Freeway Album: “Philadelphia Freeway 2 (Collector's Edition)”

I remember when I first heard Freeway on Jay Z's "1-900-Husler". I thought he dropped a good 16 and wanted to hear more. Then "State Property" dropped. Then "Philadelphia Freeway". By this point I was getting tired of his sound, his voice and everything he was talking about. But then "Free At Last" came out (I only brought it cause nothing else was out and I needed a new CD), and I was blown away. He stepped his game up tremendously. It stayed in my rotation for over a year. So when I heard that "Philadelphia Freeway 2" was out, I knew it was a must have.

I had no idea Freeway had a new album coming out. I saw it on Amazon and thought it was a mixtape or collection CD. I was surprised to find out it was all new songs. I didn't know Free had left Def Jam. He released this album independently through Real Talk Entertainment who is known for getting rappers way past they time (Bone Thugs, MC Eiht). So that raised another eyebrow, but once I listened to this CD a couple times I was hooked. The beats are the right fit for Freeway's high pitch tone. There aren't any song I don't like. I actually like all of them equally. That's good but it can also be bad. With no heavy reapeats, you tend to forget about the CD. But that's not a major flaw.

What I like about Freeway is that he waste no time with gimmicks or silly hooks. He and Young Jeezy are throwbacks to the days of hip hop I loved. Not too many artist are doing that these days. Some substitute good lyrics for sing-a-long hooks or disguise beats with auto tune. Rumor has it that Free has found a home with Cash Money Records. That will be very interesting to see Free rhyming over Birdman beats. That is enough to keep me grabbing Freeway albums for awhile.

This is the third hot release from Free. I believe he is one of the greats of our time. jay was a wise man for sticking with him.

He's the greatest to never hit the radar.

I liked Free when he first came out with Philadelphia Freeway. Prior to that he was a big buzz on a few Jay-Z songs and various other appearances from other notable big name rappers. At one point, I turned away from Free when he was trying to battle Cassidy on a few mixtape joints. Free literally got chewed and spit out by some of the punchlines Cassidy was spittin.

I think Free has gotten better lyrically. Philadelphia Freeway 2 is better than Free at Last and way better than his first album, Philadelphia Freeway. I think that this album should have been better promoted. Free's current album shows the growth and versatility in his lyrics and beat of choice. I'm surprised at how good the production value of this album is, considering it was released on an independent label.

I recommend picking this album up. I started listening to this about a week ago. I think this album is better than Ghostface's new album, which is more of a mainstream rap and R&B album (What the hell was he thinking).

9-29-2009

Freeway is one of my favorate rappers and he is very underrated. He delivers on this cd as usual.