Freeway: Free At Last - At Last

Freeway: When They Remember
From: Free At Last [Roc-a-Fella, 2007]

Despite the fact that a large percentage of my listening time is spent checking out new rap releases I generally tend to avoid blogging about them. This is mainly due to the fact that guys like Noz at Cocaine Blunts, Oliver at Soul Sides, and many more are so adept at covering the releases that it seems kinda pointless offering my two cents.

However I just had to put something up about the new Freeway release coming out tomorrow on Def Jam.

Freeway's debut release, Philadelphia Freeway, was an album that, while slowly building appreciation, is still cruelly slept on. Featuring stellar production from the likes of Just Blaze and Kanye it also showcased Freeway as one of the most intense rappers in the game.

Needless to say I was more than a little excited about Freeway's follow up and have only had to wait four years for it to show. However, I am pleased to report that the album doesn't disappoint with Free not showing any signs of growing rusty over the gap.

For me the standout track has to be When They Remember whereby producer Bink (the man behind the monstrous All My Life off Philadelphia Freeway) takes the Gladys Knight & The Pips live version of Try To Remember/The Way We Were and flips it into a blistering hot beat. What makes it extra special though is the way Freeway takes the beat and runs with it - No chorus, no breakdowns, just high energy line after high energy line. God knows how many times I've played this since first hearing it.

The album drops tomorrow and I would advise you not to sleep.

While this year will undoubtedly once again belong to the South and Bay Area with superb releases by UGK, Devin, The Federation and Turf Talk all competing for top five status it has to be noted that Def Jam are coming with a strong fourth quarter what with Freeway, Jay Z, Ghost and, potentially, Nas all dropping albums. It's good to have them back.