Freeway |
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Mon. February 24.2003 11:37 AM EST |
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Freeway: The Road Less TraveledFierce new MC hangs with Jay-Z, busts outta Philly. by C. Bottomley |
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Freeway (Linda Zacks) |
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Philadelphia-based MC Freeway defines an ideal rapper as someone who makes you feel the "realness behind what they're bringing," and the hip-hop newcomer certainly accomplishes that himself. A Sunni Muslim convert who communicates his tough
As for the reality, few rhymers can boast Freeway's street pedigree. Raised on the City of Brotherly Love's rough side, Leslie Pridgen believed hustling crack was his only way out of a bleak future, and allegedly earned his nickname from the knack he had for escaping the police. The cops finally caught up with him, however, and a stint in the slammer forced him to re-examine his priorities and turn to his talent for spitting diamond-hard lyrics. With his bud Beanie Sigel on his side, Freeway began a courtship with Jay-Z's Roc-a-fella Records. During the long gestation of his Philadelphia Freeway debut, he made his name appearing on tracks by Brandy and Faith Evans; a support slot on Jay-Z's Blueprint II blockbuster moved his name even further. Free's "Roc the Mic" generated some heat of its own when Nelly took the opportunity to blast KRS-One on the remix. So you can take the rapper out of the hood, but that doesn't mean that the streets ain't still hot. The new Philadelphia Freeway is a return to "real hip-hop" says its creator. The disc boasts pass-the-mic street narratives like "What We Do," featuring Jay and Beanie. But there are thunderous rock tributes ("Line Em Up"), and tracks with head-scratching samples ("You Don't Know" snatches a few bars of the Cheers theme). Disco's in the house, too. "Free" and "Alright" place the vivid strings of Philly soul on top of pumping rhythms. We talked to the rising rapper about those tough home-town crowds, working with Jay-Z and the drawbacks of jail time. VH1: Is Philadelphia hip-hop different from that of New York or Los Angeles? Freeway: Philly rappers get into more detail about the stuff that we go through in our lives. Philadelphia music is different because it's more soulful. My parents used to listen to Philly soul. I would come home, and my mom would be cleaning up the house, with her records playing. I used to sit around and listen to it. I guess that stuck with me, because a lot of the tracks that I picked for the album were soulful. And if you can make it in Philly, you can make it anywhere. Ask Kobe Bryant. Ask Ja Rule. When he came here, everyone went boo! Ask Kobe what happened at the game boo! If they ain't feeling you in Philly, they gonna boo and get you out of there. VH1: Were you born into a Sunni Muslim family? Freeway: I converted. My father was a Muslim, but my Mom wasn't. So when I was little I had my father telling me to do one thing, I had my mom telling me to do what my dad said, but my mom's side of the family were like, "Boy, you don't got to do that. You just eat this ham!" When I got old enough to realize what was the right thing, I got on track. VH1: You've got a very unusual rapping voice. Do you get any negative feedback? Freeway: Never. The first time I heard that was when I was trying to get signed. Somebody was like, "I don't know if he can make a whole album. His voice is squeaky." But now, I don't hear that. People love my voice. The same thing they doubted me for, they love me for. VH1: When did you drop your first rhyme? Freeway: I've been rapping since I was about 12. The first rhyme I wrote was corny! It was like, "From east to west my style is def/ I can confess that I'm the best." I might not even have made that up myself, I don't even remember! But that was like the first rhyme we used to run around saying. Then I started getting into the zone and writing raps. VH1: When you were developing your rhyming style, who did you look up to? Freeway: I was pretty open-minded. I never thought I was going to get on with the music. People hustle where I'm from. We had rappers like Fresh Prince. There wasn't anybody from Philly representing what really goes in Philly. Then it started getting cool for people to be rappers, and so now we represent what really go on. VH1: Is your flow something you actively work on? Freeway: It's a gift from god. When I write, I think about what I want to say and I say it. If it can't fit - if I got 20 words that I want to say and if it can't fit in the space that I got it - I got to tweak it and make it fit. That's how I started developing flow patterns. I started trying crazy things and it just started coming out crazy. VH1: You were placed under house arrest after being found with drugs. Was that a wake-up call? Freeway: I was locked up before I was on house arrest. It was crazy. Once I got out of jail and was on house arrest, it gave me time to think. I was like, "Man, I got to do something with my life. I can't go back to the streets." I had just had a son. There was a lot of stuff going on. So I got it together, got with Beanie Sigel, and it was a wrap. I've been moving forward since then. VH1: Did going to jail scare you? Freeway: I knew I had to go. In Philly, when you're found guilty, they give you a date when you've got to turn yourself in. I was prepared for it. It was only six months, so it wasn't really that much. I knew what I had to do, and I went and did it, then came home and was under house arrest and it was over. Don't get me wrong. Jail is no place to be. It's boring. There's no women in there. You can't get no money in there. You can't do nothing! You gotta do what they say. They lock you down four times a day, and let you out certain times of the day. Jail is for suckers. It's no place to be. VH1: You had seen the path Beanie Sigel took. Why hadn't you fully embraced hip-hop by that point? Freeway: I was still messing with music, but I wasn't getting no money for the music. I wasn't signed. Jay-Z and them knew me but they wasn't trying to sign me right then. Beans was still getting his stuff together, and didn't even have an album out yet. So I had to do it. I had to eat. I had to get money, man. VH1: Is there a star quality about Jay-Z? Freeway: Yeah. Definitely. When I first went around Jay, I was like, "That's Jay." Like you feel it. He's always schooling me. There's something to learn from every conversation, so much I can't even tell you. He'll tell me a whole story just to teach me one thing. It's a blessing being around him. VH1: What would you say is the one thing about hip-hop that embarrasses you? Freeway: It's getting back to where it should be. "What We Do" is a real hip-hop song, but they played it on the radio. 50 [Cent] got a couple of real hip-hop songs they played on the radio. A year back they wouldn't play real hip-hop songs on the radio. They would just play R&B hooks with somebody rapping on it. VH1: "Life" and "Turn Out Your Lights" both use rock licks. Are you a rock fan? Freeway: I like rock music a lot. I like Creed and P.O.D. When I'm in the studio, man, I like hot music. If somebody gives me a track and I'm feeling it when they put it on, I start rapping to it. I'm gonna make a song to it whether it's rap music, classical, whatever. If I'm feeling it and can make a crazy flow to it and tell my story, than that's a rap. I just did a rock 'n' roll song with Nikka Costa and Jack White from the White Stripes for Mark Ronson's album. He put this song together and asked me if I wanted to do it. It's called "The Fuzz." The combination is crazy it's like he do that, she do that, and I rap. VH1: Damon Dash has described Roc-a-fella as a family and an army. Does the competition heat up once you enter that kind of organization? Freeway: Definitely. You can't ever let your guard down. If you're an MC, you gotta be the MC. You gotta struggle, you gotta strive, you gotta work hard at whatever you do. If you wash dishes, you gotta wash them dishes good. Whatever you're doing, you gotta work your best at it. We're Roc-a-fella. We're one of the best labels, so of course people want our position. You gotta be on top of your job. |
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