Freestyle
Electro · 1983 · 115 to 130 BPM · also known as Latin Hip Hop, Freestyle Music
New York, 1983 to 1987: Latino electro funk that becomes a love song, TR-808 and DX7 under the voices of Puerto Rican and Italian American teenagers. Let the Music Play by Shannon sets the formula. Freestyle is neighborhood pop before the house era, immense in its time, and its echo returns in every Latino synth pop revival, a genre built for singing rather than rapping.
12 reference tracks
- Shannon: Let the Music Play (1983)
- Debbie Deb: When I Hear Music (1983)
- Freeez: I.O.U. (1983)
- Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam: I Wonder If I Take You Home (1985)
- Expose: Come Go With Me (1986)
- Stevie B: Spring Love (1988)
- Stevie B: I Wanna Be the One
- Stevie B: In My Eyes
- Shannon: Give Me Tonight
- Debbie Deb: Lookout Weekend
- Stevie B: Party Your Body
- Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam: Can You Feel the Beat
At a glance
- Tempo: 115 to 130 BPM
- First appeared: around 1983
- Machines: Roland TR-808, Yamaha DX7, Fairlight CMI
- The sound: Orch hits Fairlight, Voix lead mélodramatiques
- Labels: Cutting Records, Fever Records, Emergency, Sleeping Bag
- Key artists: Shannon, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Debbie Deb, Exposé, Stevie B
Producing Freestyle
Sit between 110 and 122 bpm, no swing on the 808 but a singing feel since the vocal and chords carry the track. Use a Latin syncopated signature, the kick anticipating the beat by a sixteenth, cowbell and claves sketching a simplified clave, with room left for long vocal phrases. Build the 808 pattern with an 808 snare on 2 and 4 doubled by a plate-reverbed clap, closed hats in sixteenths, syncopated cowbell, and conga toms answering the kick, breaks stopping the drums before the chorus so the voice stands alone. For bass, recreate the bright, punchy DX7 FM tone: a modulator tuned an octave above the carrier, a short decay, playing eighths that follow the chords with octave jumps. Add a Fairlight orchestra hit, FM electric piano, and a melodramatic lead vocal doubled in thirds with long plate reverb.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Freestyle?
New York, 1983 to 1987: Latino electro funk that becomes a love song, TR-808 and DX7 under the voices of Puerto Rican and Italian American teenagers. Let the Music Play by Shannon sets the formula. Freestyle is neighborhood pop before the house era, immense in its time, and its echo returns in…
What tempo is Freestyle played at?
Between 115 and 130 BPM.
Who are the key Freestyle artists?
Shannon, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Debbie Deb, Exposé, Stevie B.
