Morpheux said:Stevie B is great at what he does for as long as he has. I give him credit for never abandoning the freestyle sound altogether while he tried out different sounds.He always had at least 3 or 4 freestyle songs when he experimented with other genres.If the main freestyle artists did the same then the genre would have commanded more respectabilty. Instead alot of non talented kareoke singers flooded the scene to fill the void because there was still a demand for the music. But that's another subject.
I do have to point out that Stevie might have done all flavors of freestyle but he never pioneer the sounds. And that's not to take anything from him.When you said that the East Coast was stuck on the multiple beats while Stevie B did the planet rock sound,well that's far from true. And I say that respectfully.
The record that started the planet rock craze in the 1992 was LiL Suzy's Take me in your arms. It was the Billboard dance song of the year and Suzy was the dance artist of the year.Stevie didn't record a freestyle track with the planet rock loop till 1994.
In 1993 Collage had a massive hit with I'll be loving you which also sampled the planet rock loop (as well as info society's running).
In 1993 High Power,Viper,and Tazmania records saturated the market with freestyle compilations laced with the planet rock sound.
http://www.amazon.com/High-Power-Records-Greatest-Freestyle/dp/B000003ZT1
http://www.amazon.com/Tazmania-Freestyle-Various-Artists/dp/B000001QRO/ref=pd_sim_m_1
http://www.amazon.com/Vipers-Hit-Parade-V"arious-Artists/dp/B000000QW8/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_1
Again,Stevie B didn't record a song with the planet rock beat till 1994.All the labels above and artist are East Coast and were doing the sound in 1992 and 1993.
As for the West Coast progressive sound the record that started all that was actually from Miami! Set u free by Planet Soul was the prototype that was copied by Lina Santiago's "feel so good" and then by Jocelyn Enriquez "A lil bit of extasy". "Set u free was released in latre 1995 and "feel so good" in the summer of 96. A lil bit of estasy was released in early 1997. Now,where in this era did Stevie do a West Coast progressive sound? ???
Also,his claim that he was the sound of Jocelyn,Angelina M:G,PINAY is ludicrous.You're on freestyle remix ask Glenn Gutierrez the producer of most of those artists if that is true. I'm staying out of that one.
- Stevie B had a couple of west coast style progressive electro freestyle tracks. Just to name a couple, two were "summer nights" and "if you leave me now" (Kalifornia Kutz mix) Both released in the late 90's, close to around the times when Alexis, M:G, and Collage Chapter 3 were released... somewhere around that time.
- I never said "planet rock" beats. Just that he was ahead of the game in freestyle beat sounds and productions. That doesn't necessarily have to be the over used planet rock beat. I'm not sure of his release dates, but a few songs that were melodically and instrumentally ahead of the times for the genre were "I wanna be the one" (modernized old school multiple beat sound), "dreaming of love" (a modernized beat sound for its time - people are using that "boom boom - clap boom, boom, clap" beat pattern today, minus the latin sounds & percussions), "come with me" (listen to the rhythm, beats, & sound arrangements behind the traditional latin freestyle sounds & vocals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZPhzWnmvxw) "in my eyes"..etc. Those did not sound like tka or many of the other multiple beats sounds, and that style might even work again today with a modernized rhythm & keyboard + vocal effects, BUT same drum pattern structure. He was "on Buffy's level" when it came to being on the more modernized sound for its time.
- I didn't say Stevie B produced the west coast sound, but he told me that he taught Glenn Gutierrez how to put beats and vocals together. I'll ask him again and double check to see if that's all or if there's more to the story. He never said that he WAS the sound, but taught Glenn on production, nothing more. I never knew how accurate that was, but I can only go by hearsay.
- Not only that, but he was the first to produce a west coast electro style sound on TODAY'S modern bass & freestyle beats http://www.amazon.com/Shake-It-Up/dp/B002E878HO - the exact same idea I've been preaching to him and many others everywhere.. (not sure if I gave him that electro sound over today's beats idea though.. or if he would've came up with it anyway) and even the modern 120 bpm trend with autotune http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002E8786U/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk9 and his producer-mate, Map Style, is also on the modernized freestyle sound http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KGRxFTr1mc (fits today's lightweight 120 bpm sound but has a strong freestyle flavor).
- Lil Suzy was always great. She was always somewhat ahead of the time for a little while before a lot of people "caught up" with her. She was an east coast girl who did well with the west coast sound.
Unlike Kanye West, who claims to have done EVERY genre of music, Stevie B has actually done every freestyle sound without mentioning it (well, with exception to a few minor details like songs that slow down in the middle/near end or the electro freestyle- WITH house beats in them or that start with house beats then flip to electro break). I've yet to hear any UK Garage, Drum & bass, Opera, Trip Hop, or even Freestyle.. etc. from Kanye, by the way.