Steelo - dont you know

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwdKUtLB_Jo&feature=channel_page

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January 19, 2004 Refreshing brilliant prose Not kept

Contents 1 older talk entries 2 What about Stevie B in Hitlist? 3 Freestyle Artists 3.1 Jimi Hendrix a one hit wonder 4 Classics 5 comeback 6 Kraftwerk removed! 7 "Artist SHANNON - Song: LET THE MUSIC PLAY"! 8 Correction to Freestyle 9 "Artist SHANNON - Correction 10 Toronto Freestyle 11 Documentary about Freestyle? 12 Needs work

[edit] older talk entries

I think that there are two types of freestyling that need to be addressed here. First is freestyle as a genre of music, which the entry addresses. The second that should be covered is Freestyling as an improvisational form of hip hop. This is the type that this baked lass refers to in her "freestyle" (I doubt she remembers writing it). I found the freestyle entry by following a link from the the wikipedia entry about the rapper Jin. Just to clear up confusion I think that both definitions of freestyle should be covered. Thank you.

www.NewYorkFreestyle.com

You're talking two different genres of music. True they are both descended ultimately from 1970s disco music, but they are still different nonetheless. I would suggest you create a new wiki entry on that.

~ bxmuchacho —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bxmuchacho (talk • contribs) 17:11, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

[edit] What about Stevie B in Hitlist?

To me Stevie B always seemed to be one of the Top10 Artists of Latin Freestyle next to Artists like Johnny O. Am I false?

--213.23.134.62 20:21, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

i think the hitlist needs an overhaul and needs to consult some charts, and reference them so that we can be a bit more objective about it. --Yoasif 22:55, August 23, 2005 (UTC)

Charts (Billboard charts etc.) themselves don't necessarily show the impact, especially in underground genres like freestyle, which from my prospective was somewhat of a word of mouth genre. Not to demean big stars from smaller ones, but Jimi Hendrix had a huge impact on music but technically he was a one-hit wonder. --Maya Levy 19 January 2006

Edited the hitlist. Infohunter 00:48, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

No you removed half the list arbitrarily. Until the time someone actually backs up artist addition/removal based on chart placement, I will revert to this consensus version of the list.  ALKIVAR™ 01:05, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree about the hit list. It's very random. Also "Together Forever" by Lisette Melendez is credited by many for reviving freestyle music in the 90s and was a big hit. Much more representive of freestyle music in this article than "Time Passes By". So I'm removing "Time Passes By" because of duplicate entry. --Bigplankton 21:28, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

"Together Forever" spent 10 weeks at the top of New York Dance charts. [1] --Bigplankton 21:43, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I added Corina's "Temptation" to the list because it peaked at #12 on Billboard Hot 100 and was a number #1 dance hit. [2]--Bigplankton 21:50, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I added Pittsburgh as a city because the gay bars here played freestlye HEAVILY in the late 80s/90s when no where but NY and Chicago or LA would.

[edit] Freestyle Artists

"Furthermore, many DJs who played the music, such as Jellybean, Tony Torres, Raul Soto and Roman Ricardo were Hispanic. However, those on stage performing the songs were not, neither were most of the producers making the music."

I think the second sentence in that quote is erroneous. If you look at the list of the most popular and well-known freestyle artists, almost all of them were of Latino/Hispanic heritage. Some others who were Italian (e.g. Anthony Monteleone of Collage and Gioia Bruno of Expose), Nocera, Laissez Faire, Shana, Tolga, Linear, Company B, Collage, Teena Marie, Joey Desimone, Dino and Pajama Party. There's a reason why Freestyle music's audiences were primarily Hispanic and Italians. Those audiences identified with the artists because the artists grew up in the same ethnic communities as their audiences and came from latin/Italian backgrounds. (The term Guido was born during this era). Artists like Information Society and Samantha Fox, Stacy Q, Rockell, Shannon and Taylor Dayne were some of the few non-Hispanic, white, non-Italian artists to gain popularity in the freestyle genre.

On a more interesting note, Freestyle music also gained some popularity among Asians and Asian Americans as well (in part because of artists like Filipina American Jocelyn Enriquez). Lots of Asian pop music (particularly J-Pop or K-Pop artists like Jinusean, Utada Hikaru, etc.) definitely were influenced by freestyle music. I went to high school in central Jersey, and had several friends in Edison. Nightclubs and social gatherings in the Edison area often play freestyle music or trance. Teknosoul02 00:40, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Jimi Hendrix a one hit wonder

I seriously doubt that - See Joel Whitburn's book on Top 40 songs. Freestyle's peak years were between 1984-1992.. Collage's I'll be loving you is the last Hot 100 chart record reaching the mid 50s or 60s in 1994 or 1995. Fans pining for freestyle's comeback are no different from people wishing for the return of glam metal, progressive rock, grunge, swing, etc. Music marches on and leaves past trends behind. Of course there are some that will integrate pieces of music of years gone by into their current repertoire. Pop music (which is currently dominated by rap) remains pretty much current. People are downloading what's out there and it's usually pop-punk (Fall Out Boy, etc), American Idol stuff, some country and mostly hip hop and hip hop r&b.

P. Diddy's rise in New York, the arrival of the Dirty South beats and then Crunk in the Southern U.S. and Gangsta Rap on the West Coast spelled the death knell for freestyle in the U.S. Sampling also made it easier to construct songs. This article is excellent and in fact very accurate.

76.199.67.153 17:57, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Don't be too sure. It is quite possible in the Hispanic community of New York and Miami where salsa music has enjoyed periods of rabid popularity only to nearly be vanquished (by merengue first, then reggaeton) and then it comes roaring back to life again. Hispanics do not look at music in a straight line or subscribe to the English market's dictation of trends. Case in point: bachata. It is HUGE now. Bachata was also huge when my great-grandmother was a young lady. My great-grandmother lived to be 113. I never met her. But I hear the style of music she would instantly recognize blaring in my neighborhood everyday.

~ bxmuchacho —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bxmuchacho (talk • contribs) 17:19, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Classics

I really think somebody who knows alot about freestyle history should make a Classics ( rival of freestyle)article...i would if i had all the 411 on that one. user:homan05

[edit] comeback

was there not a little a mini comeback of freestyle music in the late 90's particular in 97, 98 with hits like rockell and collage cant we try(98) and Jocelyn Enriquez Do You Miss Me(97)--Wikiscribe (talk) 18:49, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Kraftwerk removed!

If you want to put that in again, please have good evidence for it. For me it is nonsense: the "Numbers" piece was krafted (sic!) in 1981, when FS was not even too widely known in NYC. *If* you want to name a track, maybe go for "Musique non stop"/"Techno pop" or such stuff. But not "Numbers". -andy 92.230.14.202 (talk) 19:15, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Numbers is not a freestyle song. But there is a strong case that a lot of the early freestyle and electro pieces were influenced by Kraftwerk; think of Planet Rock and Trans-Europe Express. But the sentence also says the European artists incorporated freestyle into their own productions, which I really don't see happening with Kraftwerk. New Order is also listed in that section, and while I'm pretty sure Kraftwerk is influential, I'm less sure about the New Order songs. While a lot of the male freestyle vocals from the late 80s have a definite British-synthpop sound to them, i'm not convinced that Confusion by New Order was the model. We could mention though that some bands from that era that were considered both freestyle and synthpop, such as Information Society and Will To Power. Squidfryerchef (talk) 04:29, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

[edit] "Artist SHANNON - Song: LET THE MUSIC PLAY"!

Freestyle or Latin Freestyle, also called Latin Hip Hop or Heartthrob Music in its early years, is a form of electronic dance music that is heavily influenced by Black & Latin American culture. Its been known in [Miami, FL] and [New York] as Electro Hip Hop as early as 1983 with the first Electro FREESTYLE MUSIC by "Artist SHANNON - Song: LET THE MUSIC PLAY" & "GIVE ME TONIGHT", this Song made a crossover and a breakthru with the METALIX DRUM MACHINE Sounds from the Roland CR-8000 drum machine, Roland JX-3P, and Roland TB-303.

The record redefined the electro funk sound that Arthur Baker and John Rocca (who produced "I.O.U" by Freeez and "One More Shot/Get Wet" by C-Bank) developed in 1982.

This style of Electro Funk was redefined as Freestyle because of the way it was produced and mixed. Barbosa is widely credited as the genre's founder. Baker and Robie eventually copied his sound three months later on Jenny Burton's "Remember What You Like" (released three months after "Let the Music Play") Tina B's "Honey to a Bee" (1984) and the Goon Squad's "Eight Arms to Hold You" (1985).

Shannon (born Shannon Brenda Greene on 2 May 1958, in Washington, D.C.), is an American singer. She is best known for her 1983 dance-freestyle record "Let the Music Play." Under the direction of Chris Barbosa. Her album, released in February 1984 was also the first Freestyle album in Dance music history, and went gold (selling over 1 million copies at the time). Both the 12" & 7" singles where also certified Gold.

Chris Barbosa is a producer from New York who redefined electro funk as Latin freestyle in the early 1980s with Shannon's "Let the Music Play." Emergency Records wasn't signing any more artists in 1986, forcing Barbosa and Liggett to launch their own label, which was named Ligosa Records.

(DJFLEX-mk2) 12:30, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Correction to Freestyle

I had to correct a user who had falsely added that freestyle was replaced by pop music by artists like, paula abdul and (get this) will smith, which isn't true. Pop music had NOTHING to do with freestyle nor with its downfall. There is no source in the universe supporting the falsehood that pop music replaced freestyle. The truth is, freestyle was supplanted by house music, pure and simple. Through my efforts, the info now has been corrected and reflects historical significance. Thanks. 68.173.91.50 (talk) 01:54, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

[edit] "Artist SHANNON - Correction

Just to correct you, you imply that Shannon was the first freestyle artist and that her song, 'Let the Music Play', the first freeestyle song made in 1984. Nothing can be further from the truth. Technically speaking, many contend that the first freestyle song that was made was 'Planet Rock' by Soul Sonic Force in 1982. 68.173.91.50 (talk) 19:21, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Toronto Freestyle

There is no mention of Toronto's contribution to the resurgence on Freestyle music from 1990-1996; a time when many of the NY and miami artists sole performance gigs where Toronto based, embraced by toronto's Latin, Greek, Italian and Persian communities. Toronto's radio stations energy 108 (now defunt) and z103 (still active) play freestyle for a good amount of their programing. There are also a few notable Toronto freestyle artist (that later moved to a more euro sound) that should also be mentioned. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.225.142.137 (talk) 22:55, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Documentary about Freestyle?

This might be old news to some, but there's a movie about the rise of freestyle in the works from Alumbra films.[3] In too much of a hurry to get more sources and weave this into the article, but don't want to lose this title and this is something to watch. Squidfryerchef (talk) 15:25, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

[edit] Needs work

The article needs some cleaning up, organizing, and citing. I've done some work but will do more when I get a chance.--Jrkso (talk) 23:54, 3 November 2009 (UTC)