Does anybody up in this bitch like FREESTYLE?

This stuff belongs on cheap tapes sold on the sidewalk, just like "Breakdance Beats" did back in 1983.

Is "Don't Stop the Rock" by Freestyles freestyle?

Destroy: "Bad of the Heart" by George LaMond.

http://www.mixedmusic.com/music/Vfreestyle.mp3

OOOOOHHHH! I love Bad Boy Orchestra, I even wrote 102 words about them once!!!

Despite what you might've heard, for instance when listening to the record, the lyrics to "When I Hear Music" go "When I hear music, it makes me dance/You've got the music IN YOUR PANTS." (This according to my friend Naomi's children.)

When my friend Patty Stirling heard "Lookout Weekend," she thought that Debbie was singing about "fuck machines and razor blades." See the Flashdance chapter in The Accidental History of Rock 'N' Roll, where this is used to demonstrate that you don't have to add darkness to disco, since the darkness is already there. (Hence the non-necessity of most Industrial Music, I'd say.)

Sterling and Paul have described it well; I'd add that Freestyle had long, snaking background riffs, just like a lot of Europop/Eurodisco/Hi-NRG, except freestyle put two such snake-riffs where Europop would only put one. The Miami sound tended towards lightness; New York freestyle had fiercer beats and as it developed in the '80s evolved sliding, Spanish-Mideast mournful vocal stylizations.

Chuck Eddy (in Why Music Sucks #9, when I'd hit him with Judy Torres's "No Reason to Cry" under the blindfold): "How many of these kinds of records do you need, Frank? I mean, your obsession with this stuff sort of reminds me of those dweebs who collect every last sub-Pebbles '60s garage compilation."

Frank's Top 8 (alphabetical):
Company B "Fascinated"
Corina "Temptation"
The Cover Girls "Inside Outside"
Cynthia "Change On Me"
Debbie Deb "When I Hear Music"
Lisette Melendez "A Day In My Life Without You"
Sequel "It's Not Too Late"
Judy Torres "Come Into My Arms"

And don't forget:
Lil Suzy "Take Me in Your Arms"
Two Without Hats "Three on a Mic"

Anybody who compiles all the tracks on this thread has a damn good freestyle tape. In the meantime, I'd suggest "Thump'n Freestyle Quick Mixx vol. 1" and "Street Jams Electric Funk pt. 2" (especially the first, it's mixed by one of the Latin Rascals).

Mount Sims - nouveau hipster freestyle from LA?

Is Vanilla Ice freestyle?

(also some shep pettibone)

Lisette Melendez is absolutely one of the freestyle greats.

Jossette- In a Dream

and "funky little beat" (also by debbie deb?)

I liked:

TKA - "One way love" (dub)
Sweet Sensation - "Never let you go" (Omar Santana dub)
Sweet Sensation - "Hooked on you" (Diamond dub)
Expose - "Point of no return" (dub)

All about those echoey drum breakdowns and that cd-sticking type effect...

this is also good.

I grew up in Florida. Freestyle was either "skating rink music" or "that music my sketchy, teenage cousins I hate listen to in their stupid tricked out cars."

I think it may be due for some kind of revival, which makes me all happy and proud of my redneck home.

Is Silent Morning Noel the same as Dancing Is Dangerous Noel? (the latter sure does sound like the Maels..). Not big on former Noel, I think I only like the Freestyle girlz. Apart from the guy who sang for the Freestyle who did 'Freestyle Express' - Pretty Tony?

Freestyle-Don't Stop the Rock, It's Automatic etc. I think that's where it came from.

Also, what's the link between Miami Bass and Latin Freestyle? Is there one?

Oh, and Cover Girls! God bless 'em. Their version of "Sukiyaki" is the best one I know.

Plus, plus, freestyle as the beginning of the bizarre production career of Omar Santana, a journey taking in acid hip-house (Brooklyn Bandits), Gabba and the invention of "Hard Hop".

I thought the window of opportunity for a freestyle revival had kinda passed, but who knows, we may still get lucky.

PRETTY TONY.

i think pappawheelie (where's he at?) might just poop in his pants

Awesome. Pretty Tony, keep us posted on here about Myspace and any new releases.

Excellent Swedish 80s band. "Fantasi" is a classic album that should be reissued.

is it on the web?! this was my favorite music when i was a kid & i'm having a hard time finding much now!

http://www.amazon.com/Freestyle-Explosion-Vol-Various-Artists/dp/B00004SZW0

I played Company B out tonight - still works.

The first volume of that box set, available separately, is U+K (as are the others, but Volume 1 is all killer).

Here's my own: va - Freestyle portable CD80 Go!

Cover Girls - Show Me You Really Love Me
Expose - Let Me Be The One
Pretty Poison - Catch Me (I'm Falling)
Expose - Point of No Return
Company B - Fascinated
Debbie Deb - Lookout Weekend
Noel - Silent Morning
Lisette Melendez - Together Forever
Nice 'N' Wild - Diamond Girl
Shannon - 12 - Let The Music Play
Pet Shop Boys - 03 - Domino Dancing
Freestyle - 01 - Don't Stop The Rock
Debbie Deb - 07 - When I Hear Music
Corina - Temptation
Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait (Extended)

Oh, thanks for reminding me of "Catch Me I'm Falling." I've said before, I remember liking some of this stuff at the time (and some related things), without having any idea that it was called "Latin Freestyle." (My tastes were so much more ILM in the 80s.)

I'd been listening to Blur's "13" album again last week, after not hearing it in years...there's that song 'Trailer Park' I believe...when he says

FREESTYLE...45....

And the music on that song is incredible, too...and all he keeps saying "Freestyle/45"...

freestyle lunch was BIG in nyc

That Company B track is so awesome.

I am still looking for Freestyle's 1981 album "Fantasi". I doubt it's even released on CD though.

God, I haven't heard this song since early '85. A gem:

one of THE most ubiquitous used records, in NYC at least.

OMG i remember this!!! this song was on the dance music countdown shows that i used to listen to when i was in grade school. this is in a small town in appalachia :) i never saw the video until now though. fantastic.

FREESTYLE FRIDAY

JVLC17 (1 month ago) +7 Reply
Freestyle music needs to make a comeback because today's music is complete garbage and who ever said freestyle music sucks has no good taste in music at all.

i would be all over this thread if i didn't have to leave the house in 20 minutes

but lex!!! its freestyle friday!!!!

freestyle friday!!!!!!!

Can't fine Trinere: "How Can We Be Wrong?" or Sa-Fire: "Don't Break My Heart" so try some Denise Lopez

Can't find them either

a couple of newish freestyle-influenced cuts - why there hasn't been a full blown revival yet i have no idea

im doing my best to make that revival happen with FREESTYLE FRIDAY

also lol all you want but tell me this isn't freestyle revival

more pretty poison, kind of a acid tip on this one

xps

xposts indeed why HASN'T there been a MASSIVE revival!

Sheesh can't even find "A Little Bit of Ecstasy" on YT. There was a slammin' housier mix of that too but I can't recall by whom.

Can't find "Together Forever" but here's Judy Torres: "No Reason To Cry" (Jackie Jack Records 1986)

Oh gawd what a gorgeous song! And Glenn Friscia's All Night House Party Remix (not on YT) is one of the finest house tracks of the 1990s.

Actually that's some dub but it's still lovely.

I find this to be very freestyle sounding:

Up until the breakbeat comes in, obviously.

Is this a freestyle comp?

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Power-Jam-85/release/1632849

and if so is it any good?

btw my friend daniel runs 7 year glitch, it's a great resource for freestyle, miami bass &c

hey that blog is kickass!

btw ws

http://blog.7yearglitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/image-4-98773jpeg.jpg

just learned that denise lopez' hits were written by the guys from the marbles, an early cbgb-era pop rock band i was quite fond of. fun fact.

I made a list of thirty jams.

Fantastic timing. I just put my entire freestyle library on my iPod just the other day.

YES. you got a list?

That's a great write-up, Alfred. And you listed many - maybe most - of my personal favorites. I used to listen to this stuff on Power 96 also.

I can never decide which Judy Torres record is more brilliant, your pick "Come Into My Arms" or "No Reason to Cry." It's hard to choose one Trinere record as well.

These jams still sound slamming when you hear them coming off a 12" in a club. It never ceases to amaze me.

xpost Ehhhhh...not as such. I just have a ton of full albums and compilations I'm shuffling through at the moment. Imma scroll through and see which of my top jams didn't make it onto your list.

It occurred to me the other day that the extended bout of oversinging at the end of Exposé's 'What You Don't Know' would possibly be the most fun thing ever to massacre at karaoke.

LOL I used to do that Exposé bit at parties in college, just a cappella, to stunned silence

Thaaaaat's amazing. Bravo.

oh wow – I had no idea people loved "What You Don't Know." Those big three singles from the followup never get mentioned much.

Keep in mind that I lived in FL in the midst of the freestyle boom years. I have a fondness for this stuff that far exceeds that of most people I've encountered up north.

Here are some favorites of mine not on Alfred's list:

Sequal - It's Not Too Late
Sweet Sensation - Hooked on You
Shy Rose - I Cry For You
Amoretto - Clave Rocks
Natasha - Be Gentle with My Heart
Cynthia & Johnny O - Dreamboy/Dreamgirl

+ anything by Trinere on the Jam-Packed label

I though about "Hooked On You." Man, was that jam omnipresent.

OL, I forgot about your 305 crew!

cred

LOL, more like 904 "cred" but still. My family moved back to the Midwest in '90 and the difference between the respective regions' pop radio was STARK.

Okay, I trawled through while trying to do the actual work I'm being paid to do and I'm sure I missed a lot of top notch stuff but here's a rough list of faves that weren't on Alfred's list:

Alisha - 'Bounce Back'
Connie - 'Funky Little Beat' (this one might be a personal fave, up there with 'Together Forever')
Cover Girls - 'My Heart Skips a Beat'
Cynthia - 'Change On Me'
Debbie Deb - 'Lookout Weekend'
Denise Lopez - 'Sayin' Sorry (Don't Make It Right)', 'If You Feel It'
Dino - 'Summer Girls', 'I Like It'
George Lamond - 'Look Into My Eyes'
Gina Go-Go - 'I Can't Face the Fact'
Jaya - 'If You Leave Me Now'
Johnny O & Cynthia - 'Dreamboy/Dreamgirl'
Linear - 'Sending All My Love'
Manuella - 'Don't Try To Come Back To Me'
Nice & Wild - 'Diamond Girl'
Pajama Party - 'Over and Over', 'Hide and Seek'
Rockell - 'In a Dream'
Sa-Fire - 'Gonna Make It'
Seduction - 'Two To Make It Right', 'Heartbeat'
Shana - 'I Want You', 'You Can't Get Away'
Stevie B. - 'Dreamin' of Love', 'Girl I Am Searching For You', 'In My Eyes', 'Love and Emotion'
Sweet Sensation - 'Take It While It's Hot', 'Hooked On You'
Tiana - 'First True Love'
Timmy T - 'Time After Time'
TKA - 'You Are The One', 'Crash (Have Some Fun)'
Trinere - 'I'll Be All You Ever Need'

I love a lot of that list too… the Connie one really is great. What other record has that vibe?

I remember Shana's "I Want You" getting a lot of airplay - it's kind of simple, but memorable

My Sa-Fire pick would be "Let Me Be the One" and my Pajama Party pick would be "Yo No Sé"

Freestyle Festival 20th Anniversary show is in August (it’s been a long time since I’ve been to one of these, and I’m tempted). It’s interesting how long the “tail” of Freestyle fandom has been, after revival of interest* in the early 2000s, considering how relatively brief the style’s heyday was? (*of course many ppl never stopped liking it, but I’m talking about “nostalgia” shows like this one)

Just noticed Tiffany is on that bill (and not near the top or highlighted)

(also that bold text in my post was supposed to be two asterisks, if you’re reading this on Zing)

Quite a lineup there. Didn't know the Flirts did this sort of show. I wonder which Flirts they are, there were so many of them, so many ladies. I also wonder which Lime this is, since a duo that is not the original couple has performed as Lime in recent years.

I never knew that this kind of music had a name. “Freestyle” sounds like what rappers do when they rap off the top of their heads.

It's a quirky name, seemingly arbitrary. I think it comes from an act called Freestyle which was a project of the Miami producer "Pretty Tony" Butler (also produced Trinere, Debbie Deb). Freestyle the act made a couple of records circa 1984. Later (iirc) some customer in a record store said they wanted to hear some Freestyle-type records and so these other musically-related records got pulled in and started to get identified by that label. There was a period of uncertainty when a lot of people called it Latin Hip-Hop, or other names.

feel like freestyle will always be a touchstone in the way that anything that makes dance music what it is today will be - c.f. belgian new beat and gabber, electro, hi nrg, etc.

didn't see this one mentioned, halfway between freestyle and house

debra torre - conceal your love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp-Ckn58Pho

here's where i admit i have an issue with a lot of freestyle because often the singing is bad. i realize that's part of the charm and some singers do a lot with what they have. but yeah.

I think the main thing about freestyle is that it sounds as good as ever, bc the producers knew what they were doing.

Also it's connected to a wide community more than most other dance genres are. If you grew up in or near a Latin American community it was your ongoing soundtrack.

Re: the singers, many of them were teenagers! Freestyle is kinda like the '60s girl group thing in that way.

true

early house was like this too with vocalists.

guess i'll be honest and say i don't mind a little more polish in my dance music.

Another freestyle-house blend (from 1989):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAn_kZ9Boiw