Freeway:
Philadelphia Freeway

Release Date: 10 March 2003

Reviewed By: Usman Sajjad

1. Free

2. What We Do - feat, Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel

3. All My Life - feat, Nate Dogg

4. Flipside - feat Peedi Crakk

5. On My Own - feat, Nelly

6. We Get Around - feat, Snoop Dogg

7. Don't Cross The Line - feat, Faith Evans

8. Life - feat Beanie Sigel

9. Full Effect - feat, Young Gunz

10. Turnout The Lights - Freewest

11. Victim of The Ghetto - feat, Rell

12. You Don't Know - feat, Sparks

13. Alright - feat, Allen Anthony

14. Hear The Snog

15. You Got Me - Mariah Carey, Jay-Z

16. Line 'em Up - featYoung Chris

Kanye West - College Dropout
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Freeway's debut release, Philadelphia, is an interesting dedication to street life. Freeway, born and raised in 'Philadelphia' same town as some of his label mates such as Beanie Siegel and Young Gunz, was hustling in his teens to get his cash. After being discovered by Beanie Siegel, Free got a deal at Dame Dash, Jay Z's and Biggs' ever-growing,' Rocafella Records' in 2000. 'Freeways distinctive voice and unique flow can be heard on earlier cuts like "1-900-Hustler" and the banger "Roc the Mic" featuring Beanie Siegel.

The album features a highly impressive roster including lyrical king of the Rocafella Empire, Jay Z; CEO of new imprint State Property Beanie Siegel, Nate Dogg, St Louis' Nelly, diva Mariah Carey and much more. The majority of the album is produced by two of the biggest producers in hip hop at the moment; Kanye West, who has produced 'Stand Up' by Ludacris and Jay Z's 'H to the Izzo', and Just Blaze, who produced Fabolous' hit 'Can't Let you go'.

Philadelphia Freeway opens with the infectious track 'Free' produced by Just Blaze. 'Free' couldn't sound any better, as Freeway uses crafty ways to make all bars end with his name. The second release from his album, 'What we do', is a distinctive Kanye West beat, and sees Freeway outshine his mentors, Jay-Z & Beanie Sigel, with his witty delivery and reminiscent talk of the drug-trade which is a dominant theme on the album. Next single, 'All my life' features West coast vocalist Nate Dogg - A mid tempo track with a very 'descending style' beat.

'Flipside' which also appeared on the Bad Boys 2 soundtrack, is the next club banger and features fellow Rocafella artist Peedi Crakk. Tracks such as 'On My Own' featuring Nelly and 'We Get around' with Snoop, display a more subtle and commercially viable Freeway. 'We Get Around' produced by Just Blaze is an amazing single with a feel good beat to it. 'Life' featuring Beanie Siegel is a deep, heart felt track of his experiences on the streets and how he dealt with growing up being a Muslim, "I still managed to make it to the mosque/the bad kid on the block of crack/a package of pills/Ol head Quil tried to teach us the Koran...". 'Full Effect' features younger Roc members The Young Gunz. The next standout track for me is "Victim of the Ghetto" featuring Rell, a track where Free talks about ghetto life. Rell goes on to add incredible smooth vocals to add amazing variation to the record. 'You don't know '(In the Ghetto) featuring Sparks is another slower track straight from Free's heart'.

The Just Blaze'd produced track 'Alright', contains the amazing vocals of Allen Anthony, Rocafella's recording artist who uses his influence on Gospel music to sing the chorus.' You got me' featuring Jay Z and Mariah is a brilliant r'n'b style record which I predict will be his next single. The amazing vocals of Mariah and distinctive flow of Jay Z gives an incredible combination.

The albums wraps up with, 'Line Em Up', a rock based track produced by Just Blaze that contains half of the Young Gunz, Young Chris. The track has a different vibe to it and is the perfect way to end the album, by giving a different flavor to Freeway's project.

Despite his efforts, Freeway's debut album, I feel has been nothing revolutionary. Going by the number of guest appearances and amount of publicity he received before his album dropped, hip hop fans maybe slightly disappointed to receive more or less what they would have heard before. Don't get me wrong, whilst Freeway has been able to use his unique skills, distinctive flow and powerful voice to deliver messages about the hood, his life and struggles, the album can often seem as though it's going in one direction.

3 Out of 5

3 Favorite tracks
1. Flipside
2You got me

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