Ex Battalion, colloquially shortened to ExB, is a Filipino hip hopcollective from Muntinlupa, Philippines known for the hit singles "Hayaan Mo Sila" and "No Games". The group was originally formed as a musical group by Bosx1ne, who mostly writes the hooks of each of their songs, alongside Flow-G. Later members included JRoa, King Badger, Brando, and O.C. Dawgs member Skusta Clee. The collective gained prominence nationwide after releasing several hit songs in 2018 such as "Ikaw Kase" and "Follow My Lead". To date, they are dubbed as the most successful mainstream hip-hop collective in the country with a total of over 800 million music video views and almost 3 million subscribers on YouTube.
History
In 2012, Ex Battalion was formed and founded by Bosx1ne and rap battle emcees Jekkpot and Cent as a rap battle group. They had joined several barangayrap battles before being into music. In January 2016, the group was formed into a musical group and as a hip hop collective and released their first album entitled "X" on digital platforms. They eventually recruited several artists to join their group after the release. The first three members were former reality talent show participant JRoa, rapper Flow-G, singer and rapper Skusta Clee, and their founder Bosx1ne. JRoa's vocals were included in the hook of their first single that became their first hit as a group entitled "Kakaiba" which was released on the same month. Singer and rapper Skusta Clee started associating with the group since early 2016 and has collaborated in most of their singles until eventually becoming a member. On September 25, 2016, three months after the release of their first smash-hit single, they released another single called "No Games". The track's music video was immediately uploaded on YouTube and subsequently garnering over 16 million views. On December 6, 2016, they released "Tell Me" and the track's music video on YouTube. On January 2017, the collective scored their first BillboardPhilippine Top 20 hit entitled "No Games" which entered the local chart and peaked at number 10 after several weeks. However, on November 7, 2017, JRoa announced his intent to leave the group to focus on his solo musical career after releasing just one album in the label and appearing in several songs with the collective. Roa said that the group will still be the same "with or without him". Other members like Flow-G and Bosx1ne accepted Roa's decision and pledged to support him on his future plans. On the same day, Ex Battalion released another single entitled "Hayaan Mo Sila" along with its official video on YouTube. The track was inspired by DJ Khaled's "I'm the One", and it immediately debuted in the Philippine Top 20 chart at number 2, their second hit single appearing on the chart. On January 3, 2018, the official music video of "Hayaan Mo Sila" was taken down by YouTube after hitting almost twenty million views due to a copyright claim by the producer of the beat, Diamond Style, who claims that Ex Battalion only purchased a $25 lease which covers up to 2,000 streams and up to 250,000 views only. After the event, speculations swirled online regarding the alleged use of the beat without permission; Ex Battalion explained and admitted that they have not purchased the exclusive rights of the beat by which they only got from the producer's YouTube channel. After a few days, it was also removed from streaming services and digital stores. It was eventually restored in the stores including the music video on YouTube, after the issue was resolved two weeks later. Due to the massive attention, the track also rose up the charts, peaking at number 2 on the Philippine Top 20 and at number 10 on the Philippine Hot 100 in just one week. However, Billboard Philippines then ceased from publishing weekly charts. On March 12, 2018, the collective released their new single entitled "SouthBoys" on YouTube in another collaboration with O.C. Dawgs. Special appearances in the video included Huddass, Jnske, and Bullet-D. All of which are from O.C. Dawgs. The video became the number 1 trend in the YouTube PH platform several hours after the upload. On March 13, 2018, it was announced that the collective will be handled and managed by Filipino comedian Ai-Ai delas Alas, who they previously collaborated with in Delas Alas' track entitled "Walang Pinipili", after signing a management contract. In early 2019, Delas Alas resigned as the group's manager. Delas Alas stated her reason as her inability to handle the ego of certain members who are "behaving unprofessionally". After Ex Battalion starred in their first box-office film with Delas Alas in 2019, it was reported that Bosx1ne announced his separation from the group on May 9, 2019, citing personal reasons. However, Bosx1ne remaining with the collective was confirmed when he still appeared with his own verse in the music video of their single entitled "Pakinabang" which they released on August 5, 2019. Bosx1ne changed his screen name to Honcho in mid-2020.
