From her humble beginnings in the streets of Mandaluyong City to her unwavering success as a female emcee, Illest Morena has proved that authenticity is necessary when making art, evident in her newly released visual for ‘Stinkalink,’ a crowd favorite track from her debut album ‘Morenita.’

2024 was an interesting year for Illest Morena—she released her full-length album, headlined several shows including Billboard’s Mainstage Concert, and received the Top Kalye Song Award for ‘Faded (Raw)’ at the 2024 Spotify Wrapped Party.

Despite being the illest in the game, the 23-year-old artist has no plans to stop. However, just like everyone else, her priority is to live life to the fullest.

In an exclusive interview, she shared her daily routine to get in the mood for her errands — “I light up an incense because it makes me feel relaxed. Then, I would make my coffee, journal my feelings, and work,” she highlighted.

Love For Community
The rapper shared that her upbringing in Mandaluyong City played a pivotal role in her music taste, citing her community as an inspiration for her artistry.

“I used to live in Addition Hills, the most congested, most populated area in our city. So, the houses are very close to each other. My neighbors would often play songs from Pinoy hip-hop artists such as Ron Henley, which I’m a huge fan of,” she reminisced.

She also mentioned her household as the catalyst for her love of R&B. Songs like “Bakit Pa Ba?” by Jay-R stuck with her as a little girl.

“Although I’m a rap artist, I love exploring R&B when it comes to my music because it really takes me back to a time when things were simpler and life felt lighter,” the artist explained.

It was only a matter of time before she started honing her music with the help of her fellow Mandaleño artists, which enabled her to embrace a unique yet authentic style.

“There was a certain time in my early music days when I couldn’t write and they [Guddhist Gunatita and Ghetto Gecko] invited me to their studio so we could make some songs. I feel like it really created this great foundation for me in terms of lyricism because I hung out with some of the greatest hip-hop artists from Mandaluyong,” she highlighted.

As a result, her coming-of-age journey as an artist became the motif of her album, a story-driven project inspired by lust, love, and dreams.

From Sneaky Link To Stinkalink
When preparing for her album, Illest stumbled upon a beat given by her producers Radical and SEIS titled ‘Sneaky Link.’

Following her musical intuition, she gravitated towards the beat but had to reframe its meaning. She clung to her life experience as the main inspiration for the song, alluding to how she and her boyfriend started dating.

“During this time, I wrote ‘Slow Burn,’ a song about my boyfriend and our romance. So, when the beat [for Stinkalink] was given to me, I was already in a relationship and didn’t feel like writing something about sneaky links. And it sort of pushed me to instead reminisce about the early stages of our relationship since we started as friends and I wasn’t so sure if he liked me back at the time,” she expressed.

This story also became the blueprint of the music video’s storyline, referencing 2000s chick flicks such as Mean Girls and White Chicks.

“We had two weeks to prepare for the music video. I’ve always wanted to fulfill my early 2000s chick flick fantasy and I tried doing that for ‘Pick Up,’ but we didn’t have the budget at the time. As for the storyline, it was inspired by the period when my boyfriend and I used to party and we weren’t honest about our feelings. But we would get clingy with each other only when we’re drunk,” she said.

The star-studded music video included cameos from Sassa Gurl, Zae, Arkin Magalona, and Jonas Belgica.

She shared that one of the reasons behind Sassa’s appearance is their supposed resemblance according to netizens. Meanwhile, her dance battle with Zae is a homage to the female artist who came before her.

“We decided that Sassa would play the old version of me since I get a lot of comments about how we look alike. Then, my dance battle with Zae was so fun to shoot since I was doing it with the artist who made me feel like it was possible to be a female rapper in this country,” she shared.

As for the love interest, she wanted someone that resembled his partner.
“Jonas is a good friend of mine and we go way back in 2019—when we used to dance together in a group called Aces. I thought that he could play the role well,” the artist recalled.

Arkin Magalona’s cameo is the cherry on top, continuing his late father’s legacy in the local hip-hop scene. “He [Arkin] is one of the few people I always meet during parties and I knew that he would kill the role of a party boy,” she said.

But for Illest, the presence of her long-time fans made the experience memorable and special.
“My relationship with my fans is very tight. They inspire me as much as I inspire them. It started off as a small group and I made a group chat for us to directly talk to each other. Then, I invited them to my secret session where they listened to the album way before its release. And they all loved ‘Stinkalink’ so I knew I had to include them in the shoot,” she shared.

The Past and The Future
While she is mostly known for her top hits ‘Pick Up’ and ‘Faded (Raw),’ Illest expressed her gratitude for the success that the songs have given her.

“You know, it’s really validating. It made me realize that if I did it once, then I could do it again. And it just keeps me motivated to push harder into creating what I want without thinking about the ‘formula,’ or what other people would say. When I made those two songs, I was only expressing myself and I feel like if I keep doing that, there’s nothing else that really matters. I don’t have to try to create a hit song. I just make a song and then I let it have its moment,” she said.
This unapologetic demeanor resonates with the current landscape of the Filipino music industry, where artists can now freely express themselves without immense pressure from the public eye. However, for Illest, there is a price to pay.

“In exchange for that freedom, you will experience a lot of hardships and sacrifices. But what matters the most is that you should never lose your authenticity as it would really affect your relationship with your craft. I’m just very grateful because people’s tastes are more open to genres that were once frowned upon by the masses, especially hip-hop,” she mentioned.

The rapper assured that she is constantly making new music and plans to collaborate more with her peers.

“I’m always working on new music because I don’t want the feeling of being stagnant. Hopefully, I’ll get to do a concert soon but as of now, I’m just really focusing on creating more music and living life so that I could get more inspiration to write good music,” she shared.