freestyle music
I've been listening to this style of music more and more over the past year. This is a style that was underground in the mid 80's, then started going mainstream in the late 80's and early 90's. I used to listen to it a lot on the radio around 89-92 but I never really knew the names of any of the artists that produce the music. Now I'm getting back into it and I'm starting to learn some of the history behind it and who the big names are. I still have a lot to learn... but I saw one site that said Freestyle may be making a comeback, so I'm really hoping that's true. I don't know why it didn't last longer. A friend of mine in college got pretty into "Florida breaks" for a while after college (we both grew up in Florida) and I found out recently that Florida breaks grew out of Freestyle according to one website I read. I like Florida breaks as well, but not as much as Freestyle. Apparently, Freestyle started in New York and Miami simultaneously, so perhaps that's why it was so popular in Florida while I was growing up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_music
http://www.bnbfreestyle.com/Freestyle%20History.htm
One of the things I never realized at the time is that it was originally rooted in the Latin American community. Although I should have guessed, as I did sort of notice there seemed to be a good fraction of Latino vocalists in the tracks. My favorite freestyle song is Debbie Deb's When I Hear Music:
When I Hear Music (her myspace page... click here and if it doesn't start automatically playing, click the green button)
Her "total plays" meter says 502950 right now. I guarantee at least 100 of them have been due to me over the past year :)
Another of my favorites is Lil Suzy's "Take Me In Your Arms":
Lil Suzy - Take Me In Your Arms
Another Lil Suzy song with a whole bunch of freestyle album covers featured in the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg5oCyN_Jro
A mix of a bunch of stuff (this is what the radio stations loved to do, make "freestyle mixes" that mix all of them together, but usually with more time between transitions):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53aDs3QIxog
Other favorites of mine are lots of stuff by the Cover Girls and Shannon. There are still several songs that I have in my head and I've been trying to find, but I don't know who they're by. One of them I've been looking for for almost a year goes "They're bringing us on, don't you hear the news? They're bringing us on..." If anyone happens to know who that's by, I'd appreciate it. Lyric searches haven't turned anything up so it's possible I'm hearing it wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_music
http://www.bnbfreestyle.com/Freestyle%20History.htm
One of the things I never realized at the time is that it was originally rooted in the Latin American community. Although I should have guessed, as I did sort of notice there seemed to be a good fraction of Latino vocalists in the tracks. My favorite freestyle song is Debbie Deb's When I Hear Music:
When I Hear Music (her myspace page... click here and if it doesn't start automatically playing, click the green button)
Her "total plays" meter says 502950 right now. I guarantee at least 100 of them have been due to me over the past year :)
Another of my favorites is Lil Suzy's "Take Me In Your Arms":
Lil Suzy - Take Me In Your Arms
Click to viewAnother Lil Suzy song with a whole bunch of freestyle album covers featured in the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg5oCyN_Jro
A mix of a bunch of stuff (this is what the radio stations loved to do, make "freestyle mixes" that mix all of them together, but usually with more time between transitions):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53aDs3QIxog
Other favorites of mine are lots of stuff by the Cover Girls and Shannon. There are still several songs that I have in my head and I've been trying to find, but I don't know who they're by. One of them I've been looking for for almost a year goes "They're bringing us on, don't you hear the news? They're bringing us on..." If anyone happens to know who that's by, I'd appreciate it. Lyric searches haven't turned anything up so it's possible I'm hearing it wrong.