Bright lights and sweaty bodies adorned with leather, bomber jackets, tracksuits and high-waisted jeans fill the hazy space. A live sound of syncopated percussion, repetitive tempo and melodic words has the crowd dancing. It is the 1980s and freestyle is carving its place into the club scene and the world.
Decades later, the genre lives on returning to the stage this Saturday at 8 p.m. with Forever Freestyle 15 at Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in the Bronx. The concert will feature performances by iconic freestyle artists like TKA, George LaMond, Judy Torres, The Cover Girls, Rob Base, Brenda K Starr, Cynthia, C-Bank, Soave and Pretty Poison.
A musical genre that emerged in the early ’80s due to the decline of disco from Latino and Italian American communities in New York City, like the Bronx, freestyle soon expanded to cities like Miami, Philadelphia and others in the Bay Area, where artists formed their own distinct style. Also known as Latin hip-hop and Latin freestyle, the music genre bridged the sounds of hip-hop and disco together — a funky electronic beat against a backdrop of romantic and heart-wrenching lyrics.
Many can’t pinpoint who made the first freestyle song but notable trailblazers shaped the genre since the beginning. Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force’s “Planet Rock” in 1982 was said to be the precursor of the genre with their use of Roland TR-808, a drum machine. The infusion of Latin rhythm cemented its place within the genre. Hits like Shannon’s 1983 “Let the Music Play” and Nayobe’s 1984 single “Please Don’t Go” showcased that.
Andy “Panda” Tripoli produced “Please Don’t Go” and Sal Abbatiello, founder and president of Fever Records and Disco Fever Enterprises, brought them into the studio, where his role in pioneering a genre began way before his Forever Freestyle concerts.
There is no freestyle without Abbatiello.
Known as the “Godfather of Freestyle,” he has been instrumental…
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