Freestyle, or Latin freestyle 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. 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.
Leftfield are a British electronic music group formed in 1989, a duo of Neil Barnes and Paul Daley. The duo was influential in the evolution of electronic music in the 1990s, with Mixmag describing them as "the single most influential production team working in British dance music". As with many of their contemporaries, such as The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, Leftfield are notable for their use of guest vocalists in their works. Among them are Toni Halliday on "Original", Johnny Rotten on "Open Up", Djum Djum on "Afro-Left", Earl 16 and Cheshire Cat on "Release the Pressure", and Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C. on "Full Way Round". The term progressive house was coined to define their style, a fusion of house with dub and reggae.
Planet Rock: The Album is an old school hip hop album by Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force, released in 1986 as a collection of previous singles. The song "Planet Rock" was one of the earliest hits of the hip hop music genre and remains one of its pioneering recordings. The single's liner notes include members of Kraftwerk with the songwriting credits. In creating the track, portions of Kraftwerk's "Numbers" and "Trans-Europe Express" were interpolated, along with portions of songs by Captain Sky and Ennio Morricone.
Rajinder Singh Rai, better known by his stage name Panjabi MC, is a British-Indian recording artist, rapper, producer and DJ. He is best known for the worldwide 2002 Bhangra hit "Mundian To Bach Ke", which sold 10 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. Among other songs, he gained acclaim with the 2003 release "Jogi". AllMusic has called him "one of the most prominent names in bhangra".
Electro is a genre of electronic music and early hip hop directly influenced by the use of the Roland TR-808 drum machines and funk. Records in the genre typically feature heavy electronic sounds, usually without vocals; if vocals are present, they are delivered in a deadpan manner, often through electronic distortion such as vocoding and talkboxing. It palpably deviates from its predecessor boogie by being less vocal-oriented and more focused on electronic beats produced by drum machines.
Chris Barbosa is an American record producer from New York.
Maximilian Lenz, known by his stage name WestBam, is a German DJ and musician. He is the co-founder of the record label Low Spirit.
Planet Patrol is an American electro group originating in the 1980s. The members were Arthur Baker, John Robie, and a quintet of vocalists led by Herbert J. Jackson, Joseph Lites, Rodney Butler, Michael Anthony Jones, and Melvin B. Franklin. The group only produced a single album, the self-titled Planet Patrol in 1983, which peaked at #64 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart.
John Benitez, also known as Jellybean, is an American musician, songwriter, DJ, remixer, and music producer. He has produced and remixed artists such as Madonna, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, and the Pointer Sisters. He was later the executive producer of Studio 54 Radio. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked him as the 99th most successful dance artist of all-time.
Kurtis el Khaleel, known by the stage name Kurtis Mantronik, is a Jamaican-born hip hop and electronic-music artist, DJ, remixer, and producer. He was the leader, DJ, and keyboardist of the influential 1980s hip hop and electro-funk group Mantronix. He currently lives in South Africa where he has produced and remixed house and techno music tracks by artists such as India, Junior Senior, Kylie Minogue, Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, Michael Gray, Victoria Beckham, Liberty X, S Club, and Mim. Mantronik was influential in the development of hip hop music: notably, he laid the foundations for Southern hip hop genres such as Miami bass and trap music, and helped popularize the Amen break.
Artists United Against Apartheid was a 1985 protest group founded by activist and performer Steven Van Zandt and record producer Arthur Baker to protest against apartheid in South Africa. The group produced the song "Sun City" and the album Sun City that year, which is considered a notable anti-apartheid song.
"Afrika Shox" is a song by the English electronic group Leftfield, released as the first single from their album Rhythm and Stealth in 1999, and features the vocal talent of American musician Afrika Bambaataa. It was released on CD and 12" on 6 September 1999 on the Hard Hands record label, published by Chrysalis Music. The song was their highest-charting single, reaching #7 in the UK Singles Chart. The song was later used in the 2001 film Vanilla Sky and was included in the film's soundtrack album.
"Sun City" is a 1985 protest song written by Steven Van Zandt, produced by Van Zandt and Arthur Baker and recorded by Artists United Against Apartheid to convey opposition to the South African policy of apartheid. The song declared that all the artists involved would refuse to perform at Sun City, a resort which was located in the bantustan of Bophuthatswana, one of a number of internationally unrecognized states created by the South African government to forcibly relocate its black population.
"Planet Rock" is a song by the American hip hop artists Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force. The song was produced by Arthur Baker and released by Tommy Boy Records in 1982. The recording came together after DJ and producer Baker met with Bambaataa and the two bonded over the idea of creating a song about their mutual appreciation for the band Kraftwerk. Baker and Bambaataa had worked together previously on the song "Jazzy Sensation" and decided to compose a more electronic based version of the hip hop song, as opposed to the more disco-oriented work popular at the time. Along with musician John Robie, the group recorded the single at Intergalactic Studios in New York. Robie duplicated the sound on the record and had Bambaataa's rappers in the Soul Sonic Force rap over it. To create the raps, the lyricist of the group, Emcee G.L.O.B.E., had to develop a style he called "mc popping", which involved rapping off time, an unusual style at the time.
Soulsonic Force is an American electro-funk and hip hop ensemble led by Afrika Bambaataa who helped establish hip-hop in the early 1980s with songs such as "Planet Rock." They were also influential in the birth of the electro movement in America and helped pave the way for modern dance music styles such as electro-funk as well as the entire Miami bass scene.
"Looking for the Perfect Beat" is a song by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force. The song was produced by Arthur Baker and John Robie and was the follow-up track for the group following "Planet Rock". The track took much longer to develop than "Planet Rock" with Baker using cocaine and the pressure involved with creating a follow-up single. The group was developed for months in Robie's apartment while Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force were touring.
Lance Taylor, also known as Afrika Bambaataa, is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of Hip Hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the originators of breakbeat DJing.
Bob Rosa is an American record producer who has worked with artists such as Madonna, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Espen Lind. One of his first recording projects was working on the track "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force in 1982.
Gonna Get You is the second album by the British jazz-funk/post-disco group Freeez, released in United Kingdom on 1983 by Beggars Banquet, and in Japan on 1984 by Victor Musical Industries.
DJ Mog is a Northern Irish house music DJ and producer, known for the single "Somewhere" which reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Airplay chart.
