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.
Breakbeat is a broad type of electronic music that uses drum breaks, often sampled from early recordings of funk, jazz, and R&B. Breakbeats have been used in styles such as Florida breaks, hip hop, jungle, drum and bass, big beat, breakbeat hardcore, and UK garage styles.
Fred Brathwaite, more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American visual artist, filmmaker, and hip hop pioneer. He is considered one of the architects of the street art movement. Freddy emerged in New York's downtown underground creative scene in the late 1970s as a graffiti artist. He was the bridge between the burgeoning uptown rap scene and the downtown No Wave art scene. He gained wider recognition in 1981 when Debbie Harry rapped on the Blondie song "Rapture" that "Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly." In the late 1980s, Freddy became the first host of the groundbreaking hip-hop music video show Yo! MTV Raps.
Klaus Sperber, known professionally as Klaus Nomi, was a German countertenor noted for his wide vocal range and an unusual, otherworldly stage persona.
Electro is a genre of electronic dance music directly influenced by the use of the Roland TR-808 drum machines, with an immediate origin in early hip hop and funk genres. 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.
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.
John McLoughlin, better known by the stage name John Sex, was an American cabaret singer and performance artist in New York City from the late 1970s until his death in late 1990.
Man 2 Man was an American hi-NRG band from New York City, that formed in the early 1980s. It was best known for their hit singles "Male Stripper", "Energy Is Eurobeat" and "I Need a Man".
"I'm 'n Luv (wit a Stripper)" (censored as "I'm 'n Luv (wit a Dancer)") is a single written and performed by American singer T-Pain featuring American rapper Mike Jones. Produced by the former, it was released in late 2005 and peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it T-Pain's second top ten single, and Mike Jones's first. The track is T-Pain's third most successful single on the chart, tying with "Bartender". "I'm 'n Luv (wit a Stripper)" is also Mike Jones's highest charting single. The official remix of the song features Twista, Pimp C, R. Kelly, Too Short, Paul Wall and MJG, and was accompanied with its own music video.
C.O.D. was an American electro musician, who had a hit with In the Bottle which was released on Emergency Records and written by Gil-Scot Heron in 1983. The track reached #54 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1983.
Klaus Nomi is the debut album by German countertenor Klaus Nomi, released in 1981 by RCA. The album combines his technique as an opera singer with rock influences.
Simple Man is the second album by German countertenor Klaus Nomi, released on 23 November 1982 by RCA. It was also the last album of original material to be released during Nomi's lifetime.
Jamar Austin, also known as Sacario is an American rapper and songwriter best known for writing the song "If I Could Go" for Angie Martinez. Billboard named the song among the biggest songs of the year in 2002. It was featured on Totally Hits 2002: More Platinum Hits, which is Certified Platinum by the RIAA with sales of over 1,000,000 copies.
"Hello Again" is a song by American rock band the Cars from their album Heartbeat City (1984). It was released on October 15, 1984 as the album's fourth single. The song was the fourth top-20 entry from the album, reaching number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; it also reached number eight on the Hot Dance/Disco chart and number 22 on the Top Rock Tracks chart. Ric Ocasek sings lead vocals on the track.
Hip-hop or hip hop, formerly known as disco rap, is a genre of popular music,that emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s primarily from African American, Afro-Latin, and Afro-Caribbean musical aesthetics practiced by youth in the South Bronx. Hip-hop music originated as an anti-drug and anti-violence social movement led by the Afrika Bambaataa and the Universal Zulu Nation. The genre is characterized by stylized rhythmic sounds—often built around disco grooves, electronic drum beats, and rapping, a percussive vocal delivery of rhymed poetic speech as consciousness-raising expression. The music developed as part of the broader hip-hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, breakdancing, and graffiti art or writing. Knowledge is sometimes described as a fifth element, underscoring its role in shaping the values and promoting empowerment and consciousness-raising through music. In 1999, emcee KRS-One, often referred to as "The Teacher," elaborated on this framework in a Harvard lecture, identifying additional elements that extend beyond the basic four. These include self-expression, street fashion, street language, street knowledge, and street entrepreneurialism, which remain integral to hip-hop's musical expression, entertainment business, and sound production. Girls’ double-dutch was also recognized as a key stylistic component of breakdancing, according to KRS. While often used to refer solely to rapping and rap music, "hip-hop" more properly denotes the practice(s) of the entire subculture. The term hip-hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping may not be the focus of hip-hop music. The genre also centers DJing, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.
Lance Taylor, also known as Afrika Bambaataa, is an American DJ, rapper, and record producer from South Bronx, New York City. 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.
Ivan Matias is an American singer, songwriter, producer, arranger, hip hop ghostwriter, and entrepreneur. He is primarily known for writing and producing hit songs for artists like En Vogue, Angie Stone, SWV, and Blu Cantrell ("Breathe") among others which have sold over 44 million records worldwide and appear on over 100 greatest hits and compilation albums.
Man Parrish is a 1982 studio album by Man Parrish. It was released on the label Importe/12, a subsidiary of popular dance imprint label Sugarscoop. The album originally began development from various electronic experiments Man Parrish experimented with making soundscape electronic records which led to him making connections in his home of New York to record music for a pornographic film. The music in the film was later bootlegged and played in clubs leading him to connect with a studio who wanted him to record an album. The record went on to sell about 2 million copies worldwide.
Michael Halsband is an American photographer. He makes portraits of celebrities, from musicians to artists, and produces work for fashion and lifestyle publications. He has also directed short films, music videos and commercials.
