After a lengthy hiatus Freeway is back with his with his sophomore effort, Free At Last, set to be released on November 16. In a recent interview, Freeway explains why he was gone from the game for so long. "I just been grinding you know the whole Roc break up really took a toll on me and kind of even held my career up a little bit, but I been working and I'm ready to get back out. It was a couple of things. The whole family structure wasn't in place like it was. There was a time when I could just go to Bassline [studios] and knock it out but it wasn't like that this time."
Despite the break up of the original Roc, Free says that he's still cool with all of his former label mates. Along with adjusting to the break up of the label Free went on a pilgrimage to Mecca it is during this trip that he almost gave up rapping all together. It was the love of the craft that brought him back into the game.
"It was beautiful there," he said. "It was a good experience. I was out there and the Sheiks told me that if I go back doing the same things as I was before, then I really didn't get anything out of it. But music is one of my passions, I do it well, I get my point across and people love it. This is also how I feed my family and support myself. I still got the hunger and I gotta feed a thousand growling stomachs."
His sophomore album will have features such as, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Scarface, Jadakiss, and Busta Rhymes. With all the changes that have occurred in the game since Free's last album he definitely is coming into this album with a chip on his shoulder so with this album free plans to go all out. "I feel like I've got something to prove I want the people to know that I'm still relevent. I'm still here. I still do what I do. I'm going harder with the lyrics, I've been away for a minute so I had a lot to talk about. This album is crazy. It's from the heart and I hope people take me into their hearts."
Free At Last will be released November 20 on Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam.
COMMENTS
Its a good album.....8/10
its a great album...9/10 the scarface feat. is nasty, and walk wit me with jada is fire, he's got some fire production to go along with ill beats, his album is better than 50's personally by far..
I’m not even a Freeway fan, but the niggaz album is fire, that track with Jada & Busta is crazy, it’s playing on heavy rotation in the whip. Love the “I Cry” joint too, I’d have to say content wise, “Free at last” should be in the top 10 best hip-hop albums of the year.
He´s Talented,he got a ill voice,but they coulda at leat give him a video
his album is realy nice
he is talented dude
album is str8.. real nice.. his voice a bit annoyin' but at least he makes dope tracks.
I concur... I always hated his voice... it's dumb annoyin'...
I'll cop it on Tuesday... It'll be my first Freeway album... I haven't heard ANY of it, so I'll have a completely neutral stance... I wonder where it will fall on my ranking list of albums I store-purchased this year; I put them in the order that I'd rather listen to them... we'll see...
Don't count:
[1.] The Score - The Fugees; '96
[2.] The Great Adventures of Slick Rick - Slick Rick; '88
01. Back To Black - Amy Winehouse
02. As I Am - Alicia Keys
03. B.A.R.S. The Barry Adrian Reese Story - Cassidy
04. Corinne Bailey Rae - Corinne Bailey Rae
05. I Am - Chrisette Michelle
06. Rap-Murr-Phobia: The Fear of Real Hip-Hop - Keith Murray
07. Red Gone Wild - Redman
08. T.I. Vs. T.I.P. - T.I.
09. American Gangster - Jay-Z
10. Finding Forever - Common
11. Just Like You - Keyshia Cole
12. Eardrum - Talib Kweli
13. The Real Thing: Words and Sounds, Vol. 3 - Jill Scott
14. From Nothin' to Somethin' - Fabolous
o.O
you crazy...............common and talib should be 1 and 2...............
your list is whack
im not hatin im just bein honest from my perspective, im not much of an r&b type guy unless im with my yatchie... so right off the bat you killin yourself with havin r&b albums higher than some rap/hip-hop CLASSIC albums on your list... for example you got jay-z, common, and talib close to the bottom, they should be owning that list at the top, along with fab who had a crazy album, and it was better than t.i.'s by far... cassidy had a good album, but it wasnt nothin spectacular or anything, he didn't have a better alubm than fab either... so its your list b im not gunna knock it anymore.. just my opinion
Well, I love MUSIC dog. I LOVE R&B...and, most dudes who get a lot of girls and/or grew up on their mom's bangin' Luther, Freddie, Patti, Anita, and so on do. Also, grew up playin' sax and w/my dad bangin' jazz all day long. It also depends on what type of mood I'm in. Of course, the Fugees and the Slick Rick album are at the top, but it is unfair to include them since they are time-tested classics and way ahead of this time.
Overall, talent-wise, Amy is a legend in the making. Her dvd that dropped on Tuesday is NASTY! If she can stop bein' a borderline alkie, she'll be alright. Ms. Keys album is FIRE. PERIOD.
Cassidy's album, i.m.o., is the best rap album of the year so far. I say that because it's very exciting and well produced. With the exception of the dumb ass My Drink and My 2 Step, he came through on 90% of this album. Corinne and Chrisette both dropped very, very good albums; both developing star power. Keith and Red both dropped fire dog! I don't know how many people have heard Keith's cd but it is VICIOUS; he SMASHES the entire South by himself. Redman's album would be higher but it gets repetitive and is too long. T.I. shocked me with a lot of excitement, uptempo music, a great concept, and very good collabos.
Both Common and Talib's boring ass albums are NOT better than T.I.'s. Track 3 on BOTH albums are fire, but I've had people listen to them WITH ME and they bored us to tears. Jay-Z's album, i.m.o. is ehhhh, and Fab, who dropped a surprisingly okay(!) album but still is clearly the least, overall, of all the Hip-Hop I've purchased on this year. Both Jill Scott AND Keysh let me down, but I'd rather listen to both albums over Fab's which is only worth listening to a couple times after you first buy it.
Waiting on: Nas, Mary, Styles P, Freeway, Beans, and any other surprise albums I don't know about.
thats cool that you like music that much, but for you to jump and say common and talib had BORING albums, and brought you to tears from boredom? thats reaching too far... and thats unfair to say the least, they had crazy albums, common won award after award for finding forever... and eardrum was a NASTY album, cuz must not like intellectual knowledgeable hip-hop, because t.i. dropped one of his whackest albums.. real talk.. the best ive heard from tip i.m.o. is urban legend, ti vs tip was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay short of that.. it was a poor album with some good collabos with busta and em, and hov, but overall it lacked ALOT. but who am i to change your opinion thats what it is fam, i respect it..but dont trash common and talib they were solid..more than solid.. this year
A) As far as T.I. vs. T.I.P., I think even Defsounds gave it 9/10, if I recall correctly. Maybe an 8. I never heard the whole Urban Legend, so hey, you may be right about that.
B) As far as both Common and Talib's joints, I AGREE with you, they both have SOLID albums. They both dropped vicious lyrics. My beef is, NEITHER really switch their flow or pace and after a while, I kinda get bored, you know? But yeah, both have SOLID albums.
Love to the East & the Upper Midwest this year. Notice my list doesn't include the marketing ploy of 50 & Kanye's joints because I purchased NEITHER; I wasn't gettin' caught up in that tomfoolery, lol.
kanye had a very good album.
Whomever said he didn't?
[comment trashed — show comment] -1 Props charismatic — about 17 hours ago
Notice my list doesn't include the marketing ploy of 50 & Kanye's joints because I purchased NEITHER; I wasn't gettin' caught up in that tomfoolery, lol.
^^^^^ im pretty sure you did..
it is a very good album, damn where was the promotion at tho??? not one video
i c u man, emcees dont get no marketing these days, even when labels know that sales are down
the beard contains magical powers.
my nigga Freezer is sick, I'm coppin on 11/20 his first album was classic can't count him out the game
yo havana2bueno
this Huggie Bear
tell Def Cam and JHov to check there emails asap!
i cant get online in the forums for some unknown reason
1
shit is hott
dont know if its possible, but i hope its a song like "what we do" on this album. man that song is a classic, and its rare to find a song with jay and beans getting ripped on by another artist, dont get me wrong jay and beans did their thing in that song, but free killed it.
thats like the only song i ever heard from free that i liked a lot, but i might give this album a try
cosign, he got a song better than that mayne... he got this collabo with scarface call "baby don't do it" FIRE he ate scarface, and he got a HOT collabo with busta and jadakiss, but he coming up short against jada lol, free got a classic album on his hands, b ut alot of cats are gunna download and bootleg his shit which is bogus dude made a fire album.
hahaa it would have been funny if him and cassidy dropped on the same day
Im confused...I thought albums could only drop on Tuesdays...I thought his album was going to be on the 20th...I got love for Philly Freeway but up to date my only song I heard from him that was good was Alright...hopefully this album changes my mind.
Free surprised the Shit outta me. That was a clean ass Album- 8.5/10.
ist good freeway but work more with fifty he is the best fuck rocca fella its ggggggggggg unit
FuCK LiL Wayne fucking Homo sounds like a retarded , GG-UUNNIITTTT...every body who listen to weezy are gay
another point, if people who listen to wayne are gay what does that make you with a game avatar???? who has a MIXTAPE COLLABERATION coming out with lil wayne... you feelin sour now aint ya??? Game & Wayne-Blood Brother's mixtape, fall back on your comment dickface
this is a freeway column , NOT LIL WAYNE OR G-UNIT
freeway NEW VIDEO off NEW ALBUM free at last..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbWaX1qAH5s
gotta hear the album man niggas keep talkin bout its a 9/10 shyt i gotta get ma hands on it
I HAVEN'T HEARD THE ALBUM YET BUT I KNOW THAT SHIT IS CLASSIC
freeways soft he done been killt he aint nuttin special
^ i think your soft for logging on to the net to bash an artist and claim he's soft, because you personally know free right? GTFOH young kid
ya i seen dat nigga he soft b u dont no me son u the one talkin sum shit even dat shit wit wayne is whack
yea heard this jawn was a banger...and dont be gettn caught up wit that battle with cassidy...free still nice wit the flow...but cass would bite any niggas head off so u cant just judge free off that battle.
"but cass would bite any niggas head off"
People who will MERK Cass in a battle:
1. Nas
2. Jay
3. Eminem
and most importantly
4. A half sleep, snake bitten, flu ridden Canibus.
im glad u bought up canibus cus he can battle and eat a lotta niggas real tawk he jus need a career makeover
canibus wouldnt MURK cassidy tho i dont think anybody can outright murk cass tho niggas would giv cass a run for his money and if he did get beat it would be by a small margin
canibus? is he even alive
i mean i cant front like everybody on ur list and canibus wuld prolly be the best bet to give him a run for it and eminem prolly gon do a lil sumthin...but u gotta understand this is wut cass does...now he be tryna add content and stories to his music so he can get to jay z and nas level but as far as punchlines and battling goes i dont think any of them dudes culd get at him...he lives for that.
I'll check it out.. I ain't too sure on Freeway tho. His voice is like nails to a chalkboard.
the album is solid.
i lied it's not solid.
its fire, i was expecting a sub-par album from a sub-par soldier from the roc, i was wrong and ill be the first to admit that, i listened to this whole cd front to back without skipping a track, it wowed me, so too bad he wont sell either way... the album is going to deserve MUCH more credit then it will recieve.
damn havent heard it yet always like to hear otha ppl opin on free b4 i grab tht but frm wut im hearing yall making me want to hear it......ITS HIS VOICE ..JUS CANT GET WIT IT AFTER SO LONG
I jus coped this album, CRACK, I MEAN STRAIGHT FUCKING CRACK. FREE IS A BEAST
fureal? w
'Still Got Love' is one hot fuckin track yo.
charismatic u aint no shit 6out the 6loC us a 6a6y 6aC fah sayin Eminem merk um yeah he 6it um onCe 6utu aint rollin like me an Cass6oo so quit yungga