Freestyler
| Freestyler | |
|---|---|
| Bomfunk MC's | |
| publication | October 1999 (Finland)
February 14, 2000 (worldwide) |
| length | 5:06 |
| Genre (s) | Drum and bass , rap |
| Author (s) | Raymond Ebanks , JS-16 |
| Label | Sony , Epidrome |
| album | In stereo |
Freestyler is a song by the Finnish hip-hop group Bomfunk MC’s . It was released in October 1999 as the third single from their debut studio album, In Stereo . The international release followed in February 2000, and the song became a success in many countries around the world - it made it to the top of the charts in Sweden , Germany , Norway , New Zealand , Austria , Switzerland , Turkey , Belgium , the Netherlands and Italy .
Music video
The video begins with Snellman boarding a train while listening to freestylers on his MiniDisc Walkman (Sony MZ-R55). A passenger sits across from him, embodied by Raymond Ebanks (BO Dubb), the lead singer of Bomfunk MC's, and who gives Snellman the power to control the flow of time for one or more people using the cable remote control of his walkman. Recognizing this ability, Snellman spends the duration of the music video pausing, rewinding, and fast-forwarding dancers and people as he continues his journey. Until he finally comes across the Bomfunk MC's where the remote control does not work; the entire music video then fast rewinds back to the beginning.
- background
The protagonist in the music video is Marlo Snellman, a model and musician from Finland. The actor was only fifteen years old at the time of shooting and was mediated by his mother, Laila Snellman. Marlo Snellman also made a brief appearance in Bomfunk MC's music video "B-Boys & Flygirls".
The location of the music video was primarily the Hakaniemi metro station , a subway station of the Helsinki Metro in Finland with platforms that are 21 meters below sea level .
At the beginning of the music video there is a film mistake : you can see the metro train 178 pulling into the station, and in the next cut it's the train with the number 136.
The music video was created by Miikka Lommi .
Chart successes and awards
Freestyler entered the German charts at number 11 on May 8, 2000 and reached the top of the chart four weeks later , where it stayed for three weeks. It was able to stay in the top 100 for a total of 23 weeks. The song also took first place in Austria and Switzerland, while it reached second place in the United Kingdom. In the German and Austrian annual charts for 2000, Freestyler took 4th place and 1st place in Switzerland.
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Freestyler received a triple gold record in Germany for over 750,000 units sold , making it one of the most successful rap songs in Germany . The song went platinum in Austria and Switzerland, while in the UK it received a gold record for more than 400,000 sales.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Marlo Snellman ( Memento June 14, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Popular Culture and Urban Creativity in Helsinki and Berlin . Dr. Giacomo Bottà, University of Helsinki p. 8, accessed December 10, 2014.
- ^ Henry Keazor, Thorsten Wübbena: Video thrills the Radio Star: Music videos: history, topics, analyzes . transcript verlag, Bielefeld 2005, ISBN 978-3-89942-728-8 , p. 88 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ Chart tracking Freestyler on officialcharts.de
- ↑ a b c d e Chart sources: DE AT CH UK FI
- ↑ a b c d 2000 annual charts: DE AT CH UK
- ↑ Awards: DE AT CH UK
Web links
- Freestyler on discogs.com (English)