mixtape maestro (2.0)

Freeway’s last studio effort, 2007’s under-performing Free At Last, may have felt like it dropped eons ago in hip hop’s time, but the Philly-born bearded wonder has still managed to keep his name, and unmistakable voice, out there, flooding the web with numerous mixtape/ freestyle projects. Last month, he kept the rap blog circuit afire with his Month of Madness song spree, which found him releasing a new track every day for the whole of December (download the entire thing here).

Here’s two of Maestro’s favorites:

Get ready to start longing for the days of Roc-A-Fella’s reign once the smooth soul sample of “I Can Deal With It” coats the ears. Lain atop a seducing rise-and-fall strings-and-horn backdrop and snippets of some anonymous soul vixen moaning “I think I can handle it” (supplied by beatmaker Blunt), a surprisingly calmer Freeway tries his best to simply lead a peaceful existence and keep his paper stack high but the constant threat of haters coming from every which way keeps such a life nearly impossible. “They dyin’ to try me,” he sighs against the buttery groove, before opting on hitting them with “every (lyrical?) bullet from this tech I peel”.

DL: “I Can Deal With It” (alt)

For “Doing Anything”, Free joins Lil’ Rob and…erm, Swiffer, in keeping that damn “Baby Come Back” song stuck in our heads.

“Anything” might sample the apparently deathless, 1977 smooth rock hit by Player, but beyond briefly relating his attempts to woo a second grade hottie back in the day, there’s not much Valentine’s Day mushiness to be found here. Instead, that elementary school-set almost-love story is used as one of many examples of Freeway doing “anything” to make sure every goal he sets for himself ends in success, whether that’s being the flyest-dressed cat on the block or staying one step ahead of his mic competition.

DL: “Doing Anything” (alt)

Uncategorized freeway, mixtape, philly, soul sample

An exciting whirlwind of a track that demands more than one listen just to absorb it all, Freeway, once the leader of the new generation of Roc A Fella, makes a striking return on the Jay Z-assisted “Big Spender”.

Thankfully putting to rest that weird, squawking flow he annoyingly held dear, Freeway sounds fully charged here, honing an edge-of-breathlessness intensity that feverishly tries to keep up with the swift, bumrushing beat: a cavernous Flintstonian-approach to “Dirt Off Your Shoulders”‘ manic shuffle speckled with sampled snippets of the pinnacle of gold diggers’ anthems. The pummeling production even holds the power to wake Jigga up from the boring slumber the Def Jam CEO has been under, something “Umbrella”’s arena rock bombast or “Show Me What You Got”’s blaxploitation sparkle couldn’t even achieve. The lyrics’ big baller theme is redundant, but the way the hip hop Donald Trump and his bearded apprentice throw the mic back and forth like a steaming hot potato recalls the engrossing spirit of Roc A Fella’s Golden Age.

Uncategorized freeway, jay-z