History Main / FreestyleVersion

* One famous case is when Creator/PaulAnka adapted ''Comme d'Habitude'' for ''Music/FrankSinatra'' as "My Way". The only thing the two songs hold in common is the tune.

* Music/JuiceWRLD did an entire freestyle set using exclusively Music/{{Eminem}} instrumentals - in return, Eminem gave him a guest feature on one of his singles ("Godzilla"). (Juice's death happened before he could finish recording the feature.)

* Around a quarter of Music/{{Drake}}'s mixtape ''So Far Gone'' is freestyles, using songs by Music/JayZ ("Ignorant Shit"), Kanye West ("Say You Will"), Lykke Li ("Little Bit"), Santogold ("Unstoppable") and Peter Bjorn and John ("Let's Call It Off").[[note]](Drake's [[UnacceptableTargets controversial]] 2012 track "Jodeci Freestyle" is not an example of this trope, as it is over an original beat.)[[/note]]

* Music/KanyeWest recorded a freestyle over his OneHitWonder Rich Boy's "Throw Some Ds", which turned a song [[BoastfulRap about money and cars]] into [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning a song about breast]] [[GagBoobs implants]].

Differentiated from a CoverVersion in that covers generally use the same lyrics with [[TheCoverChangesTheGender minor]] [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning changes]], differentiated from {{Sampling}} in that there is rarely any change in the instrumentation.

This is almost exclusively a trope in GenreMotif/HipHop and R'n'B.

Like cover songs, the songs that are most often freestyled over are hit songs, of any genre, although mostly (for the reason above), hip-hop, R'n'B and pop songs.

* Around a quarter of Music/{{Drake}}'s mixtape ''So Far Gone'' is freestyles, using songs by Music/JayZ ("Ignorant Shit"), Kanye West ("Say You Will"), Lykke Li ("Little Bit"), Santogold ("Unstoppable") and Peter Bjorn and John ("Let's Call It Off"). [[note]]Should also be noted that Drake's [[UnacceptableTargets controversial]] 2012 track "Jodeci Freestyle" is **not** an example of this trope, as it is over an original beat.[[/note]]

* Music/NickiMinaj has done a few of these, over songs by Jay-Z ("Encore"), [[The Notorious B.I.G]] ("Warning"), and also PTAL's "Boss Ass Bitch".

* Music/LupeFiasco freestyles often on his mixtapes. One, ''Friend of the People'' features him subverting the trope slightly, as he freestyles over obscure dance and dubstep instrumentals on it (and also over Music/JohnColtrane's ''Music/ALoveSupreme''. He also freestyled Que's "OG Bobby Johnson" as [[AuthorTract "THOT 97"]].

* Music/VanMorrison tends to this wnen he does a cover version. His cover of ''It's All In The Game'' starts out as a conventional version sticking more-or-less to the official lyrics, but by the end it has diverged so much that on the ''Into The Music'' album, the second half of the cover is listed as a seperate track and given a new name (with songwriting credits for the lyrics given to Van).

This is almost exclusively a trope in GenrMotif/HipHop and R'n'B.

* Music/VanMorrison tends to this wnen he does a cover version. His cover of ''It's All In The Game'' starts out as a conventional version sticking more-or-less to the official lyrics, but by the end it has diverged so much that on the ''Into The Music'' album, the second half of the cover is listed as a seperate track and given a new name (with songwriting credits for the lyrics given to Van).

* Music/AzealiaBanks freestyled over "Harlem Shake" when that song was popular.

* Music/RickRoss' 2012 mixtape ''The Black Bah Mitzvah'' which was entirely composed of freestyles over popular songs at the time - although after Ross had done his freestyle verse, he let every song play out as it originally was, causing lots of [[EpicRocking Epic Rapping]], which for many was something of a BaseBreaker.

* Music/AzealiaBanks freestyled over "Harlem Shake" when that song was popular.

* Music/LupeFiasco freestyles often on his mixtapes. One, ''Friend of the People'' features him subverting the trope slightly, as he freestyles over obscure dance and dubstep instrumentals on it (and also over Music/JohnColtrane's [[OneOfTheseThingsIsNotLikeTheOthers "A Love Supreme"]]. He also freestyled Que's "OG Bobby Johnson" as [[AuthorTract "THOT 97"]].

* Around a quarter of Music/{{Drake}}'s mixtape ''So Far Gone'' is freestyles, using songs by Music/{{Jay-Z}} ("Ignorant Shit"), Kanye West ("Say You Will"), Lykke Li ("Little Bit"), Santogold ("Unstoppable") and Peter Bjorn and John ("Let's Call It Off"). [[note]]Should also be noted that Drake's [[UnacceptableTargets controversial]] 2012 track "Jodeci Freestyle" is **not** an example of this trope, as it is over an original beat.[[/note]]

This is almost exclusively a trope in {{Hip-Hop}} and R'n'B.

* LilWayne built a lot of his buzz off of this. His ''Dedication'' series of mixtapes uses this trope almost exclusively, freestyling over the popular songs whenever the mixtape is released, as does his ''Da Drought'' series, and almost every other mixtape he's ever released.
* KanyeWest recorded a freestyle over [[OneHitWonder Rich Boy's "Throw Some Ds"]], which turned a song [[BoastfulRap about money and cars]] into [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning a song about breast]] [[GagBoobs implants]].

* RickRoss' 2012 mixtape ''The Black Bah Mitzvah'' which was entirely composed of freestyles over popular songs at the time - although after Ross had done his freestyle verse, he let every song play out as it originally was, causing lots of [[EpicRocking Epic Rapping]], which for many was something of a BaseBreaker.
* KendrickLamar freestyled over Kanye West's "Monster" in 2010 and created a brilliant VillainSong out of it.

* NickiMinaj has done a few of these, over songs by Jay-Z ("Encore"), [[The Notorious B.I.G]] ("Warning"), and also PTAL's "Boss Ass Bitch".

* BustaRhymes does this a lot as well, for instance over such songs as KendrickLamar's "Backseat Freestyle" and "Poetic Justice" and Drake's "Best You Ever Had".
* LupeFiasco does this often on his mixtapes. One, ''Friend of the People'' features him subverting the trope slightly, as he freestyles over obscure dance and dubstep instrumentals on it (and also over JohnColtrane's [[OneOfTheseThingsIsNotLikeTheOthers "A Love Supreme"]]. He also freestyled Que's "OG Bobby Johnson" as [[AuthorTract "THOT 97"]].
* TheWeeknd did this in 2014, freestyling over {{Lorde}}'s "Royals", Ty Dolla $ign's "Or Nah" and {{Beyonce}}'s "Drunk in Love" (although he also subverted this by significantly altering the beat for this one).
* AzealiaBanks freestyled over "Harlem Shake" when that song was popular.

* KendrickLamar freestyled over Kanye West's "Monster" in 2010 and created a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome brilliant]] VillainSong out of it.

* Around a quarter of {{Drake}}'s mixtape ''So Far Gone'' is freestyles, using songs by {{Jay-Z}} ("Ignorant Shit"), Kanye West ("Say You Will"), Lykke Li ("Little Bit"), Santogold ("Unstoppable") and Peter Bjorn and John ("Let's Call It Off").
** Should also be noted that Drake's [[UnacceptableTargets controversial]] 2012 track "Jodeci Freestyle" is **not** an example of this trope, as it is over an original beat.

** Femcee Nitty Scott (who has collaborated with Kendrick Lamar) also freestyled over "Monster" and the video of her doing so went viral and kickstarted her career.
* NickiMinaj has done a few of these, over songs by Jay-Z ("Encore"), [[The Notorious B.I.G]] ("Warning"), and more recently, PTAL's "Boss Ass Bitch".

* [[FiftyCent 50 Cent]] does these frequently.
* BustaRhymes does this a lot as well, most recently over such songs as KendrickLamar's "Backseat Freestyle" and "Poetic Justice" and Drake's "Best You Ever Had".
* LupeFiasco does this often on his mixtapes. One, ''Friend of the People'' features him subverting the trope slightly, as he freestyles over obscure dance and dubstep instrumentals on it (and also over JohnColtrane's [[OneOfTheseThingsIsNotLikeTheOthers "A Love Supreme"]].
** He also recently freestyled Que's "OG Bobby Johnson" as [[AuthorTract "THOT]] [[TakeThat 97"]].

Differentiated from a CoverVersion in that covers generally use the same lyrics with [[TheCoverChangesTheGender minor]] [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning changes]], differentiated from {{Sampling}} in that there is rarely any change in the instrumentation, and YourMileageMayVary on the difference between this and a remix.

** Should also be noted that Drake's [[UnacceptableTargets controversial]] 2012 track "Jodeci Freestyle" is *not* an example of this trope, as it is over an original beat.

* NickiMinaj has done a few of these, over songs by Jay-Z ("Encore"), [[The Notorious B.I.G.]] ("Warning"), and more recently, PTAL's "Boss Ass Bitch".

* {{50 Cent}} does these frequently.

* Around a quarter of {{Drake}}'s mixtape ''So Far Gone'' is freestyles, using songs by {{Jay-Z}} ("Ignorant Shit"), KanyeWest ("Say You Will"), LykkeLi ("Little Bit"), {{Santogold}} ("Unstoppable") and Peter Bjorn and John ("Let's Call It Off").

* Frequent across Music/JCole's earlier mixtapes, mostly over songs by Kanye West and Jay-Z (notice a theme here?), although also over Cassie's "Must Be Love", MissyElliot's "Best Friend" and Talib Kweli's "Get By".