For some time now, Filipino rap group Ex Battalion or ExB has been leaving people with a case of LLS with viral songs like “Hayaan Mo sila.” The group was formed in 2012 and was founded by Mark Magsalang or Bosx1ne who also is the CEO of the group. They are composed of 13 members—11 rappers and 2 viners. They are arguably the most famous rap group in the country today.
We know that they popularized the songs “Darating din,” “Kakaiba,” and of course, “Hayaan Mo Sila” which became a national anthem for a quite while. Kuya Wil of “Wowowin” loves them and invited them to perform in his show which helped their career A LOT. We are aware that they are social media famous. But here are things you might have missed out on ExB.
5 Things To Know About Ex-Battalion
1. They have a total of almost 200 million views on YouTube.
Their YouTube channel “Ex Battalion Music” is nearing 200 million views with 191,458,983 views as of today. Their channel which was created on Nov 21, 2013, has almost 540k subscribers. The channel’s most viewed video, uploaded over a year ago, has the title “Need You – Bosx1ne, JRoa, Skusta Clee, Emcee Rhenn, Flow-G, Bullet-D & Kent MNL.” It has 26,471,174 views followed by “Hayaan Mo Sila – Ex Battalion x O.C Dawgs (Official Music Video)” with 25,042,855 views. The channel has 108 videos.
2. Ex-Battalion started in a rap contest during a barangay fiesta.
In an interview with pinoyhiphopsuperstar, Bosx1ne shared how the group started. He said that they started with 3 members until more members got in.
“Nabuo ang Ex Battalion sir year 2012, nagsimula kame sa rap contest sa mga brgy brgy lang at tinuloy namin ‘to ng hindi na kame sumasali sa mga contest. Tatlo palang kame nun, Bosx1ne, Jekkpot at si Cent hanggang sa nadagdagan kame ng isa at tuloy tuloy na.”
3. They had their first ever concert August 2017
ExB had their first concert on August 19, 2017 at the Angelis Resort, Poblacion, Marikina City. The concert title was “Freshman Class.”
4. ExB released their first album in 2016
Their first album titled “X” was released on February 3, 2016. It has 15 songs including their hits “Nakakabaliw,” “Twerk,”“ Makakabawi Rin,” “Darating Din,” and “Mukhang malabo.” It was under Ex Battalion Music.
5. “Hayaan mo sila” Copyright issue.
Did you know that the popularity of their hit song “Hayaan Mo Sila” cost ExB the removal official music video of the song from the internet? YouTube took down the music video after the copyright claim of Beats by Diamond Style Productions. However, member Archie Dela Cruz aka Flow G clarified in a Facebook post that they did not steal anything from the said production group and that they paid them before using the beat for their song.
He explained, “Lumampas na kami sa limitasyon na binayaran namin sa gumawa ng beat dahil na siguro sa dami ng nakinig, naniwala, at tumangkilik sa kanta. Kaya humihingi muli ng karagdagang bayad ang gumawa.” The video has had 13 million views before it was taken down.
The new video posted in November now has over 25m views. Watch Hayaan Mo Sila by Ex Battalion via Ex Battalion Music YouTube account.