If you are a child/teen of the 1980s then you will enjoy this little walk down memory lane...sit back and relax and think about your big, hair-sprayed bangs, plastic bracelets, high-top sneakers with rolled up jeans and your rat-tail (guys).
Latin Freestyle!
That's right Latin freestyle is the topic today! Why? Well, because every once in while its a good idea to remember all those Latin@s who made a huge impact on American music, style, and culture. Mostly however, because I have a play list on my iPod dedicated to Latin Freestyle that has over 100 songs. Now, what is Latin freestyle you may ask? Well, the following definition is a good one and it comes from: http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/best_dance-free.html
Definition: - Freestyle music is a form of hip hop dance (Latin hip hop, Latin pop) that originated from the electro-funk of Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force's 1982 seminal track "Planet Rock". The style is characterized by Latin percussion, heavy syncopation, and themes of romance, love, and partying. Latinos make up the majority of the fans as well as those in the industry although the music has been popular to a certain extent with blacks and whites, particularly Greeks and Italians (especially during freestyle music's beginning stages). Freestyle music peaked in the mid to late '80s and saw a revival in the mid to late '90s but went virtually underground ever since.
I think that's a fair definition except that I don't think it has gone as underground as everyone thinks. Thanks to Miami, NYC and LA many radio stations keep the music alive and dedicate large portions of their on-air time to the genre. Also the music has come to influence many, many artists...Pitbull? But what I think is most remarkable about this time/genre and its success is that it was led largely by female artists: Lisa Lisa, Debbie Deb, Trinere, Cover Girls, Expose, Lisette Melendez, Sweet Sensation, Judy Torres, Cynthia and Lil' Suzy just to name a few.
And let's talk about the songs...they were so pure and so innocent for the most part! Overall they were just good songs, written for anyone to enjoy. They weren't overtly sexual or demeaning to women; they didn't talk about getting high or drunk; they were feel good party/love songs. So below I give you my top 10 Latin Freestyle songs! Check out the link above for a list of 100!!
The Realist's Top 20 Latin Freestyle Songs (In order of favorites!)
1. I'll Be Loving You - Collage
2. Temptation - Corina
3. When I Hear Music - Debbie Deb
4. Lookout Weekend - Debbie Deb
5. Come Go With Me - Cover Girls
6. Don't Stop the Rock - Freestyle
7. Where Does that Leave Love? - George Lamond
8. Take Me in Your Arms - Lil Suzy
9. Let the Beat Hit 'Em - Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
10. Together Forever - Lisette Melendez
11. I Wanna Be the One - Stevie B.
12. You are the One - TKA
13. Louder than Love - TKA
14. Silent Morning - Noel
15. Summertime Summertime - Nocera
16. Mambo (Es Hora De Bailar) - Angelina
17. Do You Miss Me? - Jocelyn Enriquez
18. All Cried Out - Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
19. I'll Never Get Over You - Expose
20. Sending All My Love - Linear
1 comment:
Dear Realist Latina,
I would love you to embed some YouTube videos of these songs in a follow-up blog post. Even better would be for you to make a YouTube playlist so we can just let it run without clicking on each one.
Thanks!
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