The term "Freestyle"

[Ivan Diller]

I don't know the history or exactly when or why Latin hip-hop was coined freestyle, but I clearly remember the first time I heard it used. I was in my junior or senior year at Hunter and I was talking to my friend/classmate about the re-release of "Please Don't Go" b/w "Guess I Fell In Love," and I said they "housed it up," and she corrected me by saying, "No, they made it more 'freestyle.'" That was the first time I heard the word.

Said friend/classmate is now co-starring on an NBC sitcom. :cparty