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3/19/2009   You and Jake One are working on an album together, The Stimulus Package. How’s it coming?  We’re still working. We’re like 75% done. He was on the Free At Last album and the track that we did together was real good. It had that good feeling that we’re looking for and he just started sending me more joints and we just came up with the concept of us working on an album together and we made it happen.  You’ve never worked on an album with only one producer. Did you find that working only with Jake One on an album gave you a more consistent sound?  Yeah. It’s basically like the same but it’s kind of different but the only thing is we gotta come up with different concepts and go at it from a bunch of different angles. But it’s all good. The music that we got is crazy. Jake is real talented and a real versatile producer. It’s working out good.  How would you say The Stimulus Package compares to your two solo albums Philadelphia Freeway and Free At Last?   Of course I’m only going to get better. The more work I do the better I’m going to get. We’re trying to bring it back to that real hip-hop with that real spitting and real concepts and everything links together on the album. It’s going to be a real good album to ride to.  Is the music you guys came up with for the album consistent with the songs you did together for your Month of Madness?  Yeah, but I could say it’s like 10 notches higher than that. When I did the Month of Madness, I was just going in and doing joints every day. Now I’m going in every day and I’m doing joints but I’m concentrating on concepts and the quality of the material more than I did for the Month of Madness. The Month of Madness was just me going through my bag and letting people know that I still got it.  How were you able to record so many songs in such a short amount of time and have them all come out pretty good?  I was in the studio every day. I basically look at it like it’s a job. I’m in there every day working, to this day. I got crazy material. It’s like a basketball player. It’s like Lebron James gotta practice. It’s like the Phillies right now, they’re in training camp. They’re mastering their craft. I feel like MCs need to do the same thing.  Did you look at the songs you recorded during the Month of Madness as practice songs or were you looking at each song like it would have potential to be on a Freeway album?  I definitely look at each song like it could be on the album and that it has album potential. I don’t write. I go up in the booth, come up with a concept and just lay it. I’m working at MMP Studios in Philadelphia. I have my producer Phoe Notes in there. I just go in and do me. I got crazy material with those guys and with other people. And after the Freeway and Jake One album I’m coming with another Freeway solo album that’s going to be crazy.  You released 31 songs in December, which is at least two albums worth of material. It has to be more than wanting to practice to make you want to release those songs.  I just looked at it like I had to let people know what time it was and to make my stamp. The music labels aren’t doing it and I’m going to use what everybody else is using – the internet. I got a lot of cooperation from websites like HipHopGame. You guys held me down and posted every joint every day and I appreciate it. I’m just doing it, man. I gotta let the people know what time it is.  What I respect about your Month of Madness is that instead of talking about how many songs you recorded like a lot of rappers do, you just released the songs.  Yeah. Talk is cheap. You gotta do it. I think a lot of artists are scared to release music because they probably think that they can’t come up with music of the same quality. But if you work hard and you’re in the studio every day, you know you’re going to do nothing but get better. I can drop 32 songs and I know I’m going to go in the studio and get better. I got a lot of cooperation from a lot of producers. Erick Sermon showed me love and Cardiak from New Jersey showed me love and Don Cannon and the Co-Ops. Of course Jake One was on there. There was a lot of people that showed me love, man. There were a lot of people that were sending me tracks and it just worked out good, you know. And I definitely can’t forget my man Blunt. He did a lot of those joints and he’s from Canada. He’s a crazy producer and when I do my next album he’s definitely going to be on the joint.  I don’t have no problem getting beats. Needlz showed me love. He’s an established producer on that joint. People came out and they were showing me love. I think everybody feels like how I feel. It’s time for music to come back to that real hip-hop where the fans control the music instead of the music instead of the radio and all that. The fans control what they want to hear. It’s crazy right now listening to the radio. It’s just a bunch of bullshit that’s playing, to me. That’s my personal opinion.  If you’re getting beats from Erick Sermon and Alchemist, why not hang on to them for the album?   Because I’m going to get more and do even better than what we did for the Month of Madness.  Is established producers giving you free beats the ultimate compliment they can pay you?  It’s definitely an honor and I definitely appreciate everybody who held me down with tracks. It’s definitely an honor and I’m sure they feel the same way with me blessing their tracks and putting them out there. Everybody’s in the game to make money but everybody knows the situation that hip-hop is in right now and little situations like the Month of Madness, people want to take advantage of that.   Do you ever worry about running out of material?  Never. This is what I do for a living. I create. I make music. There’s no days off. I do it every day. This is what I do. I can’t run out of material unless something happens to be physically where I can’t record the material. Other than that I’m gonna keep it coming.   Do you ever worry about over-saturating the market?  That wasn’t really a concern for me because the quality of the music was good. I was getting a good response from everybody. Everybody loved almost every song that I dropped. If you love good music and want to hear good music, you’re going to want to keep hearing it. I want to keep hearing it. There’s people that I want to hear more from.  On “Don’t Tell Me It’s Over” you talked about how people listen to your music while they’re locked up. What does that mean to you?  That means a lot to me. It’s not only people who are locked up but people in the streets. I’ll be places and I’ll be in the airport and people will tell me they listened to a song every morning or my album got them thorough some hard times. That makes me feel good. I work hard on my music and the people appreciate it. It’s just like if you cook a good meal for your family and they appreciate it and tell you it was real good and they can’t wait for you to cook another meal. It’s sort of like that.  I heard you might have another Month of Madness coming as well.  Yeah. I was going to do the March Madness but I think I’m gonna wait and do the whole month of April because I want it to soak in. The Month of Madness, I want it to really soak in for the people. I want them to take everything in.  You never want to do the same thing twice. What kind of a twist would you put for April?   Oh, I got some twists under the cap that’s going to make it more interesting than the Month of Madness. I got some special guests on there that’s going to make it crazy.   Speaking of other rappers, where has Beanie Sigel been?  Oh, Beans got some shit. He’s in the studio. He’s cooking some shit up. He’s in the 609 Studios in Philadelphia. You’re going to hear it soon. He’s just working. He’s doing a lot of shows. He’s on the last leg of his parole and once that’s over he’s going to be able to move around a lot more and you’re going to be able to start seeing a lot more of him. We got some things together that y’all are gonna love. We’re definitely working together. That’s my brother. We have my birthday party together on Friday. That’s going to be crazy.  With Dame Dash making a return to the music industry, do you think you would ever do business with him?  I haven’t talked to Dame in a couple of months. We keep in touch. He’s a good dude. That’s my man. I definitely would love to do some stuff with him because he did a lot for Jay. You need a guy like that in your corner.  You got your release from Def Jam. How did that come about?  I mean, it wasn’t too much going on over there for me at the time so I felt like it was good for me to explore my options so that’s what I’m doing.  Why do you think you weren’t getting the attention you deserved while you were there?  I’m not exactly sure but I know we were Rocafella. It’s always going to be Rocafella for life but we were looked at as Jay-Z’s and Dame Dash’s artists and we had our own staff that did everything, as far as the marketing and the promotions and stuff like that. When that was gone, the shit just fell apart.  Do you think the label heads appreciated your Month of Madness?  I don’t even think they give a fuck, personally. I think people in the streets, I would say a couple people that do street work up there, appreciate it. Everybody else, I don’t know if they give a fuck. People like my man Young Sav and people like that up there, they care but I don’t think the other people give a fuck.  Does that frustrate you when those are the people you’re supposed to do business with?  I mean, it did in the past but the space that I’m in right now is I’m taking my situation into my own hands. I’m doing me. I got The Stimulus Package coming with Jake One and I got crazy stuff on the streets and the Month of Madness and I’m doing it again in April. I’m just taking my destiny into my own hands. I’m not going to sit here and point fingers at other people. They’re not worried about me. I can’t be worried about them. I gotta do what I gotta do.  Since you’re cool with 50 Cent, do you think you could end up at G-Unit?  It’s a possibility. It’s definitely a possibility.  Would you also explore the independent route?  I definitely think the independent route is the way to go right now because that’s where you get your money at. The majors, from my experience, I just want to try something different. From my experience with the majors, they don’t really have your back. I feel like it’s time to try something different.  Why did you go with The Stimulus Package as the title for the album with Jake One?   Because I feel as though we’re taking it back to the real, raw hip-hop. We’re trying to get people to get back to their job of spitting and making music that you could feel and music that stimulates you and makes you feel good, that good music. No disrespect to anybody that’s doing it now but there’s a lot of bullshit out right now. There’s a lot of shit that I can’t even tolerate. I don’t even listen to the radio. I listen to my old shit. I got Biggie and the Lox and Jay and Nas and ‘Pac. I got Mobb Deep. I got fucking Boot Camp Clik and Naughty by Nature. I got shit that meant something, not no overnight fly-by-night shit that you got now. And that’s the stuff that we’re working on now. We’re going to put together a nice album that means something to the people.  Rick Ross has been doing a lot of interviews lately since he’s about to be released from prison. When he’s asked about people using his name, he never mentions you but he told me he was going to ask the rapper Rick Ross to stop using his name. Do you think he’s giving you a pass?  I never met him or nothing but I definitely respect what he did and his position in the streets and everything. Everything that I talk about is official. You can see what I did. I give you my side of the streets and where I came from and I give you the reality and I give people the positive and the negative. I’m not running around talking about how I’m the biggest drug dealer and talking about shit that I didn’t really do. I’m just keeping it real and real recognize real.  And I ain’t gonna front on Ross now because 50’s not fucking with him. 50’s my nigga and I got mad love for 50 and I got love for Ross too because every time I come to Miami, even before he got on, he showed me love and I ain’t gonna front on him now and say nothing crazy.  If Freeway Rick Ross said he didn’t want you to be Freeway anymore, how would you respond?  I don’t know what would have to happen. People call me Freeway from being on the freeway. And there might be similarities for why they call him Freeway for being on the freeway and from putting in work. There might be the same attribute but it’s real and I earned it.  When you first became Freeway, you didn’t do it because of Rick Ross?  Nah. I mean, people started calling me that.  What needs to happen to have a State Property reunion?  We’re trying to work a few things out. I think it definitely can happen. People just have to put their pride to the side. Everybody’s gotta get on the same page. I think the streets definitely need it and it can happen now.   What’s the hold up on it right now?  The situation. The home for the project.  When should we expect The Stimulus Package?  Early summer.   Are you sure you’re not going to leak every song?  Nah. You know what I’m gonna do? I’m going to leak a couple songs and do a bunch of freestyles and let you know the date of when it’s coming and then I got the album coming after that.  Are you working with any other Philly artists at the moment?  I’m working with some Philly artists. We’re about to put a situation together. It’s my man Hollywood Playboy, Jakk Frost and Tana tha Beast. Hollywood Playboy got a crazy single out called “M.I.L.Q. (Money in Large Quantities).” I’m gonna do another interview with y’all as we get deeper into it.  How’s your movie What We Do Is Wrong coming?  Great. It’s me, the Young Gunz, Omilio Sparks, E. Ness, Tray Cheney from The Wire, we got Michael Blackstone from Next Friday. It’s going to be crazy. It’s going to be in stores April 21 and it’s going to be crazy. Y’all are going to hear me plugging that real soon. That’s going to be on DVD release April 21 and it’s written and directed by the guy that did State Property 1. You’re going to love it. It’s a story about me coming home from jail and trying to do the right thing and some things keep pulling me back into the streets. It’s a real good, interesting film.  Is there a scene with you snatching dishes out the kitchen?   (laughs) There’s a scene with me in the kitchen but I’m not going to tell you what I’m doing.

By Brian Kayser

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