Freestyle music, also called Latin freestyle or (initially) Latin hip hop, is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in the New York metropolitan area and Philadelphia, 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.
Old-school hip hop is the earliest commercially recorded hip hop music and original style of the genre. It typically refers to the music created around 1979 to 1983, as well as any hip hop that does not adhere to contemporary styles.
Go-go is a subgenre of funk music with an emphasis on specific rhythmic patterns, and live audience call and response.
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 drum machines and heavy electronic sounds, usually without vocals, although if vocals are present they are delivered in a deadpan manner, often through electronic distortion such as vocoding and talkboxing. This is the main distinction between electro and previously prominent genres such as disco, in which the electronic sound was only part of the instrumentation. It also palpably deviates from its predecessor boogie by being less vocal-oriented and more focused on electronic beats produced by drum machines.
Whodini is an American hip hop group that was formed in 1982. The Brooklyn, New York-based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, a.k.a. Ecstasy ; and turntable artist DJ Drew Carter, a.k.a. Grandmaster Dee.
Brenda Joy Kaplan, known by her stage name Brenda K. Starr, is an American singer and songwriter. She is well known originally in R&B, dance and pop but now mostly in salsa-based music. She is also well known for her 1980s work with freestyle music.
Manuel "Man" Parrish is an American songwriter, vocalist and producer. He, along with artists such as Yellow Magic Orchestra, Kraftwerk, Art of Noise, Arthur Baker, Afrika Bambaataa, John Robie, Jellybean Benitez, Lotti Golden, Richard Scher and Aldo Marin, helped create and define electro in the early 1980s.
Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music in a recording studio. While the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music creation, including recording the rapping of an MC, a turntablist or DJ providing a beat, playing samples and "scratching" using record players and the creation of a rhythmic backing track, using a drum machine or sequencer, it is most commonly used to refer to recording the instrumental, non-lyrical and non-vocal aspects of hip hop.
I Want Your Love is the debut album by American dance/pop singer, Brenda K. Starr. While it was a small label release on Mirage Records, distributed by Atlantic Records, It featured her first Freestyle music hit, "Pickin' Up Pieces," which peaked at #9 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in 1986. Other noteworthy songs on the album include "Love Me Like The First Time", which would be recorded soon after by r&b/soul artist Stacy Lattisaw. While contemporary listeners will liken this album to the similar style of Latin Freestyle, many of the songs were produced in a sleeker, more polished, electro style. While the album itself was not a blockbuster success, Starr soon found herself on MCA Records for the release of her second, self titled, studio album.
A Word of Science is the debut studio album by British electronic producers Nightmares on Wax. Released by Warp Records in September 1991, it is the act's only album as a group before it became a solo vehicle for George Evelyn. Evelyn nonetheless recorded and produced the album alone, incorporating samples and elements from demo tapes he made in the late 1980s. Although Nightmares on Wax debuted with two well-received techno singles in 1989-1990, A Word of Science is eclectic and largely moves the act towards a more mellow style influenced by funk, soul and hip hop, while still incorporating techno and house styles.
Hip hop music or hip-hop music, also known as rap music and formerly known as disco rap, is a genre of popular music that originated in the Bronx borough of New York City in the early 1970s. It consists of stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, and rhythmic beatboxing. While often used to refer solely to rapping, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of hip hop culture, including DJing, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.
"I Specialize in Love" is a song written by Lotti Golden and Richard Scher. Mixed by Tee Scott, the song was a club hit in the early 1980s when recorded by American singer Sharon Brown, the niece of songwriter Phil Medley. Released as a single in March 1982, by Profile Records, it spent three weeks at number two on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart, her only song to reach this survey. The single also charted on the UK Singles Chart, becoming an international club hit. A remixed version of the song was released in 1994, entering the UK Singles Chart for a second time.
Give the Drummer Some is the debut solo studio album by American drummer Travis Barker. Barker had earlier announced that the album would be slated for a September 14, 2010 release, but was later pushed back, with the album being released on March 15, 2011. The album, released under Interscope Records, was produced by the drummer himself, alongside The Neptunes, RZA, Kool Kojak, Chuck Inglish, Transplants, Kid Cudi, edIT, Corey Taylor and Steve Aoki. The album debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 28,000 copies in the United States.
Lotti Golden is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, poet and artist. Golden is best known for her 1969 debut album Motor-Cycle, on Atlantic Records.
Warp 9, an American sci-fi themed electro-funk, hip hop group is best known for its ground breaking, influential singles including "Nunk," "Light Years Away," and "Beat Wave," which ranked among the most iconic groups of the electro hip hop era. Described as the "perfect instance of hip hop's contemporary ramifications," Warp 9 was the brainchild of writer-producers Lotti Golden and Richard Scher. The duo wrote and recorded under the moniker Warp 9, a production project at the forefront of the electro movement.
"Nunk" (also known as "Nunk (New Wave Funk)") the first single by the group Warp 9, released on Prism Records in 1982, was written and produced by Lotti Golden and Richard Scher. The song appeared as a vocal and instrumental version on the group's 1983 debut album It's a Beat Wave on Prism Records and 4th & Broadway records in the UK.
"Light Years Away" is the second single by the hip hop group, Warp 9, released in 1983. Written by Lotti Golden and Richard Scher and produced by Lotti Golden, Richard Scher, and John "Jellybean" Benitez, the song appears on the group's debut album It's a Beat Wave charting on the Billboard R&B and dance charts.
"Dirty Looks" is a song from the 1987 album Red Hot Rhythm & Blues by Diana Ross. It was written by Lotti Golden and Richard Scher, and produced by Tom Dowd. It was also released as the album's lead single on April 29, 1987, by RCA and EMI. The song, which peaked at #12 on Billboard's Hot R&B Singles, originally appeared on Warp 9's second LP on Motown, Fade in, Fade Out. The European releases of Red Hot Rhythm & Blues features the short version of the song.
To the Batmobile Let's Go is the debut album by The Todd Terry Project, an alias of American house producer Todd Terry. Released in November 1988 by Fresh Records, it followed the club success of his singles "Bango" and "Just Wanna Dance"/"Weekend", all of which feature on the album, and profiles a minimal, playful style of house music that is built on sampling and features breakbeats, experimentation with noise and elements of electro, freestyle and hip hop. The musician intended the album to represent the more commercial, Latin-styled side of his work.
