[Ads-l] Antedating of "Freestyle" (Verb) (Rap)

[Ben Zimmer]

It would also be good for the OED to include "freestyle" (v.) as used in
the context of breakdancing, since it's very possible that this is the
origin of the rapping sense. Here's an example from 1985 (context makes
clear that it's breakdancers, not rappers, who are "freestyling").

---
Sally Banes, "Breaking" (1985), _Fresh: Hip Hop Don't Stop_ (Nelson George,
et al.), p. 102
As the beat of the drummer came to the fore, the music let you know it was
time to break down, to freestyle.
https://archive.org/details/freshhiphopdonts00geor/page/102/mode/2up
---

--bgz

On Fri, Dec 12, 2025 at 11:23 PM Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:

> OED sense 2 is 1990, not 1989, but more significantly, OED would regard
> this as an example of the verbal noun _freestyling_, which OED has from
> 1952 (they don't separate out the senses of the noun; the only rap example
> is from 2004, but this doesn't indicate anything about their earliest use
> of this sense). The general style for this would be to put this quote at
> the noun, and add a bracketed 1988 quote at v. sense 2 reading "implied in
> [x-r to the noun quote]" or something like that.
>
> Jesse Sheidlower
>
> On Sat, Dec 13, 2025 at 02:33:37AM +0000, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> > freestyle, v. (OED, 2., 1989)
> >
> > 1988 Option 1 Sept. 35/1 (ProQuest)
> >
> > Shante is a supreme show woman ... she's renowned for her "freestyling,"
> quick-witted rhyming at the drop of a dime.
> >
> >
>

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