No Jumper - Freeway on The Glory Days of Rocafella, Gillie, Jay Z, Dame Dash, Andrew Tate & More

Episode Date: March 18, 2024

Amazing conversation with Freeway, who shares about his early days, from the streets to the stadiums, his health, how his faith helped with grief, and more. ----- Get the latest news & videos http://nojumper.com CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! https://shop.nojumper.com/ NO JUMPER PATREON   / nojumper   CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5te... Follow us on SNAPCHAT   / 4874336901   Follow us on SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4z4yCTj... iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/n... Follow us on Social Media:   / 4874336901     / nojumper     / nojumper     / nojumper     / nojumper   JOIN THE DISCORD:   / discord   Follow Adam22:   / adam22     / adam22     / adam22   adam22hoe on Snapchat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Jumper coolest podcast in the world and today I got a true legend in the building somebody I spent a large percentage of my life listening to to be totally honest That's what's up man I know that I appreciate that no facts I love the Rockefeller era obviously state property all that shit But then I continued to be a fan all through the the Jake 1 era like 2008 2009 I was definitely riding BMX bikes all over New York That's what's up listening to all that shit the like just so many crazy beats during that era Yeah we just we just finished the stimulus package too we can really drop it this year right so the stimulus package one that was the one that you released track by track like week by week or was that that was a separate release thing what i did i did this

thing called month of madness where i dropped the record every day for 31 days and on the 31st day i dropped two records right you know i always try to push the envelope and do a little more than everybody else yeah i feel like you're the first person to do that back during like the blog era yeah shout out uh actually my brother young chris he inspired me to do it he was like dropping a record a week or something And I was like, I'm going to do a record every day. Right, because you owned the blogs during that time period because you'd be putting out a new record every day. So it was just kind of like nonstop promotion from all these websites I used to check all the time. Yeah, when a rock broke up, you know, at first it really affected me.

But then I told myself the hard work is already done. I'm already famous. So I went back to what got me there in the first place and that's hard work. I just was like dropping mixtapes, independent projects. I dropped month of madness. I dropped stimulus package with Jake 1. I dropped broken ankles with Girl Talk, you know, and a lot of them Jones did a lot for me. Like when I dropped the stimulus package with Jake, we went on tour overseas.

That's the first time I toured overseas. Right. When I dropped in 2000, I dropped the thing with Girl Talk, and I did every festival that year. We did like Coachella, I did Maine America, Boston Callings, all the festivals. And probably a huge percentage of the people out there don't know what Girl Talk was, But it was just one dude, right? Yeah, it's one dude. And it was, like, very sample-oriented, like, dance, hipster-type music at that time.

I don't know if I ever saw him, but I knew a ton of girls that would go see him all the time. And people loved it during that era. And I think you were, like, the first and possibly only rapper to embrace him. Yeah, he's been doing a lot of stuff lately, too, like with, like, big career. I think he did some stuff with Wiz Khalifa. Really? So he's grinding. He's still doing this thing.

That's dope, yeah. Because, I mean, like, during the Rockefeller. era it was like people want to put you in a certain box where you got to be jiggie you got to be like the the super fresh sort of like mainstream like descending from jZ's lineage type of artist but then you proceeded to like after the rock shit fell apart you proceeded to basically like find a ton of different routes towards getting a bag and putting your music in people's faces that's because i really had a passion for the music you know i really this is what i wanted to do when i was little you know when he asked you what you want to be when you grew up I wanted to be a rap star and the airline pilot

and now I'm a rap star fly just as much as the airline pilot right that's facts um okay so yeah like kind of going back to the beginning though like was was the Rockefeller thing ever a weird fit for you or did it just 100% make sense because you had already decided that you were gonna make it as a rapper one way make sense for me because you know I was coming straight from the block and you know you know Jay from the streets he was in the streets heavy beans bleak everybody so I felt like it was a perfect fit but as far as music I just was like a real rapper like you know like I don't even think beans wanted to be a rapper you know he just started doing it I really wanted to be a rapper didn't Jay sign him before he had actually rapped like just based off of his charisma he signed like he just was doing stuff like in the hood

Like he wasn't like making songs and like you know pursuing a rap career He just was hot you know and Jay signed him And was he like mega deep in the streets at that point? Yeah, that was his thing rather than the streets Yeah, yeah And so what was your relationship to Beanie before you guys signed? I met Beans that are a rat battle in Philly It was this place called dances where like people would go

Like it was a legendary battle with uh Tommy Hill from Rams Squad rest in peace he passed away And um cam and like can roasted him down there and it was like a place in Philly where everybody would go like all the young people to party and sometimes you have rap battles there so Beans was like battling a couple people on stage

and I was in the crowd I told him to pull me up he pulled me up and I started battling the people with him and since then we built a rapport and so when the state property ideas started coming down like did that exist before Rockefeller wanted to sign a group out of Philly no that they put it we put state property together. Right.

You know, like, every, like, Chris and E. from Nights Town, Owen Sparks from West Philly, and Petey Crack from my neighborhood. So, you know, they wanted to sign everybody, and then they put us together and made us a group. Because now the story has kind of come out more basically, like, through Gilly and stuff, of basically how at one point Rockefeller wanted to sign major figures. Yeah. And then Gilly basically was kind of, like, offended by the deal. Didn't feel like it was a good deal.

So he takes a step back. And then basically Rockefeller kind of like. has this deal regardless and they decided to put together the the whole state property thing. Yeah, it was basically like that. Yeah. It was basically like that? And was there ever conversations where they basically told you guys that you weren't allowed to be cool with major figures at all or that you were even supposed to diss them and kind of

go out of them? No, like Jay and them real niggas, they would never say nothing like that. Like, you know, it was just like tension from being from the same city and, you know, people knew they did have, people knew they had that opportunity at first. You know, everybody knew that. Because now there's a lot of stories coming out, like, about Jay refusing to play at certain concerts of major figures were going to be on the bill. And, you know, just different stuff in terms of that rivalry that I think a lot of us weren't really, like, aware of, especially because state property was so big. I didn't even know who Major Figures was during this area.

You know, I know now. Major Figures was big in Philly. Right. They were super big in Philly. And as far as that, I never heard none of that. Like, I don't know nothing about that. And me knowing Jay, I don't think he would do nothing that petty. Right.

I don't know, though. I feel like Jay's got a, he's got a petty bone in them, right? I don't know. That's, you know, I don't think nobody going to stop somebody from Ian. Definitely. Okay, but so then the group kind of comes together. And would you say that there was, like, a lot of real chemistry within the group? Or was it kind of like a group that just came together because everybody was nice at rapping?

Because I feel like that's kind of like a shaky foundation to build a group on. Like, was there tension early on? No, it was definitely a lot of chemistry. know we are from the same city and at the time state property like brought the city together like once we came came together and made a group even in the jails like you know before north philly and south philly and fuck with each other but like state property really united the city yeah and it's crazy because even when i talk to younger rappers from philly and stuff when i'm talking to like 19 20 year old dudes they still they still know that there was this very important era even if they maybe

weren't really alive to be appreciated in it. I think that's part of the value of having a group is that the group is able to kind of represent something bigger to the audience rather than just an individual. Yeah, most definitely. It's very important. Right. And like I said, everybody, we represented the whole city. And when we came together, you know, it was just love.

You know, it just clicked. Then we had the movies to go with it and the clothing line. It just made sense, you know? Right. Definitely. And do you think that things would have kept going strong for the group as a whole if the Rockefeller breakup never happened? I definitely think so

We still like you know Last year was my 20 year anniversary So February 25th we had a huge concert In Philadelphia sold it out And it was the first time the whole state property Performed together in years And you know it was dope Then we wound up doing a ruse picnic that year

And March 8th Next Friday is Bean's 25 year anniversary So we're all going to be there performing with him too So that's far You know we're trying to make it happen Yeah definitely I mean I listen to the whole first project again today while I was in the gym.

And it's definitely a classic. It's definitely like stood the test of time. And I noticed that you post about it on Instagram and it feels like you have like a real soft spot for it. Like it's indicative of a very specific era during your career. Yeah, most definitely. Like, you know, it was a very pivotal moment for me in life in general. Like, you know, I went straight from that,

straight from the block to that. Like, you know, you know how now people come on from jail when they got like re-entry programs and it's like things that they want to do maybe like being a carpenter or like whatever it is I feel like when I came on from jail Rockefeller and state property was my reentry program right you know because I literally went straight from house arrest to New York and started recording with Jay and Bees and everything right how long were you locked up that time six months six months yeah yeah what was that for possession would attempt to deliver okay and so you get out of that and but and the situation's already kind of like lined up and waiting for you like Beanie had been communicating how dope you were to them. I had to go to like a halfway house program type thing after I got out of jail. And I had to stay there for 90 days.

And I'll be talking to beans. And he'd be like, yeah, I'm in LA. When you get off house arrest, you're going to be right with me. And then he's like, yeah, I'm in Miami. It's lit down here. As soon as you get done with all that shit, you're going to be right with me. Then I was right with him after that. Right.

And so going from jail, it's like being in the studio with Jay and being around all this rich shit, like what was that like for you emotionally? I mean, it was like, finally, like, I'm getting my shot. Like, you know, this is what I wanted to do my whole life. You know, so it was a blessing, you know, and I was just trying to take full advantage of it. And during those sessions, were you working on state property stuff, or is that, like, the era that One 900 Hustler and all this stuff came out of?

We was doing everything. Like, we would be in there on everybody budget. Like, just me and beans probably do, like, three, four songs a night. State property, we was cutting every day. Like, at that time, like, it could be dipset in one room. Bleak and I'm in another room Jay in one room like baseline it was it was lit in the level of emcees was through the roof so it felt like the competition you had to be on your on your peas and cues when you came in there Right like if you lay some bullshit and they played it in there you would know

Right definitely Were you guys right now at the time or like because obviously now Rappers are way more inclined to just punch in in the booth which is basically like something that Jay kind of like like brought to the table and like going to influence so many people but were you guys writing at that time because went it to that super high high speed fast-paced environment it's like very difficult to sit down and write nothing y'all ever heard from me was written down really it's still like that okay yeah yeah from to be since one 900 hustler before nothing you ever heard me spit was written down and was that influence by jay or that was just how you were i mean i was doing it before that but

definitely was you know once i seen jay do it i'm like all right this is definitely what we when I'm doing the right thing. Wow that's dope. Okay, so 1-900 hustler. I started doing it because my handwriting was so sloppy. Like I was like, I'm left-handed in my handwriting sloppy. So I were write wraps and then can't even read the shit half the time. So I had to memorize it. Really? The phone kind of changes that a little bit, right? Yeah, yeah. Another thing I do is voice notes. Like I got hits in my voice notes. Really? Just like I leave here and be riding in the car and then come up with something my lid, put it in my voice notes. And then when it comes time, to record you'll just kind of listen to it and use that to influence it interesting um i might

drop a voice note project one day really yeah that's a good idea um but so once you start so when i heard hustler in particular like that kind of anyone who didn't know you that was a massive introduction like was there a real conversation about what you were going to do with that song in terms of the theme and everything or how did that come together i mean they already had the theme and everything together and I was in the studio and I think originally beans were supposed to do the verse but he was like let free do it so I'm like damn this is my this is my shot so I got the verse together and I laid the verse I remember right before I laid the verse jay had brought the chicken to play the violin before the my verse and he was like I'm a set you out right this your introduction to the

world so that's why he put the music right before so it was like an introduction and then I come in first things first watch what you say out your mouth you know know and after one 900 hustler the rest is history right like I remember I did my first show in Queens and it was still like around the beef the middle of the beef and I had one 900 hustler and I had like a couple freestyles they paid me 1500 we strapped up we went up to their join we did the show and I didn't stop doing show sense really that must have been crazy because at that time like being put on a project like that and having an introduction like that and especially just having such a unique vocal tone.

Yeah. You just stood out so much. It was like anybody who was a Jay-Z fan instantaneously knew all about Freeway, right? Yeah, yeah. It was definitely a blessing that, you know, precedes to this day. Right. Definitely. I remember there being like a conversation around that time of like, yeah, Freeway,

he sounded cool doing the Cassidy battle and shit like that, but people aren't going to want to listen to it for a whole project. Yeah, it was talks like that at the label. Like people were saying that. exactly what you said. They was like, well, I don't know if,

you know, people would listen to a whole album of his voice and might get annoying. But, you know, it's one of the things people love me for. Definitely.

Yeah, I remember hearing that argument. I forget if it was in source or something, like it might have been a letter somebody wrote in or it might have been something that was mentioned

in an article. And I remember at that time, I was super excited for your first project. So I remember being kind of like, oh, wow, like people aren't, people are,

at least, weighing the possibility that this dude's flow might not translate into an entire album. But did you go into making that album with that as a little bit of a consideration of like, oh, people are expecting me to not be able to handle this opportunity? Like, I was super hype. Like, you know, they say you'd wait your whole life to make your first album, you know? So I would just put them all into it. I was in the studio every day.

Like, you know, I would fucking go to New York with change your drawers in the toothbrush and just be in baseline days in a row, you know. Definitely. And so to me, like one of the greatest rap songs of all time is even though what we do is wrong. Like that's just always stood with me. And if I were to kind of break down why I think that's the case, it's kind of like you're the perfect person to have been so pivotal to that song because I feel like throughout your rap career lyrically, you've always kind of acknowledged that whether it was rapping about

things that are maybe not necessarily in line with your faith or. talking about selling drugs, you've always, like, talked about what you were doing, but then also we're talking about the consequences of it and how you were somewhat conflicted about doing it. And that song is kind of like the perfect representation of that, of being a rapper or a drug dealer or whatever who's doing that thing, but then you also know that this isn't necessarily the right way to be living. Most definitely.

You know, because that's my reality and not only my reality, but a bunch of people from Philly, you know, at the time. Like, you know, my whole neighborhood, you know, a lot of us was in the streets living that life, but we know we shouldn't be doing it. You know, we're Muslim, we know it's a certain way that we're supposed to be living. And, you know, it's a consequence for that. And so when did you get serious about Islam? I was, it's crazy because I probably took my shahadahed when I was like 13. Okay.

And, you know, I've been serious about Islam the whole time. You know, there was a point where I didn't even smoke and I would like go on a block and they'd be smoking. And I'm like, what y'all doing? Why y'all know we got to June or Friday? And, like, you know, I was dadball. Like, you know, but, you know, as time progressing, me being in the streets, I started doing everything that everybody else was doing. I started selling drugs, start smoking weed,

start going to just going to June more on Friday. You know, I fell into the trap that the hood traps you went, you know. So as I got older, you know, even, you know, once I gained fame, I still, you know, offer my salots and try my best. to take Islam serious. But, you know, where I'm at in life right now, Islam is very serious. You know, I had a lot of, you know, tragedies in my life.

I was on dialysis from September 15th, 2015, to February 5th, 2019, where I received my gift of life. I got my new kidney. In 2020, my son passed away. My daughter was diagnosed with cancer in September of 2020. My son died October of 2020. My daughter died in October of 2021 from that cancer. then my dad died, you know, November of 2022.

So you're just getting hammered left and right with some of the worst things you could possibly deal with in life? One of those things that completely crush a person, you know. But my faith in Islam is like the main thing that got me through. You know, I know God's not going to put nothing on me that I can't handle, and that's how I've been carrying it, you know. But this is why I take my religion very serious now Because, you know, after you have some depths in your family and tragedy that's real close to you, you know, it really affects you.

No, definitely. And, I mean, I mean, yeah, when I was reading about all the stuff that you've been through for the past few years, it was brutal. You know, like, just to imagine somebody who's got such a good heart having to go through so many of these things. Even like when I'm hearing you talk about your daughter, you know that put a smile on my face, man, because my daughter was my best friend. Like, you know, when my son passed away, my daughter was my support system, you know, even through battling cancer, you know, so cherish the moments with your daughter, man. And how do you, I appreciate that? How do you make sense of having to deal with such tragedies? Like, do you look at it as a series of obstacles that God puts in front of you that are to test you?

Or is this just pure luck that some people have to deal with losing a child young? There's no such thing as luck. You know, the pen has been lifted and the ink has been, the ink is dried. Everything that happens is what God plant for us to happen. You know, one thing that gives me solace in losing my children, our prophet, Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, he lost six of his children, you know. And when I think about losing my children, I think of him. And, you know, the way that he had to deal with losing his children and how he carried it, you know, with grace.

and that really helps me get through, you know. And like I told you before, I know God's not going to put nothing on me that I can't handle. And these things, when we go through these things and we go through these tragedies, they're designed to bring us closer to God,

you know, and that's what they do for me. Right. And you being closer to God, does that usually entail, like, observing more of the restrictions or, like, the things that are in place? Like, do you feel like those,

would you be a more serious, religious person if you did, you know, leave smoking alone or if you... Yeah, most definitely. Right. So you consider all of those to basically be like steps towards making yourself a more pure person and getting closer to your Lord. Definitely. You know, the more that you do, the, the higher your faith is, the higher your

amen is the better person you are. Like the only thing that makes me different from you or me better than you is our faith in God. You know, money. none of that stuff don't matter. You know, our faith in God and how close we are to God is what makes us better people. So if you were dead broke, but you felt like your relationship with God was strong, then that would be satisfactory to you in terms of living your life?

I mean, definitely you got to trust in the law, but you got to tie it came up at the same time. Like, I don't mean sit around, just have faith in God and just sit around and expect miracles to happen and expect things to fall in your lap. you got to work towards taking care of yourself, but the best of us are the ones that has a close connection with God and has faith and God. Interesting, okay.

So there's always this like stereotype of like all the dudes or all the rappers in Philly have big ass beards and they're Muslim. Like was that just a big movement in the community when you were young? Because you didn't grow up with the faith, right? Yeah, I took Shahada when I was like 12 or 13. And it was just like a lot of like groups in the community

that were kind of spreading the word and stuff? Yeah, I mean, in Philadelphia, it's a large Islamic community. I had a homie that I grew up with, his name was Dante, and he was Muslim. And, you know, Islam always interested me. Like, when I grew up, my mom was Christian, my dad was in this thing called the Nation of a Kibbalan, which was like an African-based religion, and they, like, was doing all this crazy stuff. They had, like, a guy in there, and they said he was a prophet, and we know there's no more prophets after the Prophet Muhammad Beas to be upon him. So I grew up in a household with conflicting religion, so I always thought about religion.

And when I started studying religion, Islam just made sense to me. Like, you know, everything made sense. You know, it was like nothing, no question that couldn't get answered for me, you know. And as I started studying, I realized that this is the religion for me and for all of us. Definitely. Do you consider it an important part of your faith to like spread that to more people? in terms of like, you know, just youths that you know? Yeah, most definitely.

Like a Muslim's job is to remind you of God, you know, so a lot of instances and a lot of occasions I would bump into people and they would tell me I remind them, I make them think of God or I remind them a God or an instance that we had together brought them closer to God. So when I have situations like that, it makes me feel like I'm doing my job as a Muslim. Because I saw Vlad point out to you that, you know, a lot of Muslims consider music itself to be kind of haram. And is that like a battle within you in terms of like this is, you love God, but you also love hip hop and this is kind of like what you've built your whole career off of. Is it a battle inside of you?

Or do you feel like you would be a little bit closer to where you want to be at if you did eventually end up leaving the music alone? Or do you just love it too much? You know, of course, I want to get to a point. where I'm not doing music anymore. Like, you know, and, you know, God willing God, give me the time to do that, but I shouldn't be doing music. Like, you know, it's a difference of opinion between a lot of Islamic groups,

but I believe wholeheartedly that I really shouldn't be doing it, you know, because I could be doing better things with my time. As far as me, I could be studying and, you know, doing things to bring me closer to God while I'm spending time making music. And for the listener, it could be doing things to bring them closer to God instead of listening to my music. music, you know, so.

Is hip hop the appropriate vehicle by which to convert people or teach them about the faith? Because, like, you do speak about your faith in music, but you also, it's not exactly like the overwhelming topic that you talk about. No, I'm not going to sit here and say hip hop is the, is the vehicle to convert people to Islam by any means. You know, I'm just living my life and I'm just telling my story, you know, when things that I go through things that I talk about, I reflect real life. I reflect things that I actually been through. And me being Muslim, it comes out in my music. I mean, I feel like as rap fans,

we all know what it's like to listen to some rap music that is a little bit too heavy-handed in terms of trying to moralize or like, you know, put a message into you. Like, I remember I used to go to this boxing gym. And I, you know, after listening to Christian rap for a couple months in a row. I was just kind of over it. I was just like waking up at 7 in the morning and having to listen to dudes rap about Jesus. It's just not, for me, as a non-believer, it's just not really doing it for me. And I feel like you could easily put out an album tomorrow that's like,

Freeway teaches you how to be a good Muslim for 45 minutes. But is that, I mean, you could also probably imagine that would alienate a bunch of your fans, right? Yeah, and then it wouldn't be reality. You know what I'm saying? like I'm trying my best you know but I'm still you know I'm still in music like it's still things that I do that I shouldn't be doing you know so I'm just giving people my reality I feel like there's been a few high profile conversions namely Andrew Tate who it seemed like I don't know how much you follow that but like kind of at the height of his fame and his controversies and

whatnot he decided to convert like how does that come across to you as somebody who's been doing this for a long time to see somebody sort of abruptly become part of the faith. And a lot of people's opinion, maybe kind of using it to possibly like circumvent some controversy. I mean, being Muslim, I think it's beautiful when anybody takes shahada, you know, because we, like, I can't make nobody Muslim. You can't make nobody Muslim. Only God makes Muslims, you know.

So anytime someone takes shahada, I think it's a beautiful thing. in the state of the world and the things that's going on, people are coming closer to Islam. Like, I'll get you a perfect example. You know, they launched the James Webb Telescope at the, what was it, the beginning of 2023? And then they're showing all these images and all these things in space that people never seen before.

And, like, they, at one point, they didn't think that the universe multiplied every second. They thought that it just was what it was. But in Islam and in the Quran, they tell us that the universe multiplies every second. And so a lot of scientists seen seen this information and a bunch of scientists took shahad after that. You know, in Islam, you know, they say seek throughout the world and you're going to find things and everything that you find is going to bring you back to God and show you that

God exists. So that's what's going on a lot now, you know, so I think it's a beautiful thing. So you don't see religion and science as being at odds? No, I mean, when you, it's, we're seeing examples of it right. now coming together, you know, because a lot of things that they talk about in the Quran, scientists are just finding out and they're realizing, you know, that this is true. Definitely. I feel like a lot of religious people kind of consider science almost like an enemy of their faith

at a certain point, like in particular Christians who like they start with their faith in the Bible and believe that the earth is only so many years old. And then that leads to them basically having to reject dinosaurs and say that like, well, this never happened because there's no way. like if I take the Bible literally to be able to believe in this at the same time. Have you ever ran into that sort of conflict? See, in Islam, they challenged us and they challenge the people to seek and study and learn. And everything that you find is going to bring you back to Allah and back to showing you that the Quran is real and Islam is real.

And we're having examples of that all the time, just like I just told you with the James Webb Teleschool. Interesting. Okay. Just to take it back to hip hop, when I went to my first ever rap, battle a couple of years ago at a Drake's birthday party in Long Beach at the end of it it was announced that Freeway and Cassidy were gonna do another battle yeah yeah and then it never happened where where are you at on that I mean it was supposed to happen you know shout out the URL shout out the smack and shout out to Cassidy we came together you know we was moving forward on making it happen but it

didn't happen you know so that's where I'm at with it right now it didn't happen Was that your choice? It was a money thing? I mean, I don't know exactly what went on. I talked to smack about it one time, and he just was like, you know, thanks for being patient with me. But we really didn't have a conversation about moving forward yet, but that's my nigga. So, you know. That's a shame.

I feel like that's probably like one of the biggest battles that could possibly happen. Yeah, yeah. Would you, is that something that would excite you at this point? Is actually like taking time to really write about this? I was excited about it at that time at that moment. I was excited about that. But since then, you know, so much has happened since then. And, you know, I've been focused on putting this music out.

Like I told you, we're about to drop the stimulus package too, which is incredible. Just shot the first video with Jada Kiss. We got ready to drop that prior in a couple weeks. I did a rock and roll project with Dame Dash. I've been, you know, I've just been really locking in with the music. I could get excited about it again, but, you know, we would have to get me excited about it again. Right. But are you the type of person who would take it so serious that you would take it?

you know weeks or months to like really meditate on how you're gonna rip this dude apart then I know you don't have really much of animosity towards them you guys are cool right we straight yeah my bro like yeah we um but to be a battle rapper we just was together probably a couple months ago to be a battle rapper you got a really like channel your creativity to like how you're gonna make this guy look inferior on stage which is pretty wild mental place to get into right I would definitely have to focus on it and, you know, get it to where I need to be, you know. But it's definitely something still there because, you know, it was years and years of me having to hear that he murdered me, you know, so, you know, but as a battle rapper, you can get there when you motivated to get there. Do you disagree with the way that a lot of people ended up summarizing that radio battle back in the day?

Do you think that you held your own more than people give you credit for? I feel like that's the same night that we did the Hot 9-7. when we all went up on Hot 97 with Funk Flex and killed it. Right. So when I got there, I was really, I really shot my load on Hot 97. You know, I wasn't expecting to have to battle somebody after that,

which is no excuse because as a rapper, you supposed to be prepared for every moment. So when I got there at the battle, I was trying not to spit anything that I spit on the radio. And, you know, it was, you know, it was a lot that went into that night. But I definitely, you know, feel like I got the victory that night.

Yeah, I mean, when you think, think about that moment, that is a situation that I feel like we'll probably never see again in rap. Because if you have an artist and you've invested six figures into developing their career, the idea of like taking them into

the radio station and putting them head to head against another rapper who's in a similar situation being built up by a label and whatnot, you're taking such a gigantic risk. Yeah, most definitely. And nowadays you just don't really see rappers. Yeah, we'll never see that. Like, we see

battle rap from people like that's what they do that's what they do that's their career is they battle rap but we'll never see see how it was with me and cast like two artists that's on to come up going head to head like we'll never see that again yeah it's almost like the the end of a certain energy in hip-hop where people just kind of realize that it's not worth the risk of having your artist potentially yeah because that really that really could have if i wasn't such a strong artist and if my music didn't connect the people's hearts the way it do that really could have damaged my career, you know, because people still talk about it to this day.

Right. You had to really show and prove after that. And the fact that your album was so well received and everything helped to kind of get you past that narrative, but it definitely was like a moment in time where... Most definitely. But I'm a person, too, where I'll take the takeover over ether any day. Yeah, I'll give it.

And, you know, I was saying before how everything comes back to Islam. So my point on that is, like, throughout life and throughout my whole career, God never let me feel like I'm too much or I'm better than anybody else. Like, it was ever a situation where I started feeling myself, God would do something to humble me. And I feel like that's a perfect example. And things like that keep me boundless throughout life.

Right. No, that was a major night for me. Like, I murdered Hot 9-7 and everybody was something about how freeway kill Hot 9-7. And I was like, and then I got humbled after that. Like, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, that's a perfect example of how. you know you got to like really be humble and you got to really like really take a perfect perfect like it's just a humbling moment and like when you when you understand and you bring it back to

religion then you really understand what's going on out here it feels like all of the moments in my life in which my ego has gotten the most inflated that there's always something waiting there to just smack me down and be like, nah, it's not going to be, it's not going to be all smooth sailing from here. Most definitely. And when you keep that in mind throughout and you're moving through our life,

and it make you a better person, you know. Definitely. There's no, there's nothing good to come from getting to the point where you think that you're better than everybody. Most definitely. And as a rapper, that's kind of like right there in front of you as a temptation

the whole time because as a rapper, there's so many people waiting to basically just line up to just, basically take abuse from you, be treated any possible which way, do whatever you want them to do, but then at a certain point, as your career starts to slow down

or you start to get a little bit of a reality check, a lot of times those people aren't there. And meanwhile, you hear people constantly talking about anyone who really comes off as like a sincere, genuine person. As soon as you start talking about them, like, you know,

even somebody like you, I guarantee if I were to have a conversation with almost anyone who knows you, it's probably going to be a conversation about freeway, very down-to-earth, cool, humble dude. People really appreciate that, even though you are someone who's due to your status,

you could kind of get away with being a dick to people. But in the long run, nobody really wants to be around that kind of energy. Yeah, most definitely. And at the end of it, I'm pretty sure everybody in his room want to go to heaven at the end of the day. And it's better to be a good person.

You know, that's going to get you there quicker than being an asshole and shitting on people all the time. Definitely. Even the toughest gangster, I'm pretty sure they don't want to go to hell. Right. Definitely. One thing that I always appreciated about you too is that in the wake of the state property, Rockefeller fallout, some people took it as an opportunity.

As the years went by, they got frustrated and they started to disjay or, you know, speak in unkind ways about the opportunity that they were given and stuff. and I noticed that you never gave into that. You always remained thankful for the opportunity, even if maybe, you know, many years down the road, you weren't necessarily still in as much communication or whatever. Like, what made you never want to be disrespectful? Man, beans and J, in Dane and Biggs changed my life.

Like, you know, through them, I'm still getting money to this day, a lot of money. Like, you know what I'm saying? Home Duty Law. through the grace of God. So I was never mad at nobody. You know, when a breakup happened, like I told you, I just did what I did to get there and that's work hard, you know. And I feel like the relationship that Bees and Jihad was deeper than a relationship

to me and Jihad. Like me and Jihad have a relationship and we still do to this day. You know, that's the big homie. So he might have felt a deeper way than I did. Like, you know, but when it happened, you know, I was like, cool. We still cool. I'm going to try my best to get it out here. You know, in 2018, I got an opportunity to work with Jay again.

I put out a project called Think Free Through Rock Nation, which was a blessing because they told us Jay could never sign nobody back from the old rock. And he signed me back, gave me another opportunity, which was a blessing. So I still got a lot of love and respect for it. And how did that conversation about doing another project over there even coming about? Like I said, I kept a great relationship with Jay. and like I would send them music and you know um we probably would have did it sooner but I had a couple independent projects and and opportunities that I had to fulfill and as soon as I fulfilled

the obligations I reached out to him like look big homie I'm ready and he was like there's nothing let's get it done and we got it done at the time I was still on dialysis you know I feel like think free was a great project but you know I was still on dialysis at the time and like it was like a pivotal moment at Rock Nation like they was like changing staff and everything so I don't think the album got the attention that it needed because I couldn't push on my end because I was still doing dialysis

three times a week and Was that draining your energy levels? Yeah most definitely like being on dialysis is three times a week four hours a day like that's one of the reasons why I'm out here this weekend I'm working with a company called One Legacy which is an organ procurement

company you know and I was here on a New York years and I was a part of the rose parade where I rode on the roared on the float for being a kidney recipient and my son when he passed away he saved four lives you know two people uh got his kidneys one person got his liver and one person got his lungs so wow he was a hero even in past and then they honored us I rode on the float and my a picture of my son was behind me on the floor riding through the streets and it was like a surreal moment for me wow And I'm out here working with them.

And we're doing a few programs to raise awareness about kidney health. This is kidney month. So this is the first day, March 1st is the first day of national kidney month. You know, so we're just trying to spread the awareness. Wow. So that's one of the main reasons why I'm out here. No, that's amazing. When you look back at like how you even ended up in that situation where you needed another kidney,

were you living in an unhealthy manner? Was it like the food and the drinks and stuff? Most definitely. I'm living a life that most rappers live. Like, you know, always in the studio, two, three in the morning, eating whatever you want to eat, doing a bunch of shows traveling the world, eating whatever you want to eat. After the club, you know, we got the club two, three in the morning. You ordering food.

You might go to a diner. Like, you know, you're still up, partying. Like, all those things took a toll on my body. And the crazy thing is, I remember, like, when we'd be on tour with Jay and Dame, Jay would be, like, eat, like, baked crab cakes and bake wings, and he'd be going to the gym in the mornings. He was like, I'm telling y'all, y'all better take care of y'allself. But we're so young and we just accustomed to that lifestyle. Like, I'm from the hood where I had to grind and get everything,

and it took a minute to get it, and I had to save it, and I had to stack it, and just go from that to making millions of dollars. Like, you just rind around living life doing whatever you want to do, and those things took a toll on my body. Right. You know, I had kidney failure from high blood pressure and diabetes, which are two of the risk factors for kidney failure. being African-American is another risk factor for kidney failure.

So if you're African-American, soon as you born, you have a risk factor for kidney failure. Hey, I've seen a bunch of my friends deal with diabetes and having all kinds of heart issues and stuff. Like, people who are pretty young, but who just, like, abuse alcohol to a crazy extent, especially. Like, all those things can take a tool on your body. Yeah, definitely.

And I never was like, I never did lean or pills or any of that. And I didn't, at one point, I did drink a lot. Like at one point I felt like I had to drink before I did a show, and that probably was for like a year straight. Right. But besides that, I never been like a real heavy drinking bull or a real heavy pill. I never really did like pills or lean.

So it came from like just obsessive food and just I was a greedy bull, like eating two, three cheese steaks and like stuff like that, you know. Yeah, because I mean when it comes to the lean and stuff, when I talk to people who are real into that, like young dudes, I'm like, I want to sit you down and show you some interviews from Boosie Beanie Siegel and Ben Baller, like all these dudes throughout rap history who've basically like dealt with some of the gnarliest health issues as a result of putting that shit in their body

over and over and over. And I understand that to a lot of people, you know, if I was sitting here having this conversation with Paul Wall, Paul Wall going to tell you it's part of the culture. And you need to be moderate with it if you are going to fuck with it. But I mean, that's like the number one thing that, young dudes just love it they go for it but it's so obvious there's so many great examples of people who had their lives trashed by it i never really fuck with lean i don't even want to say this

but the only time i drunk lean is when i may rock the mic really yeah but i don't besides that i ain't never really get into it i'm humdly lie i didn't never get caught up in it there was just so much lean in the studio that you just went for it yeah it was just there like we was in miami like that's when they had like the real purple weed like when you could see it and it's purple and that was purple the lien was purple. It was just a moment. I mean, to be fair, like Beanie Siegel was talking about Lean when nobody

up in the East Coast was talking about it, I felt like. The lien was heavy in Philly. Right. You know, we had a whole J Street. Like, everybody would go all through the city, go down there to get Lean. So it was something from like late 80s, early 90s that was in Philly.

Like, you know, something's been around for a minute. But when I'm listening to them too, when I'm listening to your old music over the past couple of days there's a lot of like pills being referenced too that didn't really become super fashionable in hip-hop until many years later like I feel like he was somebody that was kind of ahead of the time for better or for worse on that yeah beans from south philly so you know he was like always in a mix of the young age mm okay you could you can tell me or you can not tell me but I just I got to ask there's an epic story that birdman ended up

telling about a situation going down between Beanie and Gilly outside of a clothing store in Philly back in the day. Were you around for this story? I wasn't there. I heard about the story, but I wasn't there at that time. Okay. And did you have any kind of relationship with Birdman? Yeah, me and Birdman, cool. That's the big

homie. Definitely. I mean, the story sounded kind of crazy. He's basically saying that Beanie punched out Gilly. Was Beanie really like that type of dude that like if somebody said anything disrespectful to him, he would just handle it? Beans is crazy, yeah. He got so many, like one day

We were on South Beach and like you like when you were being just be prepared to fight because he's going to do something and you got to help because you're there really like we was on South Beach and like it was this big husky bull and he kept like walking behind us and like he was like this is like when we was beefing with jaded kissing them and he kept blowing kisses at Mac like mhm-h-h-h-h-h-haw like walking behind us like you know them niggas on south beach be like big husky bull he kept doing that man mac turned around and clear boy he had him face down ass up. He was like face down before anybody could do anything.

Like, and Matt got a bunch of instances like that, like a bunch of that type of shit. It just wasn't to be played with. Yeah. But is it kind of amazing for you to see Gilly becoming so successful doing the podcasting thing? No, Gil, that's my brother. Like, I love Gil.

Like, me and Gil got a great relationship, and I'm super happy for him because he always been 100, you know, throughout everything, ups and downs, you know what I'm saying? So I really feel like him Willow deserve everything they got. Yeah, it's pretty just unbelievable. As far as that story, I wasn't dear.

You know, every time I taught the Gil, Gil say he slipped it. I never heard Mac. Mac never told me that he connected on him, so I can't really like, you know, can't really speak on if it connected or not. Right. But like I heard Gil say he slipped it a bunch of times, like, you know what I'm saying?

I don't even like to acknowledge this story because to me, like, you know, I'm not from Philly, but I'm proud of the fact that Gilly ended up getting it as a podcast. Yeah, for sure. 20 years after his arc as a rapper and everything. Most definitely. That's just amazing.

Yeah, that's amazing, you know, because they, in Philly, like, they waiting for you. They waiting to count you out, man. It's sad, man. You know, like, it's a lot of love in Philly, but at the same time, they're waiting to count you out, you know, so to see my brother be able to take it to the level where him and Wallow took it at and still climbing is a blessing, man. Do you guys ever have a conversation because he's going through a similar tragedy losing his son last year? Yeah, most definitely.

I was there. It's so crazy because I was watching a movie premiere. And I live like outside the city. So I was watching a movie premiere. And right after the movie premiere, I got in a car. And I could have like got on an expressway to go home. I could have rode through the city. I chose to ride through the city.

So I'm riding down Broad Street. and I get a call from Wildo, and he's like, yo, they just killed cheese. And I was, like, five minutes away from the hospital. Like, I pulled up, like, I know they was like, damn, how the fuck you get here to quit this quick? Yeah, but, you know, being as though I've been through what my brother had to go through,

I definitely was there in this corner, you know, throughout the whole thing. It's just like one of the worst scenarios in life to have a father have to deal with that. Yeah, I went on wish that on my worst enemy, man. Like, it's something you would never think, what happened to you in a million years and I had to bury my children both of them. I had to do it twice.

You know, it's something that really make you look at life and, you know, want to put life in perspective. Could you see yourself having more kids or did that kind of close the door on that part of your life? No, no. I'm like, you know, I'm in a good space right now. you're in a relationship I'm in a good space I'm in a good space right now God is blessing me

you know after you like in Islam they say with every difficulty comes ease you know and I've been through some difficult things and I'm in a good space right now sometimes sometimes God will bless you and you won't even expect it

or you won't like you know it might be a blessing going on the whole time and you don't even think it's a blessing and then it turns out to be a blessing. Definitely. How much time do you spend paying attention to what's going on in the Middle East with Israel and Palestine and all this? I'm definitely tuned in. You know, I definitely, you know, pray a lot for my brothers and sisters over there because, you know, what they're going through right now is it's beyond a tragedy. You know, like I told you, I buried two of my children. Right.

to see them every day being bombed and being killed and having to bury their children, it's a tragedy. But you know, the one good thing about it is all those people are martyrs. You know, they're going straight to heaven, you know, so that's the one good thing out of it. I've heard some people try to put it on rappers

on both sides, really, to say, you should be more vocal about this, you should speak up about this. Does it seem like that's an important use of your platform in terms of your social media or whatever to speak out on that kind of stuff? I mean, most definitely. You know, and I have spoke on it, you know, on my platform. I've been to several rallies, you know, but it's definitely important to be vocal about it. But the most important thing is to pray for them and offer sincere do I for them.

You know, and if it's a person that you're seeing not being vocal about it, you can't really. judge them because you don't know what they're doing like they could be up all night praying for them and making do-out for them you know what I'm saying so it's also like one of the most incendiary topics to get involved in so I can understand why people don't necessarily want to get involved especially if maybe they're not super educated because I've seen a lot of people jump into it and then immediately get slammed by the other side and then it immediately becomes obvious that maybe they didn't understand this topic as well as they thought that they did. That's why it's very important to have my understanding too.

Maybe some people are not speaking on it because they don't have a full understanding of what's going on. Right. And it's like now they expect everybody to be a politician. Like everybody has to be super educated about everything going on in the world. And I respect people who are kind of like, you know what, maybe this isn't necessarily my area, expertise. And I can learn. And maybe I'll be able to speak on it at some point.

but it's not very flattering to be speaking out about something without necessarily being well-versed in it. Yeah, and the best thing for, like, the best thing you can do for a person is sincere prayer. Like, really pray for them sincerely from your heart and ask God to help change their situation. That's the best thing you can do for them and for yourself. Definitely.

One era of Freeway's musical journey that I was a big fan of, too, is when you had the, I don't know if you noticed me, saying it out there, but the beards in the building era. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Shout out to my bro, Jack Frost. Jack Frost, who I used to talk to on MySpace, like, every day for a period of time. Frost's going to be. He's going to be heavy.

I used to be hitting him up all the time, and I loved the energy that you guys had going at that time. What brought you guys together during that, like, 2006, I'm guessing, era? I knew Frost since he was a big tab. Like, you know, like I told you, I'm from the era where I was trying to be a rapper But since I was little in Philly and Frost was around, like, you know, when he had a deal before a lot of people had a deal. Like, he had a song with the youngsters. He was like on the youngsters, which is another big group from Philly back in the day.

He was like on one of the eight remixes or something. And like, you know, he had a lot of notoriety in the city for that. And when I was trying to get on, he embraced me. It was like having me in the studio and stuff. Like a big brother kind of, like, you know. Definitely. And there was a lot of like beards in the building merch going around at that time and stuff like that. That was the epic era

Frost crazy with them beers in the building shirts Oh yeah Yeah that was That was the move for a while there Yeah yeah So you mentioned that you did a whole Rock project with Dame

How did that end up coming together And what's your relationship with him these days? And me and Dame good Shout out the OSG Which is all school grounds It consists of two to three hundred principals and educators That look like me

You know, and they brought us together. They do a call every Thursday where they try to come up with better ways to educate the children. You know, they like the cool principles and, like, showing children that's, you don't just have to be like a basketball player or a rap star to get money. You can actually be an educator or have education and get money, you know, and Dan was already fucking with them. I got introduced to them. they had a conference which they're having again this year. I think it's the 22nd and 23rd of March at Columbia University, but we did it last year and they had me and Dame together

and they awarded me with an OSG jacket and I performed rock the mic and Dane was up there and he started dancing and doing the dance. So it was like old times and we connected through that. And, you know, Dane was always asking me to come fuck with him and make some music. So he got American New Studios and he got his own network, American New Network.

So I went down there and we did the project in like five days. Right. And was it a challenge at all for you to get on those types of beats? Or were you just rocking with a live band? Yeah, yep. They would start playing and I would come up with the concept. Dame would come up with something. We put it together.

We recorded everything. So while we was coming up with it, we was recording. And then I would go back and probably put a verse here, verse there. And then we had the whole project. Right. You prefer that or would you prefer to just like get on beats from producers that you already have relationships with? I'm cool with either way.

It depends on what mood I'm in. Like they're both, like, you know, of course, just getting beats from producers is what I do best. That's what I do. But that's actually fun. Like doing the way me and Dane did it, pause. It was fun. Definitely.

No laughing over there. No laughing at the pause. But I feel like there's very few people who have been able to, like, stay on good terms with Jay and Dame. It's like kind of rare to be able to do that tight road, tight rope walk. Yeah, I mean,

I hope I'm still cool with everybody. Yeah, but you know, I'm me. And like, you know, everybody know, like I don't got no,

no malice and no bad intentions for nobody. Like, you know, Jay and Dane both did a lot for me at the same time. So I'm not really picking size.

They both my brothers. Do you think they'll ever end up patching it up? I don't know. Like, I did at one point, but I don't know. Like,

I hope so. Yeah. But now that's like, they're even more apart from each other in terms of where they're at in their lives. I definitely feel like it would be big for hip-hop and everything, but, you know, I don't really know what's in their hearts. You know, I don't know the whole story or what might have took place that I don't know. So, you know, I would just wish and hope they could come together.

But I'm still straight with everybody. Still got love for everybody. Definitely. What was your relationship like with Kanye back in the day? Kanye, that's my bro, man. I mean, you see, I was on his first office. album yeah like I was like one of the only I think I was the only artist from the rock that was on his first album and um he was on my first album he would like bring me to like like super bowl parties and

stuff and let me perform with him I did the day chapel shit with him like yeah me and you're straight definitely have you have you stayed in communication at all over the years no I don't really talk to him I seen him a couple times every time I seen him it was all love but I'm not in like constant communication with him definitely do you see this sort of like spiritual journey that he's on out in public? Like, how do you feel about that taking place? Man, I just wish him the best, man. You know, I know, uh, every time I dealt with him,

he was a sincere good dude, like, you know, with a good heart. So, you know, I just wishing the best, man. You know, I know he's been through a lot, you know, just losing your mom in general. Like, you know, I lost my dad from dementia in 2022. Really affected me a lot. Like, you know, and, you know, just because you got a bunch of money, don't mean that you don't have challenges like everybody else, you know?

So I just just pray for him and wish him the best. Right, definitely, yeah. Losing your father to dementia, like that must have been rough. Like was there a dark period towards the end in terms of just him not being who he was prior? Yeah, it was rough, man. And like, we all live together. Like, you know, my daughter, my son and my dad live with me. It was me and my dad, my daughter, my son,

and my little cousin was there helping with my dad. So it was rough. Like, you know, at one point my dad didn't even remember me. I'd be in the room for him and he would ask me for me. And it was rough for me, but it was rough for me thinking how he's feeling because that got to be lonely. Like, you know what I mean? Like, you asking the one person that you know is here for you

and loving you unconditionally, you're asking for them and they're right there with you. So, like, I would think about that a lot. Like, I know he's probably, like, in a lonely space. And then he would be, like, I'd be helping him get dressed. And he'd be like, man, I'm all fucked up. And, like, man, I hate being like this. And, like, here and there would say, like, little stuff like that.

And that shit really would, like, hurt me. Like, I just would tell him, like, I'm here with you and I love you. And you did a great job. You know what I'm saying? So it's just got to be so brutal because, you know, you're a kid. And this is the person who's doing everything for you. Yeah. Like my dad at one point to me

He was like the strong like he man Superman like the strongest person in the world to me He's everything that you base your manhood And what you want to be on And then to see him get to that point It's got to be a tough way to go out It's definitely like you know And then once again

You know it brings you back to God Like you know in Islam We we bury our people different than You know a traditional Christian burial. Our funeral was a car to genazza, so we washed the body, we wrapped the body, and then we take the body to the match jib. Everybody prays over the body. Then we take the body to the cemetery, and we actually take the body out of the coffin and place the body in the grave to the east. So I had to get in my dad's grave with one other person and place them in the

grave. You know, and just when you wash and you wrapping somebody that took care of you and somebody that you care for, it's a so real moment. And when you look at them and you realize eventually one day, it's going to be you. Right. So it's like,

that's another reason why I feel like Islam is perfect because those, even like my mom, she's Christian and I've been trying to get her to take shahada and be Muslim forever. But after like, first genazza when I buried my son, she was like,

I never seen anything like that before. Like, it's beautiful. Like the way that y'all take care of your loved ones. And things like dad is bringing her closer, you know. I feel like the funeral is such an important way to like close that chapter in your life. And was that the feeling that you had? Like this is as painful as this might be to have to be handling my dad while he's gone like this? Is it, did it put a proper, you know, bookmark on the relationship?

I felt like I did my job as a Muslim and as a son. Like being able to take care of them and then being able to bury. and pray over him and send him off proper. I felt like I did my job. But it's crazy at the same time because we got the same name. So when I'm walking away from the grave, I see my name on the grave. Who knows? Damn.

Which is another reminder. Like, that's going to be me. Yeah, I mean, you're a strong dude, man. I mean, you've been through more in your life than the vast majority of people. And I feel like that message, it's like, does it feel like that's, your reason for continuing to go to keep doing this. It's just the fact that you've

survived through so much of this shit. I mean, one of the reasons, you know, definitely. You know, in 2015, artists that I work with from the West Coast Jacker passed away. And like that, like, when he passed away, it really affected me more than, like, I had homies in my hood that I grew up with

that got killed and passed away, and it didn't affect me, like, it affected me when he passed away and it was just because of the type of person he was in his heart and the way we connected. Like when I met him, it was like looking at myself. Like he was doing the same thing I was doing on the East Coast

but on the West Coast. Yeah. We wanted to do on a bunch of projects together, touring the world together. We went to Africa, Sweden, like a bunch of places together. Yeah, because I mean, your relationship with Jacka, it's like

you just showed an incredible ability to adapt and to be able to fit yourself. into a whole lot of different musical scenes and different eras in music and there's probably so many people on the west coast that would have never really tapped in with your music in any depth but as a result of you're working with him all of a sudden it's like that's a shill of different people that got exposed to you and that to me is like let me tell you about that's that's amazing jacket that's my nigga that's my brother i pray for him to his day like i would land in the bay and before i go to the hotel i had like 30 000 he'd ride me around doing a bunch of features And he'd be like, all right, now we can have fun. Like, you know, and like, meeting people like that that's sincere is rare. Like, you know, people that have put you before, before their self is rare. Like, you know, even before we really locked in, I had did this, somebody had gave me a bunch of money to do like an independent project.

And they wound up calling the Philadelphia Freeway, too. And I did it in the Bay Area, but I think I was like in Sacramento and Jack. rode up there just to make sure I was straight and was just fucking with me, like, just Sean Regal genuine love, like shit that you don't get in this music business. Oh, okay. So that's the project that when you go to Apple Music is listed as, like, your

most recent album, the Philadelphia Freeway 2 special edition? Yeah, I think they might have re-release it or something, yeah. Okay, is there, like, are you in album mode right now? Are you planning on putting out another full-length project? Bro, I just told you, like, three times that I just finished the stimulus back as two.

Sorry, sorry, right, you did something like. With Jake won, we just shot the first video was called ringing with Jada kiss I'm gonna show it to you before I leave but like the stimulus package two is incredible like it's like you know everything I've been through I poured it into that album it's incredible but I got like four projects loaded we we starting with that and we're gonna keep it rolling right 100% shout to Jake one shot to Jake one what uh like what do you felt like he brought to the table that made you want to do so many projects with him it's just a personal relationship or is there something about his

No, it's besides, we have a great personal relationship. That's my brother. And, like, you know, he really pushed me to do this stimulus package too. And he just was like, man, I just want to see you happy, man. Like, you didn't have been through so much. I just went, like, and that was his main motivation. And just to have somebody like that in my corner means a lot to me. But as far as the music, it's just a perfect chemistry.

Like, Jake has sent me a pack and I run through the whole pack every time. Like, you know, it's like, it's just like a perfect. marriage, man. And, you know, I got people that's around me, like, don't do nothing with nobody else but Jake, you know, but we just got a great chemistry. Is there any level of concern you have when you look

at the younger generation of rappers coming out out of Philly because a lot of the dudes who are getting traction in terms of like the younger drill artists and stuff like that, the content is very violent in comparison to, I mean, obviously you guys were street rappers back in the day, but your shit

was more about hustling and nowadays, it feels like so much of the music is based on personal animosity between people. Yeah, most definitely. Like, you know, I don't condone none of that. And I think it's, especially in Philly, like, it's so sad because a lot of them artists that was dope, either

got killed or they're in prison. Like, you know, shout out to tour. He's still around doing his thing. Shout out to OT7 Quine. He really making a huge impact. Quine is dope. Shout out of the city. You know, you know, but a lot of

them fell to the wayside, man, you know, and it don't really make, and it doesn't really make that much sense to me to go shoot somebody and rap about it. Like, the way these cops are and the way these detectives are, like, they're going to be right on your ass. Like, it don't really make that much sense to me. Like, I'm not really trying to do, show off that much to the public. You know, I'm from the era where if you do something to somebody, you don't want nobody to know about it. Right. That's one thing I always think about when I go back to sort of golden age, like 90s, 2000s era rap I'm sure people had all kinds of problems with each other

but nobody really was mentioning each other unless it was another rapper which is probably something we need to go back to it. I just think like you know I also don't know what they're going through you know with each other and what's the level of how things have been you know escalated but I really think like a lot of that nonsense

needs to be needs to come to a heart because the end results is either you in jail or you did. you're not even able to make money to take care of your family from jail. And if you did, that's a whole other thing that you got to go through. Right. Definitely. Well, they're rushing me along here.

I know you got a bunch more obligations throughout the day, but thank you so much for the interview. And honestly, it's like, it's just amazing to see how strong you are in the face of so much adversity. I appreciate you, man. Like, I didn't even know that you was a fan. Like, you know, I'll watch you. Of course, you're popular, you know, and I, you know, I keep up with everything.

you got going on so they're here that you're a fan means a lot to me man no sure since high school since 99 right like I don't even know when I first started listening to y'all but for sure it's some of my favorite stuff throughout life but I got I got one messy-ass question that I got to ask before we go go ahead and shoot did j really have to kill somebody because you did a crime with him and your beard is sticking out you got to kill a witness I'm guessing though or at least we're going to keep the street code in effect. We're not going to talk about that. Yeah, we definitely ain't going to do a song. If Jay did that, that he started it. Hmm. He started it. It's his fault. All the drill right was killing each other because he

kills somebody. Perhaps. Because my beard was sticking out. You got to tuck that beard back in. All right. Thank you so much, man. For real. I appreciate you, man. Freeway, go turn my man up on all platforms. Appreciate you, G. No, Jember. Coolest podcast in real. Check us on YouTube, TikTok, Patreon, Instagram, like, like, comments, subscribe niljumber.com if you want to support let's go