"Freestyler" is a song by Finnish hip hop group Bomfunk MC's. It was released in Finland in October 1999 as the third single from their debut studio albumIn Stereo, and released internationally in February 2000. It was a worldwide success, topping the charts in more than ten countries—including Australia, Germany, Italy and New Zealand—and reaching the top three in Denmark, Iceland, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.
The music video was mainly filmed at the Hakaniemi metro station, 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 entitled "Dust" and went on to work as producer for his own projects such as "Hipsters" and "Okta". The actor was 15 years old at the time of shooting and got the part through his mother, Finnish modelling magnate Laila Snellman. Marlo Snellman appears briefly in another Bomfunk MC's music video, "B-Boys & Flygirls" in minute 2:15. The video begins with Marlo catching a train while listening to "Freestyler" on his MiniDisc player. A character sits across him in the train, who is played by Raymond Ebanks, the lead singer of the Bomfunk MC's, and who imbues Marlo with the power to control the flow of time for one or a group of individuals. Realising this ability, Marlo spends the duration of the video pausing, rewinding and fast-forwarding dancers and people on his journey until coming across the Bomfunk MC's, upon whom the remote control does not work; the whole video is then sent into a rapid rewind back to the beginning. 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. The music video was later parodied by the hip hop groupRaptori for their song "Hiphopmusiikkia". In 2011, the beginning scene was also remade in the music video of DJ RZY's "Tervetuloo Helsinkiin".
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 YouTubercameo appearances. The 2019 music video was filmed at Vukov Spomenik railway station, an underground station on the BG Vozcommuter railway network serving Belgrade, Serbia. The new video had been sponsored by communications provider Telenet to promote a new mobile phone service.
