This Is GoodBye
Active member
my mind telles me covers girls or expose ;/ 🙁
I think the First True Freestyle/Electro/Funk song catalyst is Afrika Bambaata's "Planet Rock". Alison Moyet-Yaz (Yaz or Yazoo) had Electro hits such as "Don't Go" and "Situation" back in '82 as well as Rocker's Revenge ("Walking On Sunshine"), Planet Patrol ("Play At Your Own Risk"-Close Sounding to "Planet Rock") and Afrika's "Looking for the Perfect Beat"-all which many consider Freestyle music or catalysts (Freestyle music in the early 80s was heavily influenced by Disco/Electro-Funk such as C-Bank (John Robie-"Get Wet") and Freeez ("Pop Goes My Love") for example. Disco did not quite die out until sometime around the Summer of 1982-1984, believe that!-SOS Band's "Take Your Time (Do It Right)", Lipps Inc.'s "Funky Town", etc. etc.) We must pay respect to these artists.
Freestyle or Electro Freestyle Songs that came before Shannon's "Let the Music Play" (released Fall 1983 to radio, Charted late 1983/early 1984) include C-Bank's feat. Jenny Burton's "One More Shot" (1982), I.O.U. (and Sometimes Y)-Freeez feat. John Rocca (mid 1983), "Jam on Revenge" by Newcleus (1983), "Lookout Weekend" by Debbie Deb (1983/1984) and "Confusion" by New Order (1983).
I believe Shannon was the first Freestle Artist to hit the airwaves with one of the, if not, first Latin percussion and syncopated songs that solidified Freestyle. The classic anthem was "Let the Music Play." She is definitely Freestyle, and so are the singles "Give Me the Night" and "My Heart's Divided" as well as her others that sprang throughout the mid to late 1980s.
Then other Freestyle jams hit such as Loleatta Holloway's "Love Sensation " (1983), George Kranz's "Din Daa Daa" (1983/1984), Jenny Burton's "I Remember What You Look Like" (1984), Jellybean's "Mexican" (1984), Alisha's "All Night Passion" (1984), Tina B's "Honey to a Bee" (1984) etc. etc.
As 1985 hit, Freestyle emerged with a new sound, thanks to Lisa Velez's "I Wonder If I Take You Home" which truly symbolized Latin Hip Hop with the help of the R&B classic Full Force. Nayobe's "Please Don't Go" was significant as well in the Latin Hip Hop/R&B genre-all Freestyle music.
Stevie B's "Party Your Body" was his first release back in mid to late 1987, then early 1988 "Dreaming of Love" which Hit Billboard hard, "Spring Love" (1988), "In My Eyes"...
Important pathlayers include Kraftwerk and other Electro/Funk/Disco influences. One must know that Freestyle music really is a form of Hip Hop music as Hip Hop/Garage/House/Acid Jazz etc. all have the same roots.
To sum up, I believe Shannon's "Let the Music"play was the first successful Freestyle song to hit the airwaves that left a hallmark in Freestyle music history. She is Freestyle, and many back in the day up to this point consider her Freestyle. Just because she crossed over into the R&B, Hip Hop, Dance, or Pop charts doesn't mean she wasn't/isn't Freestyle. (In the mid 90s, she recorded the songs "Move Mania" with Sash! and "It's Got to be Love"). Freestyle music was club music in the 80s, a lot of it mainstream, and was and is broad. It's not always danceable (Expose's "Season's Change", Sa-Fire's "Thinking of You", Brenda K. Starr's "I Still Believe", Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam's "All Cried Out"), but it's still Freestyle.
How could one think Shannon is not Freestyle. She literally set down what a Freestyle song should sound like. She revolutionized the whole scene and helped, with so many others, keep Freestyle to its peak in the 1980s (the disco of the 1980s). She is FREESTYLE, just as Nayobe, Tina B, Debbie Deb (Many in the Hip Hop world consider her Hip Hop too!) C-Bank, Jellybean, Nolan Thomas, Alisha, in relation to Expose, The Cover Girls, Company B, and Sweet Sensation. And these acts came out before these wonderful Freestyle girl diva groups!
Freestyle have and always will live on. It's a unique Dance/Electronica/Hip Hop (or music shall I put it) genre that is versatile and everlasting.
Freestyle or Electro Freestyle Songs that came before Shannon's "Let the Music Play" (released Fall 1983 to radio, Charted late 1983/early 1984) include C-Bank's feat. Jenny Burton's "One More Shot" (1982), I.O.U. (and Sometimes Y)-Freeez feat. John Rocca (mid 1983), "Jam on Revenge" by Newcleus (1983), "Lookout Weekend" by Debbie Deb (1983/1984) and "Confusion" by New Order (1983).
I believe Shannon was the first Freestle Artist to hit the airwaves with one of the, if not, first Latin percussion and syncopated songs that solidified Freestyle. The classic anthem was "Let the Music Play." She is definitely Freestyle, and so are the singles "Give Me the Night" and "My Heart's Divided" as well as her others that sprang throughout the mid to late 1980s.
Then other Freestyle jams hit such as Loleatta Holloway's "Love Sensation " (1983), George Kranz's "Din Daa Daa" (1983/1984), Jenny Burton's "I Remember What You Look Like" (1984), Jellybean's "Mexican" (1984), Alisha's "All Night Passion" (1984), Tina B's "Honey to a Bee" (1984) etc. etc.
As 1985 hit, Freestyle emerged with a new sound, thanks to Lisa Velez's "I Wonder If I Take You Home" which truly symbolized Latin Hip Hop with the help of the R&B classic Full Force. Nayobe's "Please Don't Go" was significant as well in the Latin Hip Hop/R&B genre-all Freestyle music.
Stevie B's "Party Your Body" was his first release back in mid to late 1987, then early 1988 "Dreaming of Love" which Hit Billboard hard, "Spring Love" (1988), "In My Eyes"...
Important pathlayers include Kraftwerk and other Electro/Funk/Disco influences. One must know that Freestyle music really is a form of Hip Hop music as Hip Hop/Garage/House/Acid Jazz etc. all have the same roots.
To sum up, I believe Shannon's "Let the Music"play was the first successful Freestyle song to hit the airwaves that left a hallmark in Freestyle music history. She is Freestyle, and many back in the day up to this point consider her Freestyle. Just because she crossed over into the R&B, Hip Hop, Dance, or Pop charts doesn't mean she wasn't/isn't Freestyle. (In the mid 90s, she recorded the songs "Move Mania" with Sash! and "It's Got to be Love"). Freestyle music was club music in the 80s, a lot of it mainstream, and was and is broad. It's not always danceable (Expose's "Season's Change", Sa-Fire's "Thinking of You", Brenda K. Starr's "I Still Believe", Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam's "All Cried Out"), but it's still Freestyle.
How could one think Shannon is not Freestyle. She literally set down what a Freestyle song should sound like. She revolutionized the whole scene and helped, with so many others, keep Freestyle to its peak in the 1980s (the disco of the 1980s). She is FREESTYLE, just as Nayobe, Tina B, Debbie Deb (Many in the Hip Hop world consider her Hip Hop too!) C-Bank, Jellybean, Nolan Thomas, Alisha, in relation to Expose, The Cover Girls, Company B, and Sweet Sensation. And these acts came out before these wonderful Freestyle girl diva groups!
Freestyle have and always will live on. It's a unique Dance/Electronica/Hip Hop (or music shall I put it) genre that is versatile and everlasting.