Since writing my top 30 Freeway tracks of 2009 post a couple months ago, I feel kind of like the unofficial curator of this ridiculously prolific stream of material he’s been releasing lately, and that I have some kind of obligation to continue to keep track of it all. And that hasn’t been easy, since in the first 3 months of 2010, he’s already released 4 full-length projects, albeit most of them as part of a collaboration.

I already talked a bit last month about the most high profile of those releases, The Stimulus Package with Jake One, which is by no means killer from front to back but is still pretty damn good. And the solo mixtape he released around the same time, which some retailers packaged as a bonus disc for people that preorder Stimulus, is Freelapse, featuring Freeway rapping over Eminem beats for reasons I still don’t really understand. A couple of songs from this that leaked a while ago were on my ‘09 Freeway list (the hilarious “Freeway’s Beard” and “When I Rap,” titled here as “Laugh At ‘Em”), and the rest of it is hit and miss but worth hearing. I’ve never been a big fan of the Aftermath production aesthetic, and it’s weird to hear a rapper who had his pick of the wildest Just Blaze beats of the early ‘00s look back on that era in order to rap over tracks like “Without Me” and “Sing For The Moment.”

In March, Free released two duo projects with other Philadelphia MCs, the more high profile being The Roc Boys, and independent album with his mentor Beanie Sigel. Obviously, the title is a bit of a jab in the direction of Jay, who Beans is still pissed at and Free still has no interest in running off at the mouth about. But it lives up to its premise about as much as Wu Massacre, feeling mostly like a short slapped-together collection of alternating solo tracks and maybe a couple actual collabs, including some songs that were released or leaked last year. And really, Beanie’s appearance on the Stimulus Package intro is better than anything he raps on there. The other duo record is the Defense, Offense mixtape by Free Money, which is a group comprised of Freeway and another bald bearded Philly dude, Jakk Frost. And quite frankly, even I am not a big enough Freeway stan to rep for his boring sidekick or listen to the guy’s solo tracks more than once, but the guy isn’t terrible and overall it’s not a bad mixtape.

After I posted my top 30 tracks piece, my friend Robbie, who hadn’t kept up with Free much since the Philadelphia Freeway days, asked me to make him a mix to get him up to speed. I ended up going all over the places with it, obviously weighted more toward the recent run Free’s been on, but also including some tracks from ‘04 and ‘06, a few things from Free At Last (including the awesome outtake “Step Back”), and some stuff from the new 2010 releases in addition to the things that were on my list for last year’s output:

1. “It’s Over”
2. “Never Gonna Change” with Jake One
3. “Errly”
4. “Parade” by Young Gunz featuring Freeway
5. “When I Rap” a.k.a. “Laugh At ‘Em”
6. “Freeway’s Beard”
7. “Cannon (Remix)” by DJ Drama featuring Lil Wayne, Willie The Kid, Freeway and T.I.
8. “Step Back” featuring Lil Wayne
9. “Walk Wit Me” featuring Busta Rhymes and Jadakiss
10. “Rap Spitters”
11. “Bank Rollz”
12. “North Philly”
13. “North Philly’s Finest”
14. “Forgot About J”
15. “Roc-A-Fella Billionaires” featuring Jay-Z
16. “What Would You Do” by Statik Selektah featuring Freeway and Cassidy
17. “Keep Yo Hands Up (Remix)” featuring Sheek Louch
18. “Rep Yo Click” featuring Lil Jon
19. “Attitude”
20. “She Makes Me Feel Alright” with Jake One
21. “Transporter”
22. “Love”
23. “Still Got Love”

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 9:41 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.