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.
John David Jackson, better known by his stage name Fabolous, is an American rapper. Raised in Brooklyn, he first gained recognition while still a senior in high school, when he performed live on American music executive DJ Clue's radio show, then on Hot 97. Jackson subsequently signed to DJ Clue's Desert Storm imprint, and later secured a distribution deal with major-label, Elektra. Jackson gained prominence with his first release, Ghetto Fabolous (2001), which spawned the hit singles "Can't Deny It" and "Young'n ". His second release was 2003's Street Dreams, which was supported by two US top 10 singles, "Can't Let You Go" and "Into You".
Brenda Shannon Greene, known professionally as Shannon, is an American singer and songwriter of freestyle and dance-pop music. She is best known for her single "Let the Music Play", which topped the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart in 1983 and was certified gold.
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.
Taalib Hassan Johnson, better known by the stage name Musiq Soulchild or simply Musiq is an American singer and songwriter whose style blends R&B, funk, blues, jazz, and gospel influences fused with hip hop. Soulchild has released several successful studio albums that went platinum in the United States.
The Wake are a British post-punk, synth-pop and later indie pop band, formed in Glasgow in 1981 by Gerard "Caesar" McInulty, Steven Allen (drums) and Joe Donnelly (bass), the latter replaced by Bobby Gillespie. Steven's sister Carolyn Allen also joined on keyboards, and remained in the band thereafter. Gillespie left the band in 1983, replaced by Martin Cunning and then by Alexander 'Mac' Macpherson.
Rob's Records was a British, Manchester-based independent record label founded by Rob Gretton, former manager of Joy Division and New Order, and a co-director of Factory Records.
The System is an American synth-pop duo that debuted in the 1980s, composed of vocalist-guitarist Mic Murphy and seasoned session keyboardist David Frank. The band was founded in 1982 in New York and backed up by Paul Pesco on electric guitar and Kris Khellow on keyboards and synthesizers. The group is sometimes referred to as being "emotio-electro" because of its hi-tech, synthesizer-driven sound, married with passionate vocals and sensitive lyrics.
Tobias "Toby" Gad is a Los Angeles-based German music producer/songwriter, best known for co-writing John Legend's biggest hit, "All of Me," the fifth-highest certified single in RIAA history, and for co-writing and producing "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie and "If I Were a Boy" by Beyoncé. Other notable works include "Skyscraper" for Demi Lovato, "Who You Are" for Jessie J, "Untouched" for The Veronicas, "A Year Without Rain" for Selena Gomez & the Scene, "Don't Hold Your Breath" for Nicole Scherzinger, "Love You More" for JLS, and "I Do" for Colbie Caillat.
Quando Quango were a British electronic music group, formed by The Haçienda DJ and Factory Records A&R man Mike Pickering, Hillegonda Rietveld and Reinier Rietveld. Their unique sound influenced the underground dance music scenes in New York and Chicago in the 1980s. Their first release was the "Go Exciting" twelve-inch single on Factory Records in 1982, and their last release of new music was the 1985 full-length album Pigs + Battleships.
"Slow Jamz" is a song by American rapper Twista featuring fellow American musicians Jamie Foxx and Kanye West. Produced by the latter, it was released in November 2003 through Atlantic and Roc-A-Fella Records, as the lead single from Twista's fourth studio album Kamikaze (2004), and the second single from West's debut studio album The College Dropout (2004). The song was written by Twista and West, with additional writing credits going to Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the sampling of Luther Vandross' cover of Dionne Warwick's 1964 song "A House Is Not A Home". Containing genres of hip hop, pop rap, R&B, and soul, the song's lyrics reference slow jam artists and describes the role of lovermen.
Matchbox Twenty is an American rock band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995. The group currently consists of Rob Thomas, Brian Yale, Paul Doucette, and Kyle Cook.
Stargate is a record producing and songwriting team composed of Tor E. Hermansen and Mikkel S. Eriksen, based in Los Angeles. The team's genres include R&B, pop and hip hop. Stargate was established in Trondheim, Norway.
The Smeezingtons were an American songwriting and record production team consisting of Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, and Ari Levine. The Smeezingtons were established in Los Angeles, California; their production and writing services had been increasingly in demand since 2009. Eventually, the trio split, and with Christopher Brody Brown, Mars and Lawrence formed a new production trio called "Shampoo Press & Curl".
Minny Pops is a Dutch, Amsterdam-based new wave/electronic/art punk band, associated with the Ultra post-punk movement in the Netherlands and the Factory Records label in the UK.
"Gorgeous" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kanye West from his fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). The track features a hook provided by Kid Cudi, a recording artist formerly signed to West's label GOOD Music, and a rap verse provided by the Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon. The song was written by West, Cudi, Raekwon, No I.D., Mike Dean and Rhymefest, and was produced by West, No I.D. and Dean. It contains elements of Enoch Light and the Glittering Guitars' cover version of The Turtles' song "You Showed Me". "Gorgeous" received mostly positive reviews from music critics, who generally praised the intricacy of the production, the quality of the guest features and the rock music inspired aesthetic of the song. Several critics cited West's verses as a highlight of the track, complimenting his lyricism and delivery.
"Confident" is a song by American singer Demi Lovato. It serves as the second single from her fifth studio album of the same name (2015). The song was released on September 18, 2015, by Hollywood and Island Records for download on digital retail sites such as Amazon.com or Spotify. Lovato co-wrote the song with Savan Kotecha and its producers Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh. Commercially, it reached number one in Israel and the top 30 in Canada, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Scotland, and the United States. As of October 2017, the song has sold over 1.1 million digital downloads in the United States and has been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
"I Have Questions" is a song recorded by Cuban-American singer and songwriter Camila Cabello. It was first featured as an intro on the music video for her debut single "Crying in the Club", prior to its official release with a lyric video on May 22, 2017. It was written by Cabello with Bibi Bourelly and Jesse Shatkin, who also produced, recorded and programmed the track.
"Me So Bad" is a song recorded by American singer Tinashe, featuring fellow American singer Ty Dolla Sign and American rapper French Montana. It was written by the three said artists, Hitmaka, and A1 Bentley. It was released commercially for digital download via RCA Records on March 30, 2018, as the third and final single from Tinashe's third studio album, Joyride (2018), along with the album's pre-order.
"Ganja Burn" is a song recorded by Trinidadian-American rapper Nicki Minaj for her fourth studio album, Queen (2018). It was written by Minaj, Jairus Mozee, and Jeremy Reid; while its production was done by the latter. "Ganja Burn" is a reggae-inspired reggae fusion song, that lyrically finds Minaj defending her position in the music industry, while sending a message to other female rappers. To promote it, an accompanying music video for the song directed by Mert and Marcus was released on August 13.
