Freestyle music

Freestyle music (also known as freestyle, Latin freestyle or Latin hip-hop, and sometimes Latin rap) is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in New York City, primarily among Puerto Rican Americans and Italian Americans.

An important precursor to freestyle is 1982's "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force. Shannon's 1983 hit "Let the Music Play" is often considered the first freestyle song and the first major song recorded by a Latin American artist is "Please Don't Go" by Nayobe from 1984. From there, freestyle gained a large presence in American night clubs, especially in states such as New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida, California, and Illinois. Radio airplay followed in the mid-1980s.

Performers such as Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Exposé, Stevie B and Sweet Sensation gained mainstream chart success with the genre in the 1980s, but its popularity largely faded by the early 1990s. Both classic and newer freestyle output remain popular as a niche genre in Brazil (where it is an influence on funk carioca), Germany and Canada.