FreestyleHead
New member
I find it interesting when industry people say that artists should not do hardcore freestyle because they would have no chance of getting on the radio. Well the criteria has changed over the years as to how pop radio determines what songs they'll play in daytime rotation. For the better part of the last decade now, radio only plays records that are charted hits (Billboard Top 40). Now of course some pop radio stations cater more to a rock audience and some more to a hip hop audience so they might expand their horizons to the Billboard Hot 100. If a song does not chart, it has no chance of getting played whether its rap, freestyle, house, R&B, folk, rock, or euro. There was a unique period of time in the late 80s/ early 90s when pop music was not happening really. Most of the chart hits were rock (heavy metal) or adult contemporary (Whitney Houston). With the exception of Stevie B and the Cover Girls, most of the freestyle records that were being played on the radio would not have gotten play if the stations were sticking to doing it by the book with the CHR format. Songs like "Materialistic Girl", "You Should Know By Now", "Crying Over You", etc. were on the radio in certain urban markets where some of the radio stations felt they could get a strong niche of the listeners by playing fresh new underground music that catered to inner city Latinos. All of these radio stations have since gone back to a strict Billboard chart format, as there is a lot more "pop" music to choose from now. Maybe freestyle music would have been better off, had things gone by the book and it not have gotten the heavy radio play it did back in the early 90s. As a result, these artists feel that it's their right instead of a privelege to be on the radio. Whatever single TKA or Judy Torres would put out, its only chance to get heavy rotation on numerous hit radio stations would be if it charted. Radio executives could care less if your music sounds dated. If it charts, they'll play it. TKA could have come out with a hardcore freestyle single with a phat music video featuring breakdancing, grafiti in the background, and fine girls and that would have appealed to the youth cuz they look up to those sorts of things. Next thing you know, the songs would have started making enough noise on the underground that it might have charted and radio would have been all over it. Of course they choose to make songs like those that are charting high, but THAT'S NOT THE CRITERIA. Billboard or Radio is not impressed by artists who can copy songs that are currently being played. Back in the day, due to circumstances radio made underground records into hits. Now that "pop" music has resurfaced in the last 8 years, radio will only play records that already are hits. FACT: A song could be as hardcore freestyle as one can imagine. If it charts, radio will play it. No artist in any genre of music, regardless how their music sounds, has any chance of getting heavy CHR rotation unless their record chart on Billboard.
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