by Dan-O

The last proper Freeway album was Think Free from 2018. The Roc-A-Fella legend kept trudging through hip hop’s landscape after the dynasty fell like Denzel in Book of Eli. Freeway became a mixtape legend dropping projects with The Jacka and Don Cannon. He embraced Indie making one of my favorite Rhymesayers albums (The Stimulas Package with Jake One). Some people got hung up, pointing fingers at people and feeling left out of the loop when Dame and Jay split but I have an immense respect for how Freeway conducted himself. He gathered his things and hit the road, building a new leg onto his career, and then another. If Freeway hung it up today I would sing the bearded ones praises to any who could hear me BUT in 2023 Free is cold blooded.

On Oddisee’s album To What End Freeway sounds great. On The song Ghetto To Meadow I wasn’t sure how he would fit since this beat is very Oddisee mid-tempo. Free just loves to rap! He’s so loose and thoughtful going down memory lane, eating pretzels, pulling off on a moped. Free totally understood the pace, mood, and mission of this song and laid a verse the song can’t do without. I was impressed.

On Out Here by Jae Skeese off Abolished Uncertainties we have a completely different song. You can tell from the start this is hardhead music. Conway would love this beat. Jae Skeese is thoughtful but the tempo is aggressive. Knowing Freeway was coming I was excited to contrast this against the groovy Ghetto To Meadow. Free gets hardcore, making medicine sick. His voice is full grit.

Between both of these songs its clear that Freeway is still ready to chew through beats. He needs a top notch collaborator to throw beats at him the way Jake One did in 2010. No matter who handles the production, be on the look out for the Philly Freezer, it feels like he’s bubbling again.