Thinking about Latin music genres that are considered passé by Williamsburg wannabes and those whose death rattles are greatly exaggerated, a girl's thoughts turn to... freestyle.
Yup, the bubble-gum stylings that filled roller-skating rinks and dance clubs throughout the 80s to the early 90s and that you can miraculously still hear coming out of car stereos in cities with big Latino populations, one of the only truly pan-Latin musical styles. While my own tastes at the time ran more to Public Enemy and Hüsker Dü, I have to admit that when in parties I'd bop along to Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam.
This week's Broward-Palm Beach New Times has an interesting interview with TKA's singer K7. He links the naming of the music to what was going on in the dance floor:
Freestyle wasn't primarily about rapping; it was about what you did on the dance floor. If you weren't uprocking or floor rocking, you were freestyling. It was a dance term — or at least, that's how it got started.
He also gives a brief genealogy of freestyle, calling it a mix of Miami bass and hip hop speeded up to 115 and 120 bpms.
People called it Latin hip-hop, but the pop producers didn't want to use that term because hip-hop had negative connotations. So they started calling it freestyle.
This brings me back to the idea that's obsessed me lately, following up on Kelefah Sanneh's polemic on rockism, that in the U.S. dance music is always seen as second best, and this ends up marginalizing all sorts of Latino genres, including salsa, merengue and bachata, which get dismissed as "repetitive."
Break dancing is possibly the least recognized of hip hop's four pillars (DJing, MCing, grafitti and break dancing), but that's because the performing space -- the park, the club, the house party -- has become less important as people listen to music in their iPods or, to my eternal annoyance, their cell phones.
I wouldn't go so far as TKA, cribbing Chuck D's remark to say that "Latin hip-hop is the CNN of the Latino street community." Salsa was definitely that, some Latin hip hop and reggaetón report conditions in the barrio, and the immigration fight has gotten lots of Latin musical acts riled up, in songs like "El Muro" and "Pal Norte".
As completely ignored as freestyle has been, it's actually had a pretty long shelf life. WKTU's Sunday night freestyle show is very popular, if I can judge by the highly scientific measure of listening to car stereos on the street. Freestyle is also a staple of Latin hip hop shows in cities like Miami, the spiritual home of freestyle, Chicago, San Francisco, and L.A. And this Saturday there's a freestyle concert at Madison Square Garden, featuring all the usual suspects.
Another event likely to provoke some nostalgic feelings is the, wait for it, THIRTIETH anniversary of the Rock Steady Crew, which is still operating and teaching skinny rubber-band kids to do the worm, flare, windmill and suicide.
There are lots of events planned for July 23-29, including panels on hip hop theater, a photo and art exhibit, master classes, battles, and of course music.
Saw Crazy Legs last week at Louie Vega's Hector Lavoe tribute at Cielo, and damn if he didn't look hot. I remember interviewing him a couple of years back about the RSC school, and he said he feels like he's trying to keep up a necessary tradition, one that is as vital now when there are the same sorts of pressures on young people of color as there were when he was coming up.
UPDATE: It's a freestyle moment, not just me. Just noticed that foufour recently commented extensively (and lovingly) on the creatively-named freestyle blog Freestyle, which posts .mp3s and takes requests.
[Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam via Amazon; image of Latin Empire doll from Ela Troyano's "Once Upon a Time in the Bronx" via SubCine; cartoon of breakdancer via wikipedia]
Te acuerdas del clasico "Diamond Girl" pero en espanol?
"La Chica de Diamante" ...es duro. I cant lie I love Lisa Lisa's "I wonder if I take you home." I wonder what the crowd is like at those (reunion?)concerts, then again I also wonder about the crowd at those White Lion/Warrant/Winger concerts. Lots of Prom memories.
Posted by: El Pueblo | July 20, 2007 at 11:13 AM
Pueblo, I'm going to assume that at both freestlye and hair farmer shows the crowd is identical in one respect: they weren't around for the heyday of the particular (sub)genre and in all likelihood don't know/ignore the stigma attached to their faves. Who knows?
Posted by: Kiko Jones | July 21, 2007 at 09:23 PM