Ez Mil’s live performance of “Panalo”

In real life, the rapper, who goes by the Instagram handle “Ezekiel Miller”, is a Fil-Caucasian born in Olongapo City in 1998. His father is Paul Sapiera, lead singer of the band RockStar, who came out with a hit of their own with 1993’s “Mahal Pa Rin Kita” and “Parting Time.” His mother is also active in the music industry.

His song tackles Filipino patriotism and lots of his kababayan were left dumbfounded after hearing him ram and sing live. Some of them even compared him to the late Filipino rapper icon Francis Magalona. However, there are also netizens who criticized him because of the lyrics.

Ez Mil’s live performance of “Panalo” on Wish Bus USA is currently tearing it up on the internet, amassing 10 million views in just three days as of this writing.

Ez Mil grew up in the Philippines, but recently moved to the US, living there for four years. (In the December 29 Wish Bus USA interview, it seemed he went home, at least briefly, to Olongapo.) Ez Mil lived in California for that first year, and it was there that his patriotic feeling began to stir, eventually culminating in the very charged lyrics of his viral song “Panalo.” His rock-tinged, English song “Far Away From Home” also contains similar themes.

On the other stories, Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan of Lapu-Lapu City found rapper Ez Mil insulting as he used Lapu-Lapu, one of the country’s national heroes, in one of his songs. 

The song entitled “Panalo” claimed that the hero was beheaded in Mactan. 

“As father of this city, I was hurt with his lyrics. If he doesn’t recognize Datu Lapu-Lapu as a hero, then he shouldn’t have included him in his song which may cause outrage to our Oponganon,” said Chan in his dialect. 

But Ez Mil’s early success seemingly came at a price with critics questioning why he supposedly twisted historical facts with his line about the beheading of Lapu-Lapu in “Panalo.” 

Ez Mil apologized for the error earlier this week, saying it was his choice as an artist to use the line "pinugutan si Lapu sa Mactan."

Nevertheless, Ez Mil is overwhelmed by the support that he received from countrymen. He thanked them for appreciating his song.