Freeway: Philadelphia Freeway 2

Straight out of left field, Freeway stunned us all with the announcement of a third album to be released in early 2009. He simultaneously captured our attention with The Month of Madness, a vigorous release of 32 consecutive songs. Free’s ambitious December 2008 project [of course we followed it, check it out here: Month of Madness] was pure heat and only perpetuated an excitement in the air for Philadelphia Freeway 2.  Acting as a continuation of Freeway’s 2003 album Philadelphia Freeway, PF2, the post- Roc-A-Fella album released on Real Talk Ent, had fans reeking with anticipation.

If December’s Month of Madness had continued any longer, “Finally Free” would’ve undoubtedly been the next released track.  Over a big band sound, loaded with blaring horns, Freeway welcomes himself back into the game. Filled with Free’s ambitious persona circa Philadelphia Freeway and Free at Last, “Finally Free” leads listeners to believe that the rapper is back with a vengeance.  But, the following song, “Gotz 2 Be Tha Bomb,” evidently proves otherwise.  With references to Osama Bin Laden and Sadam Hussein in somewhat positive lights, this un-PC friendly song is as tasteless as the punch lines on the next track.  For a brief moment on the album, the production team – Real Talk Entertainment in-house producers Cosmo, Hollis and Vince V. – come through with the Scarface-themed and opera heavy “Hands Up,” allowing Freeway to break out a nitty gritty performance despite failing to achieve utmost lyrical greatness.  Skip forward on the album, and you’ll find this exact same beat and verses on the ‘remix’ “Keep Yo Hands Up,” which only differs by offering a bittersweet mediocre appearance by Sheek Louch.

Introduced by a thought-provoking interlude, the fiery track “Crack Rap” speaks of Freeway’s first hand experience with drug addiction through his uncle, and pushing the drug himself.  The vivid track draws a string of emotions but is left dry due to the lack of powerful production.  On the flipside, “Around the World” and “It Was a Good Day” ease down the energy on the album and generate clean production.  The former being a fresh produced, piano laced track with an R&B feel, thus, giving Free the opportunity to deliver verses that genuinely compliment the beat.  And although nothing above average, “It Was a Good Day” brings the album full circle as it pays homage to Ice Cube’s song of the same name.

Philadelphia Freeway 2 is a mash-up of contents failing to provide a conceptual and rhythmic flow.  The 13-track album slowly dishevels itself, as four tracks aren’t even songs, leaving the room for error that much smaller.  In addition, while “Keep Yo Hands Up” is recycled, so is most of the album.  There’s nothing wrong with having few collaborations on an album, however, if the artist fails to switch up their roles, tones and flow, the monotony is pragmatic.  Freeway’s deliveries become repetitive and predictable; his rhyme schemes fail to differ throughout the album and his flow sounds unbelievably forced.

Sadly, this forcefulness caused a lot of Free’s verses to sound like one long run-on sentence.  Released off Real Talk Ent, PF2 doesn’t have the A-list producers or production geniuses once worked with on the Roc, but rather an in-house production team that seemingly relies on fixated templates.  The simplistic and monotonous beats don’t provide a big enough platform for versatility, strength or growth.  Overall, PF2 is uninspiring compared to the heat Freeway brought during the Month of Madness and amongst his early career.  After all, he was potentially the second best lyricist on the Roc outside of Hova, wouldn’t you say?  Let’s hope that Jake One can catch Freeway from this great fall called Philadelphia Freeway 2 on the next apparent project, The Stimulus Package.

62/100

“Keep Yo Hands Up”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Crack Music”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“Finally Free”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.