PLAYLIST: Freestyle

Til my dying day is through, I'll be loving you, FOREVAAAA

A friend recently asked me to put together a playlist of my top ten freestyle songs—we’re nerds, whatever leave me alone. But freestyle is not nerd music. It’s CLUB MUSIC—all caps. The kind of music people install bass boosters in their cars for.

My sister was a big KTU head, so I grew up with a lot of 90’s dance music coming through my walls. That was my osmosis musical exposure. And she LOVED this record. Years after I wore out my brother’s leftover Metallica CDs, my sister was now home less and her CD collection had its own gems, (“Short Dick Man” notwithstanding) and a lot of these were freestyle mixes.

I remember in high school, going to some indie rock show at Irving Plaza, but being tempted by one of the other floors which has a freestyle DJ blasting Shannon, and thinking, “I bet they’re having more fun than I am down there.”

Living in New York City years later, it just became one of those sounds you hear all the time out of car speakers and at block parties. But I’ve always taken it for granted, and never really did a deep dive on the history. Here’s an intro via MixMag by someone named Chrissy:

As the mainstream abandoned disco in 1979-80, there was a realignment of sorts in nightclubs and on the radio dial, especially in disco's capital, New York. Disco's multi-ethnic coalition of Black, Latino, and working-class white (especially Italian-American) fans was fracturing and disco radio stations were switching formats to lock down a share of that audience in the new musical landscape. Latino audiences - as well as Black or white listeners who preferred uptempo dance music to rock or R&B - were left out in the cold, until a new crop of crossover dance-pop stations, DJs, and clubs emerged to cater to this growing audience. The records they played were largely electro or 'breakdance music' and early hip hop, but soon a new wave of artists and producers added pop vocals and song structures to these beats creating a new genre in the process.

I don’t think this does the sound justice. Freestyle sounds like the future. Sorta. It sounds like Kraftwerk but all of the biggest acts were like, high school juniors in the Bronx or Miami.

The songs are all wildly derivative of each other—I listened to the “top 100 freestyle songs” to bone up on it, and so many of them sound like the same song. But there are perfect pop gems within, and I’m nostalgic for this sound that I grew up around.

Soul Sonic Force “Planet Rock” (1982)

While this song by the great Soul Sonic Force (and the, uh, not-so-great Afrika Bambaataa) is more known for its impact on hip-hop, but it birthed the freestyle sound as well. Kraftwerk provided two of the three futuristic samples (along with Babe Ruth’s “The Mexican”), and sired countless imitators.

The sci-fi sound set a tone for many of the artists to come, who had likely never heard of Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider when their songs climbed the dance charts, mainly because so many of them were like, 15 years old.

Debbie Deb “When I Hear Music” (1983)

"Pretty" Tony Butler was more of a stay-in-on-Friday-and-mess-with-electronics kinda guy when he first made the instrumental for this song, enlisting a 17-year-old Debbie “Deb” Wesoff-Kowalski to sing on the track despite her not having any professional experience. Still, she agreed and found herself in a Miami drug den warehouse laying down vocals over the “Planet Rock” bassline and the sounds of children’s toys for a measly $75.

One day while driving home from beauty school, she heard the song on the radio to her shock. Her first few attempts at hitting the club circuit were a bust, and the label hired a “new” (skinnier) Debbie Deb to perform her songs.

Jellybean & Jenny Haan “The Mexican” (1984)

The aforementioned 1972 UK prog rock classic “The Mexican” by Babe Ruth (an Ennio Morricone-inspired retort to the inaccurate John Wayne film, The Alamo) is an unlikely b-boy classic.

When DJing, Grandmaster Flash would play it with a white label so no rival DJ’s would be able to get it, and eventually released his mix of it—unbeknownst to the uncredited Babe Ruth. As a make-good, he invited them on tour, exposing them to a brand new audience.

John “Jellybean” Benitez (not Jellyroll) got the nickname from his initials and the phrase, “Know what I mean, Jellybean?” He grew up in the South Bronx (south south bronx) and became a highly sought-after DJ in the disco and post-disco era, breaking new acts like Madonna (his ex) at clubs like Studio 54 and Palladium, and even making the theme song for fucking Spaceballs.

His career is so much more than the freestyle genre, but he provided it with one of its biggest hits. Babe Ruth’s Jenny Haan flew to New York to provide new vocals for this track, which has been a dancefloor staple for decades—remixed in every conceivable dance genre over the years.

Lil Suzy “Take Me In Your Arms” (1991)

Lil Suzy got her start as a child singer opening up for Thelma Houston and the Village People at the age of five. When she recorded this song, she was only 12 years old!

She eventually opened up a Staten Island hair salon in 2000, which sounds like a step down—but I don’t know how many 21-year-olds can open their own businesses!!!

Collage “I’ll Be Loving You” (1994)

Behold! The most “just a guy” pop star ever. He looks like he’s in Yo La Tengo or something. But he’s a hitmaker! This is just one of many of his songs you’ve roller-skated to.

Also, the Wikipedia page for Collage has this weird fact on it:

Internationally, the song can be heard today on such stations as "Planet 107.5" in San Jose, Costa Rica, which played the song at 1:35pm on 28 July 2022.

Planet Soul “Set U Free” (1996)

Dance music moves so fast that it’s hard to say if this is the tail end of freestyle or a freestyle revival with a techno twist. All I know is that I bought a pair of sunglasses that look like that guy’s recently and I can never wear them out.

Rockell “In A Dream” (1997)

I was talking in my last post about the albums my brother left behind when he went off to college, but this one was one my sister left behind. I have listened to this track so many times (by choice!) that I declare it the best freestyle song. And it’s one of the last, as the genre died out soon after, but lives on forever on car stereos and dancefloors filled with club lifers.

My love of this song makes me think, “Man I wish I was there at Harrah's Philadelphia Casino in Chester, PA on 12/2/16”

Collage & Rockell “Can’t We Try” (1997)

This performance. Jesus Christ. Joe Zangie (whoever you are), you are no Collage! They should have brought Rude Jude to roast his dusty ass.

Also weird The Jenny Jones Show had musical performances at all! She had everyone from Cash Money Millionaires to Billy Ray Cyrus.

That being said, the superior version of this song.