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.
The Freestylers are a British electronic music group, consisting of producers Matt Cantor and Aston Harvey. They have released five studio albums and a number of mix compilations for, among others, Fabric and BBC Radio.
Todd Norton Terry is an American DJ, record producer and remixer in the genre of house music.
Ultra Naté Wyche is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ and promoter who has achieved success on the pop charts with songs such as "Free", "If You Could Read My Mind", and "Automatic".
Jocelyn Enriquez is a Filipino American dance-pop singer born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her most popular songs are "Do You Miss Me", "A Little Bit of Ecstasy", and the Stars on 54 cover of Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind". Her success helped inspire and pave the way for many Asian American, particularly Filipino Americans from the San Francisco Bay Area, artists during the mid to late 1990s such as Buffy, Kai, One Vo1ce, Pinay, Sharyn Maceren, and others.
Tommy Boy Entertainment is an American independent record label and multimedia brand founded in 1981 by Tom Silverman. The label is credited with helping and launching the music careers of Queen Latifah, Afrika Bambaataa, Stetsasonic, Digital Underground, Coolio, De La Soul, House of Pain, Naughty By Nature, and Force MDs. Tommy Boy is also credited with introducing genres such as EDM, Latin freestyle, and Latin hip hop to mainstream audiences in America.
Bad Boy Bill is a disc jockey (DJ) from Chicago, Illinois, U.S. who plays an assortment of house music.
Africanism All Stars is a France based project that was launched in 2001, consisting of DJs and mixers in France, who collaborate with African-based artists and acts.
Rachel Alexandra Mercaldo, better known as Rockell, is an American freestyle, hi-NRG and pop singer-songwriter, best known for her 1997 hit single, "In a Dream".
Suzanne Casale Melone, better known by her stage name Lil Suzy, is an Italian-Puerto Rican American freestyle/pop singer who was mainly active in the 1990's. Lil Suzy is best known for the singles "Take Me in Your Arms", "Promise Me", and "Can't Get You Out of My Mind".
Wilma Cosmé, better known by her stage name Sa-Fire, is a Puerto Rican singer. Sa-Fire is one of the few freestyle singers to cross over into the pop world. She has been featured in various magazines, such as Us Magazine, Billboard, Vogue, Elle, and most recently in the December 2011 issue of Signature Hits Magazine. She was the first Latina to grace the cover of Spin Magazine. Sa-Fire has also appeared on television programs such as American Bandstand, The Pat Sajak Show, The Joan Rivers Show, Latin Connection, MTV International, The Party Machine with Nia Peeples, PM Magazine, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, TMZ, The View, MTV, and Telemundo. Sa-Fire has performed throughout the United States, Japan, Europe, the Caribbean, and South America. She has won numerous awards for her work, including six New York Music Awards, three Desi Awards, an ASCAP Award for writing "Thinking of You," and the LGBT Lifetime Achievement Award. She has sold over 1.9 million records.
"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.
Anthony "Tony" Moran is a DJ, record producer, remixer, singer and songwriter known for remixing popular songs. In 2007, he hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart twice with "Walk Away" featuring Kristine W and "Keep Your Body Working" featuring Martha Wash. Moran also has a total of seven number one hits on the Billboard Dance Club Songs music charts in the United States and he has recently had four number one Billboard chart hits in the years 2016 and 2017.
Bad Boy Joe is an American DJ, producer and remixer of Italian descent. He's best known for his megamixes, which appeared on Louie DeVito's NYC Underground Party, Dance Factory and Dance Divas mix series. He can be heard on WKTU from 5 to 6 and also on had a mixshow "The Megamix" every Saturday night from 11-midnight on Sirius Satellite Radio The Beat channel 36. After November 12, 2008, The Beat was replaced with BPM and is no longer on the channel. He also produces a series of shows and events for New York City's reigning Dance music station WKTU, more recently KTU's Beatstock. He owns his own record label entitled "What If Productions".
Foesum is an American hip hop group whose members included T-Dubb, MNMsta and DJ Glaze. They recorded an album on Penalty/Tommy Boy Records called Perfection, released on October 22, 1996.
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.
"1, 2, 3, 4 " is a song by American rapper Coolio. It was the third single released from his second studio album, Gangsta's Paradise (1995), in February 1996. Initially entitled "Sumpin' New", the song uses a sample from "Thighs High ", recorded in 1981 by American jazz trumpeter Tom Browne, and also includes a vocal sample from "Wikka Wrap" by the Evasions, from 1981. The song achieved success in several countries, including the United States, France, Iceland, and New Zealand, where it was a top-10 hit.
Michael Fall, is a Belgian DJ, producer, and remixer from Moerbeke-Waas, Belgium. Michael Fall is currently signed on different record labels worldwide. In the past he signed deals with major labels such as Universal Music Group, CNR Records in Belgium & ZYX Music records in Germany. He released many songs that have charted in Belgian and foreign charts. He ended his publishing contract with BMC Universal in November 2012 and signed a new publishing contract in November 2012 at the Dutch independent music publisher Strengholt Music Group until 2018. In 2013 he released his debut album called 'Turn on your radio' and was listed in the official Belgium album charts. Michael is the owner of MFrecords based in Belgium and he owns a record store in Zelzate. In 2014 he received a golden award for his debut album. On 31 July 2015, he released his second album called 'Ain't nothing but a party'. On August 28, 2020 Michael's single 'Winter' reached 1 million Spotify Streams. In April 2021 he released a new album on Zyx Music called 'Million Years'
Chris "The Greek" Panaghi is an American DJ, producer and remixer based in Long Island, New York, United States. He performs in the electronic music genre with remixes spanning electronic dance, trance and house music and has remixed for artists including: Michael Jackson, Gloria Estefan, Celine Dion, Jessica Simpson, Celia Cruz, Jon Secada, Marc Anthony, Aqua and Yoko Ono. His studio work has been described as incorporating "True-to-the-vocal, pop-oriented remixes and harder, progressive house tracks".
"Runaway" is a song by Nuyorican Soul, a project by the house-garage production and remix team of "Little" Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. It features Puerto Rican singer and songwriter India and was released in 1996 as the first and lead single from their debut album, Nuyorican Soul (1997). The song is a cover of The Salsoul Orchestra's recording "Run Away", featuring American singer Loleatta Holloway from 1977. The new version was very successful in clubs and reached number-one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in the US. In Europe, it peaked at number 24 on the UK Singles Chart, but was even more successful on the UK Dance Chart, where it hit number-one. Additionally, it was a top 30 hit in Iceland, and a top 40 hit in Germany. On the Eurochart Hot 100, the song reached number 75 in February 1997.
