This article is about a genre of electronic dance music. For the freestyle form of rhyming in music, see freestyle rap.
Freestyle
Other names
Latin freestyle, Latin hip hop
Stylistic origins
Dance-pop
Latin music
electro[1][2]
boogie[1]
hip hop[2][3][4]
synth-pop[4]
hi-NRG
post-disco
Cultural origins
Early 1980s, United States: New York/New Jersey metropolitan area,[2][3] Philadelphia and Miami[5][6][7]
(especially among Hispanic Americans and Italian Americans)
Derivative forms
NYC hard house[1][4]
Regional scenes
New York City[8]
Philadelphia[9]
Miami[8][2]
Los Angeles[2]
Detroit[2][3]
Chicago[2]
Other topics
Freestyle musicians
Latin pop
Dance-pop
Miami bass
Freestyle,[10] or Latin freestyle[4] (initially called Latin hip hop) is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in the New York metropolitan area Philadelphia, and Miami, primarily among Hispanic Americans and Italian Americans in the 1980s.[2] It experienced its greatest popularity from the late 1980s until the early 1990s. A common theme of freestyle lyricism originated as heartbreak in an urban environment typified by New York City.
An important precursor to freestyle is 1982's "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force. Shannon's 1983 hit "Let the Music Play" is often considered the first freestyle song and the first major song recorded by a Latin American artist is "Please Don't Go" by Nayobe from 1984. From there, freestyle gained a large presence in American clubs, especially in New York and Miami. Radio airplay followed in the mid 1980s.[11]
Performers such as Exposé, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Stevie B and Sweet Sensation gained mainstream chart success with the genre in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but its popularity largely faded by the end of the decade. Both classic and newer freestyle output remain popular as a niche genre in Brazil (where it is an influence on funk carioca), Germany and Canada.
^ abcCite error: The named reference NRG was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abcdefghLoza, Susana Ilma (2004). Global Rhetoric, Transnational Markets: The (post)modern Trajectories of Electronic Dance Music. Page 245. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
^ abcCite error: The named reference Oye was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abcdKlanten, Robert (1995). Die Gestalten Verlag: Localizer 1.0. Die-Gestalten-Verlag. ISBN 9783931126001. Quote: "The other unavoidable influence [on NYC hard house] was latin freestyle. A blend of hip hop, synth pop and salsa, latin freestyle was big in NY in the mid and later eighties, and little known anywhere else. Among the best known tracks is Jellybean Benitez's "Dreams of Santa Anna" and Benitez kicked off the whole latin freestyle movement with his sessions at the Funhouse in Manhattan. The labels were Sleeping Bag Records and Cutting." Retrieved August 10, 2018.
^Katel, Jacob (September 11, 2013). "Miami Freestyle: 13 Best Acts of All Time". Miami New Times.
^"History of Freestyle Music". music.hyperreal.org. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
^"Freestyle: An Oral History". Red Bull Music Academy Daily. September 21, 2013. Archived from the original on March 12, 2019. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
^ abEddy, Chuck (Jan 2011). "ESSENTIALS - Latin freestyle simmers and weeps". Page 74. SPIN Media LLC. ISSN 0886-3032. Retrieved August 10, 2018
^[1] name=Ordells/>|Baltimore<ref=Eddys Accessed March 7, 2020
^Deborah Pacini Hernandez. Oye Como Va!: Hybridity and Identity in Latino Popular Music. Temple University Press, 2010. p. 63. ISBN 9781439900918 "The music was called freestyle or, in a nod to its ethnic roots, Latin freestyle or Latin hip-hop."
^Michael F. Gill. "The Bluffer's Guide to Freestyle." Archived February 16, 2022, at the Wayback Machine Stylus. August 13, 2007. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
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