Vanessa Conde

LINK TO FEATURE:

http://article.wn.com/view/2010/04/11/Univision_Announces_StarStudded_Line_Up_for_22nd_Edition_of_/ - http://article.wn.com/

SEE PHOTOS :) - SKOPE Magazine January 2007 (LUDACRIS COVER)

THE RETRO-FUTURE IS NOW

But they need an ambassador from today’s mainstream. Whether it’s Jordin Sparks, who recently covered Shannon’s “Let the Music Play”; Brit sensation Jay Sean, in light of his glossy, oh-so-freestyle hit “Down”; Pitbull, who recruited Stevie B for a redux of the singer’s “Spring Love”; or, of course, New York club kid Lady Gaga, the closest that contemporary pop has to a descendent of Cynthia and Lil Suzy, somebody needs the self-assurance and sense of history to acknowledge freestyle’s influence.
“If someone young comes out with a record that has elements of dance and a little house and a little bit of that R&B flavor, [and] all of that can get collaborated into one record, that can create a new sound,” says an admittedly skeptical Safire, who also echoes the need for a current freestyle advocate, the same way modern-rock artists reintroduced Santana.
It would probably please her to know that there are new, young artists looking to heed her advice. This is especially evident in Miami, where New Yorker VANESSA CONDE is one of the scene’s many rising stars.
“There’s a very specific melodic structure to [freestyle],” concedes Conde. “The question is how to expand on it and to invite all these other genres and create a sound that still is clearly freestyle but has the influence of R&B, the influence of pop.”
Even skeptical freestyle veterans are rooting for her. “If there are groups emerging out of Florida, then that’s gonna be the center,” Berrios confirms. “New York’s sort of holding on to what’s left.”
Escalera, however, sees freestyle’s immortality as dependent on a universal artistic truth. “Just be who you are,” she says plainly. “If you’re gonna make it—whether you started off as a freestyle artist or you are a freestyle artist—as long as you do what you do with your heart, put your passion into it, and all that you’ve got, that should be good enough.”
Personal discrepancies, industry burnout, and creative stagnancy aside, what’s so remarkable about the Latino dance music dreamed up in major U.S. cities between 1983 and 1993 was that the classic records from Fever, Micmac, Futura, Panther, Cutting, and others still sound vital and contemporary. And, frankly, they hold up better from a purely production standpoint than much of that era’s canonized hip-hop. It may be both freestyle’s essence and undoing, but the music is, and always will be, its message. . - WAXPOETICS MAGAZINE June 2010 Issue #41 ISSUE

THE RETRO-FUTURE IS NOW
If the conventional wisdom is that musical movements, like fashion trends, get revisited every couple decades, freestyle would certainly be due for a close-up. “It’s the longest drought in music history that someone hasn’t replaced with another sound,” claims Abbatiello. And whether that’s true or not, if New Order and Anglo new-wavers received their second coming, Latin hip-hop alumni deserve to hear their familiar hits pouring out of car windows and college-dorm iPods.
But they need an ambassador from today’s mainstream. Whether it’s Jordin Sparks, who recently covered Shannon’s “Let the Music Play”; Brit sensation Jay Sean, in light of his glossy, oh-so-freestyle hit “Down”; Pitbull, who recruited Stevie B for a redux of the singer’s “Spring Love”; or, of course, New York club kid Lady Gaga, the closest that contemporary pop has to a descendent of Cynthia and Lil Suzy, somebody needs the self-assurance and sense of history to acknowledge freestyle’s influence.
“If someone young comes out with a record that has elements of dance and a little house and a little bit of that R&B flavor, [and] all of that can get collaborated into one record, that can create a new sound,” says an admittedly skeptical Safire, who also echoes the need for a current freestyle advocate, the same way modern-rock artists reintroduced Santana.
It would probably please her to know that there are new, young artists looking to heed her advice. This is especially evident in Miami, where New Yorker Vanessa Conde and Katja are two of the scene’s many rising stars.
“There’s a very specific melodic structure to [freestyle],” concedes Conde. “The question is how to expand on it and to invite all these other genres and create a sound that still is clearly freestyle but has the influence of R&B, the influence of pop.”
Even skeptical freestyle veterans are rooting for her. “If there are groups emerging out of Florida, then that’s gonna be the center,” Berrios confirms. “New York’s sort of holding on to what’s left.”
Escalera, however, sees freestyle’s immortality as dependent on a universal artistic truth. “Just be who you are,” she says plainly. “If you’re gonna make it—whether you started off as a freestyle artist or you are a freestyle artist—as long as you do what you do with your heart, put your passion into it, and all that you’ve got, that should be good enough.”
Personal discrepancies, industry burnout, and creative stagnancy aside, what’s so remarkable about the Latino dance music dreamed up in major U.S. cities between 1983 and 1993 was that the classic records from Fever, Micmac, Futura, Panther, Cutting, and others still sound vital and contemporary. And, frankly, they hold up better from a purely production standpoint than much of that era’s canonized hip-hop. It may be both freestyle’s essence and undoing, but the music is, and always will be, its message. .
62 - WAXPOETICS MAGAZINE June 2010 Issue #41 ISSUE