's heads, things like that. That's also where the dirtiness in the title comes from)," Hev said, definitely putting that album concept question to rest.

The music video for "Walang Hiya"

Hev isn't one to plateau at such an early stage in his music career or to halt his progression as one of the new flagbearers of Philippine hip-hop. He wrestled with unexpected songwriting and beatmaking journeys in Maduming Timog, an LP filled with the most features and collabs he's had in his catalog.

"Buong album actually gano'n eh. Ganon yung mga, ganon yung prosesa ng lahat eh. Na lahat talaga hindi ko binalak eh.

(The whole album was actually like that. That was the process for everything. None of it was planned)."

Going back to the infectious "Faded Off" with R&B staple Manila Grey and "Away" featuring Jess Connelly, he said that he isn't the type to reach out and that he often needs to form relationships with people before hopping on tracks with them. These two collabs are also the first ones he's done outside of his rap group.

Obviously, we had to ask him about GOATs and music Mount Rushmores. Locally, he cited local hip-hop legends Loonie, Ron Henley, and Shanti Dope as some of the greatest artists in his eyes, but bashfully answered the international GOAT conversation. "Bob Marley nalang sige (Let's just go with Bob Marley)," Hev said.

For context, Exodus by Bob Marley was among his five desert island albums we asked him to come up with, which also included 4 Your Eyez Only by J. Cole, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill, Igor by Tyler the Creator, and Back to Black by Amy Winehouse. The superstar also riffed on his recent obsession with reggae music, which admittedly didn't really manifest in Madaming Timog.

"Hopefully magkaroon ng tour. Gusto ko pa maglabas din pa ng maraming pang album ngayon to actually. Gusto ko rin maglabas pa ng kahit mga tatlo, dalawa ng album pa ngayon to. Sana, magawa ko (Hopefully we get a tour. I want to put out a lot more albums after this -- at least two, maybe three. Hopefully I can pull it off)," Hev Abi said on what's to come after this stellar album

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