"Freestyler" is a song by Finnish
hip hop group
Bomfunk MC's. It was released in Finland on 30 October 1999 as the third single from their debut studio album, In Stereo (1999), and was released internationally in February 2000. "Freestyler" peaked at number four on the
Finnish Singles Chart and topped the charts in more than 10 countries, including Australia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and Sweden. The song also peaked within the top 10 of the charts in Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
Daily Record described "Freestyler" as a "cracking old-skool track".[2]CMJ New Music Monthly described the track as "a housed-up hip-hoppity mélange of sampled slide-guitar, rubbery synth bass and Caribbean-inflected dance instructions; a dancefloor natural."[3]
Music video
The
music video for the song was mainly filmed at the
Hakaniemi metro station,[4] an underground station on the
Helsinki Metro line in Finland and with platforms 21 metres below sea level. The principal "home boy" featured in the video is Marlo Snellman, a Finnish model and musician, who later released his own single titled "Dust" and went on to work as producer for his own projects such as "Hipsters"[5] and "Okta".[6] The actor was 15 years old at the time of shooting and got the part through his mother, Finnish modelling
magnate Laila Snellman.[7] Marlo has a restaurant in Paris named Recoin.
The video begins with a young boy (Marlo) dancing extravagantly during the instrumental intro of the song as Marlo is catching a train while listening to "Freestyler" on his
MiniDisc (Sony Walkman MZ-R55) player. When A character cross the train we see Ismo Lappalainen. A charact sits in front of him it's
Raymond Ebanks (B.O. Dubb), the lead singer of the Bomfunk MC's, and who imbues Marlo's Sony MiniDisc remote controller with the ability to pause, rewind or fast-forward individuals. Behind Raymond Ebanks you must see a guy with white hat it's Dan Ahti Tolppanen alias
Uniikki. Realising this ability, Marlo spends the duration of the video manipulating passersby, dancers and even the train, with Raymond appearing in the background wherever he goes, watching Marlo. As Marlo comes across the Bomfunk MC's, he tries to manipulate them to no effect. As Raymond approaches Marlo, he accidentally rewinds himself, and the whole video is then sent into backward rewind. The music video is a play on themes of empowerment, with the power of the music being transferred to and in the end taken from Marlo by Ebanks. There is a continuity error in the video with the number on the train carriage changing throughout the sequence.
During the video, Marlo comes across the main character from the music video of "Uprocking Beats", another song from In Stereo, and freezes him. Marlo also appears briefly in the music video of "
B-Boys & Flygirls", reversing and forwarding the car the main characters are driving.[8]
The music video was parodied by Funky Bong in Assembler (k)—an entry for the Assembly 2000 wild demo competition; it placed fifth in the contest.[9] The music video was later parodied by the hip hop group
Raptori for their song "Hiphopmusiikkia".[10] In 2011, the beginning scene was remade in the music video of DJ RZY's "Tervetuloo Helsinkiin".[11] In 2019, the beginning scene was also tributed in a hardcore techno fashion in the music video "Luonnon Nostatus" by
Teknoaidi & Iconobreaker featuring Samu Kuusisto.[12]
2019 music video
For the twentieth anniversary in 2019, a new music video was produced featuring the original band members, with updates to reflect developments in technology and culture. The central figure is now a girl with a mobile phone, with various Belgian
YouTuber cameo appearances.
The 2019 music video was filmed at
Vukov Spomenik railway station, an underground station on the
BG Voz commuter railway network serving Belgrade, Serbia. The new video was sponsored by communications provider
Telenet (Belgium) to promote a new mobile phone service.[13]
Track listings
Finnish 12-inch single and Australian maxi-CD single[14][15]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^Freestyler (Finnish 12-inch single vinyl disc).
Bomfunk MC's. Epidrome. 1999. 669099 6.{{
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^Freestyler (Australian maxi-CD single liner notes). Bomfunk MC's.
Epic Records, Sony Dance. 2000. 669099 2.{{
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^Freestyler (European CD single liner notes). Bomfunk MC's. Epidrome. 1999. EPD 669099 1.{{
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^Freestyler (European maxi-CD single liner notes). Bomfunk MC's. Epidrome. 1999. EPD 668256 2.{{
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^Freestyler (UK CD1 liner notes). Bomfunk MC's. Dance Pool. 2000. DPS2CD.{{
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^Freestyler (UK CD2 liner notes). Bomfunk MC's. Dance Pool. 2000. DPS2CDX.{{
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^Freestyler (UK cassette single sleeve). Bomfunk MC's. Dance Pool. 2000. DPS2MC.{{
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^Freestyler (Australian CD single liner notes). Bomfunk MC's. Epic Records, Sony Dance. 2000. 669099 3.{{
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^Freestyler (US maxi-CD single liner notes). Bomfunk MC's. Epic Records. 1999. 49K 79520.{{
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^Freestyler (US 12-inch single vinyl disc). Bomfunk MC's. Epic Records. 1999. 49 79520.{{
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^"LE CIFRE DI VENDITA 2006"(PDF) (in Italian).
Musica e dischi. p. 8. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 6 January 2014. nel 2001 in vetta alla tabella c'era "Vamos a bailar" di Paola e Chiara con 150.000 copie ven- dute e, a seguire "I'm outta love" di Ana- stacia e "Freestyler" dei Bomfunk Mc's con 100.000 copie ciascuno.