Sitting Down with DJ Marlino of Heavy Rotation Podcast
DJ Marlino, "The Fivefoota Funk", has been in the game for a minute: as a club DJ, on-air radio personality and mixer, Program Director for myxRADIO, and now founder/host of Heavy Rotation, the first and only global podcast for Filipino hip hop and R&B. The podcast is for hip hop and R&B fans, music lovers, new music seekers, and for those who want an alternative to the norm. DJ Marlino has interviewed hundreds of Filipino artists like P-Lo, Inigo Pascual, Kiana V., Russ Coson, Nieman, Annie Lux, John Concepcion, Ylona Garcia and more. We sat down with DJ Marlino to chat about Filipino Artists around the globe, the story behind Heavy Rotation, myx, and what it means to be "Uniquely Filipino." PLUS check out the Spotify playlist of ALL Filipino hip-hop and R&B artists!
1. For those who may not be familiar with you, please introduce yourself and let everyone know where you're from.
My name is DJ Marlino (aka the Fivefoota Funk). I am the founder and host of Heavy Rotation, the first and only global podcast and music TV show for Filipino Hip Hop and R&B, and Program Director for myx (myxTV and Radio). I’m originally from San Francisco, CA and currently based in San Diego.
2. How long have you been a DJ, and who were some of your influences growing up?
I’ve DJed for over 30 years from working mobile gigs, to clubs, to radio at stations such as Wild 107/94.9 FM in San Francisco, Z90.3 FM in San Diego, Wild 106 FM in San Luis Obispo and other guest appearances worldwide.
Some of my influences include my cousins who first introduced me to DJing and the DJing business, Jazzy Jim, DJ Pleez, Rich Laxamana, Majestic Chris, Vicious V, Double Barrel Daryl, DJ Mein, St. John, Fatboy Slim, Armand Van Helden, Eric Morillo, Mark Farina, DJ Shortkut, Apollo, and many more.
Heavy Rotation feat. Tracy Cruz
3. Can you tell us about Heavy Rotation, how you got started, and what inspired you to feature Filipino hip hop & R&B artists?
Heavy Rotation is the first and largest podcast exclusively for Filipino hip hop and R&B. The idea came when I had the opportunity to go back into radio in 2006. This was my third stint at being in the industry. But, at that time I felt like I wanted to do something different, something that would help the Filipino community, so I thought, "What if there was a station like KMEL in the Bay, The Beat in LA, or HOT 97 in NY, that only played music by Filipino artists from around the world, what would it sound like?” This was when the idea for Heavy Rotation was born. Heavy Rotation aired from 2007-2009. A decade later, I brought back Heavy Rotation in 2019.
During this time artists like Native Guns: Bambu, Kiwi, Hopie Spitshard, Rocky Rivera, Jay R, Tracy Cruz ,Ver5e, M.B., Gi, J Ricz, Rocini Mae, Rising Asterisk, Czarina were a few of the artists we played in rotation. But there were only a handful at the time, like 19 artists around the globe. Today we’ve feature close to 300 Filipino artists worldwide and it continues to grow.
4. How did you get connected with ABS-CBN?
Over a year ago I got reconnected with Roslynn Cobarrubias, Global Head of Music and Talent at ABS-CBN, at a business function in LA. That day, she took me to a Filipino restaurant called Sari Sari where we talked about her purpose and passion for helping the Filipino Community through music. Shortly after she took her role at ABS-CBN, she brought me in to consult on the launch of our station myxRADIO. And through God’s grace I was given the opportunity to join ABS-CBN full time.
Inigo Pascual
5. Who were some of your favorite artists featured on Heavy Rotation?
This is a really tough question to answer partially because I’ve become really good friends with a lot of the artists we feature on the show I honestly don’t know how to answer that. But a few of the artist that come top of mind are Jessica Louise, Jayda, Tiana Kocher, Lumikools, Albert Posis, Nieman, Kiana V, Mica, Inigo Pascual, Leila Alcasid, sKarm, Valere, Tracy Cruz, Miss Ramonne, Jasmin Nicole, Likkle Jordee, Ylona Garcia, Jay R, Kris Lawrence, Versoul, Shaina Rae, Idren Artstrong, Angeloumae, Jeremy Passion, Gabe Bondoc, Meg Delacey, all Beatrock Music and hundreds more! (Sorry guys if didn’t get to mention you)
6. We all know Bruno Mars and Apl.de.App, but we're starting to see new Filipino artists like P-Lo, Saweetie, Ruby Ibarra, and H.E.R. (who won a Grammy) making noise right now. Are Filipino musicians having a moment?
I wouldn’t say Filipino musicians are having a moment. I think we’ve always been there, but now technology and the internet is allowing us to be heard. In addition, I think the community has gotten tired of hearing the term “we don’t have a market for you” from the music industry so collectively we’re all creating our own playing field. This is where platforms like Heavy Rotation, myxGlobal and others are trailblazing. At myx, we look at it as the Filipino version of BET, it’s a community for our stories, our music. Uniquely Filipino.
Kiana V
7. Who are some new Filipino/Fil-Am artists that you're feeling right now or think we should be checking?
Jessica Louise – Los Angeles, CA
Jenn Clemena – San Francisco, CA
Drea Rose – Los Angeles, CA
Jolianne – Cebu City, Philippines
Ylona Garcia – Manila, Philippines
sKarm
Kiana V – Manila, Philippines
Likkle Jordee – Honolulu, Hawaii
August Rigo – Toronto, Canada
Ayewun – Queens, New York
Hydroponikz – New York City, NY
Albert Posis – San Diego, CA
Cedrice – San Diego, CA
Nieman – Los Angeles
Lumikools
August Wahh – Manila, Philippines
Leila Alcasid – Manila, Philippines
Apostol – London, UK
Cameron Calloway – Las Vegas Nevada
Lumikools – Hercules, California
Olivia Escuyos – Melbourne, Australia
Cyra Gwynth – Amsterdam, Netherlands
sKarm – Pasig City, Philippines
Ello.C – Sydney, Australia
Again, really tough question because there are sooooo many that are amazing artists.
8. Can you tell us about how the transition to livestreaming has been for you? Has it been a challenge?
For me, the biggest challenge is being on camera and understanding the tech and equipment needed to do quality streams. We actually transitioned to livestreaming very quickly, right at the start of “Shelter In Place”. Since we couldn’t do events at Heavy Rotation or myx, we had to think of creative ways to produce content. For Heavy Rotation, we started hosting Lockdown Listening party streams and gave artists the opportunity to play their latest music or releases. For myx, we quickly started moving all our programming to twitch.com/myxglobal and myxGlobal on KUMU.
9. Can you tell us a little about the music hip hop and R&B scene in the Philippines? How is it different than the States?
The hip hop and R&B scene in the Philippines is growing quickly. They have a huge hip hop festival called FlipTop which is known for their rap battles. There are a good number of artists creating really great music. OPM is still the term they use to label Philippine music (OPM hip hop, etc.) but it has evolved tremendously and is not the same as a decade ago.
The biggest difference they have from the states is that they’re 7,000 miles and they can write and perform bilingually. Throughout our history, Filipinos from the states have brought the sound here back to the Philippines, so the Philippines has been influenced by that. Plus adding access to the internet and music programs, I would say the Philippines is on the same playing field. During my process of bringing Heavy Rotation back, listening to Philippine artists like James Reid, Nadine Lustre, Inigo Pascual, Kiana V, Xela x Moophs, Miss Ramonne, Jay R actually inspired me pull the trigger on bringing it back.
10. Any upcoming projects or interviews you're looking forward to?
We’re currently looking in to expanding our virtual concert series HRL (Heavy Rotation Live) into something bigger. We are also working on launching our first Heavy Rotation Hip Hop and R&B Music Awards. As far as interviews, Thea Cruz, Olivia Escuyos, Tracy Cruz, Miss Ramonne, and Radha are coming up on our schedule and I’m very excited to watch them perform and get to know them better.
11. Let us know how we can we can check out Heavy Rotation.
@ListentoHR on all social platforms
@heavyrotation on KUMU
You can listen to Heavy Rotation here:
myxRADIO on dashradio.com/myxradio every Wednesday 5pm PDT
Traklife Radio media.traklife.com every Friday 4pm PDT
Fresh FM Philippines Sundays at 11am PHT starting in October
Podcast is available on all podcast platforms on Fridays (Spotify, iHeart, Itunes, etc.)
12. What can we expect from your set tonight?
I’ll be playing an all Filipino hip hop and R&B set featuring a few exclusives by Filipino artists around the globe.