Freestyle

Tease the bangs with Aqua Net and dust off those spandex biker shorts: it's time for a freestyle explosion. Call it Latin freestyle if you like — the music's what matters. The genre bridged sweet R&B, New York electro, Latin rhythms, and Miami bass, making for a heady dance-floor concoction that wouldn't be ignored. All the big stars are here: Shannon (sitting proud at the head of our opening selection with cast-iron club classic from 1983 "Let the Music Play") Debbie Deb, Lisa Lisa, Exposé, Stevie B, the Cover Girls — even dance-pop powerhouse Information Society with their crossover freestyle smash "Running."

There's more from Debbie Deb, and Monet fills out the freestyle soundscape, in Next Steps.

Generally speaking, freestyle tends to address three primary topics: world hunger, the military industrial complex, and the demise of the middle class (er, wrong music — make that love, heartbreak, and non-stop partying). Welcome to the world of freestyle feel-goodness, courtesy of Nocera's "Summertime, Summertime (Original Club Mix)" and Debbie Deb's "When I Hear Music" from 1984. Check out those one-note melodies and punctuating keyboard stabs — quality indicators of genius dance-floor pop in the '80s. Here's where the body-poppin' electricity of synths merges with tropical sensuality . . . or where, in the words of Monet, "My Heart Gets All the Breaks."

Discover freestyle's "Planet Rock" roots in Deep Cuts.

The 118-bpm foundation of freestyle can be traced back to Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock," itself a fine salute to Kraftwerk. Naturally, we've got both of those groundbreaking artists right here, and they're the perfect starting point for charting the freestyle trajectory from underground sound to pop sensation, with stops along the way for leftfield favorites by Pretty Tony ("Jam the Box"); Freestyle, a.k.a. Tony Butler ("Don't Stop the Rock"); and Tongan pop royal family the Jets ("Crush On You"). Miami's Lady Tigra and Bunny D — collectively L'Trimm — celebrate the automotive sub-woofer with "Cars That Go Boom" and Cynthia takes it to the bedroom with "Endless Night."

With reggaeton and R&B ruling the ultra-lounge playlists, the atmosphere is primed for a freestyle comeback. While this club-igniting sound embraces innocent themes of unrequited love, its futuristic core moves dance floors and roller rinks without succumbing to cheap come-ons. Bottom line: it's all about fun, about filling your heart while poppin' your bones. No wonder hardcore fans like Gwen Stefani, Diplo, Peanut Butter Wolf, and Janet Jackson profess their love of freestyle in interviews, mixtapes, or (in the case of Ms. Jackson) by covering their favourite cuts. At long last, freestyle is finally getting the respect it deserves . . . though the fashion and hairstyles may take a few more years to catch on. In the mean time, fill your ears with these freestyle Essentials.