Allmo$t
In only four years, the hip-hop group Allmo$t has already scored a number of hits and songs that became viral on social media. But while streaming numbers is one way to measure success, it’s not what motivates them to create music.
“You shouldn’t be thinking whether the song you’re writing has hit potential—it’s up to the people to judge and appreciate it. And if you know that you did your best, then that’s what really matters … Panalo ka pa rin,” member and rapper Crakky said in a virtual conference for Allmo$t recent single “Larawan” (Viva Records).
Also composed of rapper Russell and hook singers Clien and Jom, the group is behind such popular hip-hop bops as, “Dalaga,” “Miracle Nights” and “Bagay Tayo,” which, respectively, have 57 million, 77 million, 73 million collective streams on YouTube and Spotify. There’s no one formula for virality, Russell pointed out.
“It’s difficult to chase something like that, because fans and people on social media all have different and ever-changing tastes in music. You just have to trust your own material,” he said. “We don’t target going viral because that just causes you to overthink. It can make you feel like a failure if if you don’t get that. We give the listeners what we want to express.”
“And funnily enough,” Crakky added, “it’s your non-favorite songs that become popular among listeners.”
But if there’s one thing they hope to achieve as a quartet, it’s to diversify their body of work. And “Larawan” seems to be a step toward that goal. The nostalgic, 1980 retro-vibed song is a departure from their spunky and cheeky previous singles. Described as their most melodious composition yet, the song bats for love and protection of the environment.
“We approached it as a love song. And the lyrics, we felt, could also touch on nature, the Earth and all the changes it goes through. The vibe of “Larawan,” Jom observed, is different from the current trend in local hip-hop. “We don’t just hop on the trends or what’s popular at the moment. And we felt that not a lot of rap songs have the same feel as ‘Larawan’ right now,” he said. “It’s also about exploring other types of sounds. We want to tap different categories and show that we can do almost anything.”
“We don’t want to put out the same things over and over again. We want to improve and always keep the audience guessing. We want to come up with a sound that doesn’t sound like everyone else’s” Crakky said.
That said, collaboration with other artists is something they intend to do more of in the future. “We want to work with various artists. We appreciate everyone coming out because they have their own styles,” Jom added. Reflecting on their journey so far, the group can say that they have grown considerably as music artists since their first major break in 2019. “We have played on stages we used to only dream of. We have met people we used to see only on television, and now we get to work with them. It has been a learning experience,” Crakky said. INQ