Freeway f/ Scarface - "Baby, Don't Do It" (mp3)
Pretty much every time some moderately successful major label rapper I like drops a new album, I hope for basically what's been happening with Free At Last: it turned out really good despite a lack of label push or a big single, and people are actually taking notice and giving it good reviews. More often than not, either the album just isn't that good, or it is and gets slept on in favor of similiar cases where I think the album is garbage (i.e. The Clipse). But I'm pretty happy to see people rallying around Free; he's always been are really unique and inherently likeable rapper, and I can still remember the first time I heard The Dynasty in my brother's car and there was this bizarre voice on "1-900-Hustler," yelling "F! R! double the E!" I think Zac and I had our Freeway impressions down about 2 years before anyone else I know.
Even though he's barely been on the mainstream radar in the almost five years since Philadelphia Freeway, there was always a sense that people were still feeling Free; DJs still seem to play "What We Do" and "Flipside" and "Roc The Mic" more than almost any other Roc-A-Fella singles from that era, including most of Jay's records. That album in general has aged pretty well, and I still think of it as the best almost-full-length production of Just Blaze's peak era. So one of the big shadows cast over Free At Last, along with the decline of the Roc and the possible ruination at the hands of onetime exec producer 50 Cent, is the absence the producer who made the bulk of Free's first album. Fortunately, it's not really an issue, thanks largely to the Roc's longtime B-team production lineup of Bink! and Chad Hamilton, and dependable dudes like Needlz, Jake One and Don Cannon. Of course, there's also Cool & Dre who, as I mentioned a few months ago, really fell the fuck off, and now that all chances of Dre's rap album ever being released have vanished, dude has become one of those really annoying hook singing producers (his vocals on "100 Million" and Free At Last's "Lights Get Low" make me actually yearn for Pharrell falsetto).
Aside from his voice, Freeway is really entertaining to listen to because of his balance between silliness and sincerity. On the album's last song, "I Cry," he talks about crying about losing his G.I. Joes as a kid and crying over dead friends as an adult with equal sincerity, and somehow it works (although it's kind of weird and confusing how apparently one of those dead friends, who also gets an "R.I.P." dedication in the liner notes is named Neef, but isn't the Neef from State Property). The album's other most dramatic track, "Baby, Don't Do It," features Scarface, which is predictable and at the same time isn't, because as many Mack & Brad tracks as he's done with Beanie, Face has never gone further down the State Prop food chain to collaborate with any of the other members until now. But it's great to hear him and Free on a track together, and it's really helping me get hyped up for that new Scarface album that's apparently coming out next week, which noone was really sure was gonna happen until pretty recently.
Pretty much every time some moderately successful major label rapper I like drops a new album, I hope for basically what's been happening with Free At Last: it turned out really good despite a lack of label push or a big single, and people are actually taking notice and giving it good reviews. More often than not, either the album just isn't that good, or it is and gets slept on in favor of similiar cases where I think the album is garbage (i.e. The Clipse). But I'm pretty happy to see people rallying around Free; he's always been are really unique and inherently likeable rapper, and I can still remember the first time I heard The Dynasty in my brother's car and there was this bizarre voice on "1-900-Hustler," yelling "F! R! double the E!" I think Zac and I had our Freeway impressions down about 2 years before anyone else I know.
Even though he's barely been on the mainstream radar in the almost five years since Philadelphia Freeway, there was always a sense that people were still feeling Free; DJs still seem to play "What We Do" and "Flipside" and "Roc The Mic" more than almost any other Roc-A-Fella singles from that era, including most of Jay's records. That album in general has aged pretty well, and I still think of it as the best almost-full-length production of Just Blaze's peak era. So one of the big shadows cast over Free At Last, along with the decline of the Roc and the possible ruination at the hands of onetime exec producer 50 Cent, is the absence the producer who made the bulk of Free's first album. Fortunately, it's not really an issue, thanks largely to the Roc's longtime B-team production lineup of Bink! and Chad Hamilton, and dependable dudes like Needlz, Jake One and Don Cannon. Of course, there's also Cool & Dre who, as I mentioned a few months ago, really fell the fuck off, and now that all chances of Dre's rap album ever being released have vanished, dude has become one of those really annoying hook singing producers (his vocals on "100 Million" and Free At Last's "Lights Get Low" make me actually yearn for Pharrell falsetto).
Aside from his voice, Freeway is really entertaining to listen to because of his balance between silliness and sincerity. On the album's last song, "I Cry," he talks about crying about losing his G.I. Joes as a kid and crying over dead friends as an adult with equal sincerity, and somehow it works (although it's kind of weird and confusing how apparently one of those dead friends, who also gets an "R.I.P." dedication in the liner notes is named Neef, but isn't the Neef from State Property). The album's other most dramatic track, "Baby, Don't Do It," features Scarface, which is predictable and at the same time isn't, because as many Mack & Brad tracks as he's done with Beanie, Face has never gone further down the State Prop food chain to collaborate with any of the other members until now. But it's great to hear him and Free on a track together, and it's really helping me get hyped up for that new Scarface album that's apparently coming out next week, which noone was really sure was gonna happen until pretty recently.
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