Philadelphia Freeway Explained
Philadelphia Freeway is the debut solo studio album by American rapper Freeway. It was released on February 25, 2003 via Roc-A-Fella Records. Recording sessions took place at Baseline Studios, Quad Recording Studios and Sound On Sound in New York, Circle House Studios in Miami and Larrabee North in Los Angeles. Production was handled by Just Blaze, Kanye West, Bink!, Black Key and Ruggedness, with co-producer E-Bass and additional producer Gee Roberson. It features guest appearances from Beanie Sigel, Jay-Z, Young Gunz, Allen Anthony, Faith Evans, Nate Dogg, Nelly, Omillio Sparks, Peedi Peedi, Rell, Snoop Dogg and Mariah Carey.
In the United States, the album debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200, selling 132,000 copies in its first week.[1] It was supported by three singles: "What We Do", "Alright" and "Flipside". Its lead single, "What We Do", reached number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 47 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. The second single off of the album, "Alright", made it to number 64 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The album's third and final single, "Flipside", peaked at number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 40 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and was featured on the Bad Boys II: The Soundtrack.
Its sequel, Philadelphia Freeway 2, was released on May 5, 2009 for Real Talk Entertainment.
Critical reception
Philadelphia Freeway was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 74 based on seven reviews.
Chris Ryan of Spin called the album "the rare hip-hop debut that does justice to its buzz". Jon Caramanica of Rolling Stone stated that the album is "supported by the most accomplished set of beats in recent hip-hop memory". In his mixed review for Stylus, Brett Berliner concluded: "Freeway is great on guest appearances, but it seems that he can't string together an entire song by himself".
Track listing
- Leftover Tracks
Notes
- signifies a co-producer
- signifies an additional producer
Sample credits
- "Free" contains a sample of "Freeway Song", written by Joey Melotti and Vicki Sue Robinson, and performed by Vicki Sue Robinson.
- "What We Do" contains a sample from "I Just Can't See Myself Without You", written by Skip Scarborough, and performed by Creative Source.
- "All My Life" contains a sample of "I Want To Go Back", written by Curtis Mayfield and Ben Krass, and performed by The Impressions.
- "Don't Cross the Line" contains a sample of "To Get Love You Must Give Love", written by Vinnie Barrett and Bobby Eli, and performed by Ultimate Music Experience.
- "Life" contains an interpolation of "Life for the Taking", written by Eddie Money.
- "Victim of the Ghetto" contains a sample of "We Belong Together", written by Yvette Davis, and performed by The Spinners.
- "You Don't Know (In the Ghetto)" contains a sample of "Inside My Love", written by Minnie Ripperton, Richard Rudolph, and Leon Ware; and performed by Minnie Ripperton.
- "Alright" contains an interpolation of "Mystic Brew", written by Ronnie Foster.
Personnel
- Leslie "Freeway" Pridgen – vocals
- Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter – vocals (tracks: 2, 15), executive producer
- Dwight "Beanie Sigel" Grant – vocals (tracks: 2, 8)
- Nathaniel "Nate Dogg" Hale – vocals (track 3)
- Pedro "Peedi Crakk" Zayas – vocals (track 4)
- Cornell "Nelly" Haynes – vocals (track 5)
- Calvin "Snoop Dogg" Broadus – vocals (track 6)
- Faith Evans – vocals (track 7)
- M.A.J. – additional vocals (track 8)
- Christopher "Young Chris" Ries – vocals (tracks: 9, 16)
- Hanif "Neef Buck" Muhammad – vocals (track 9)
- Gerrell "Rell" Gaddis – vocals (track 11)
- Kenneth "Omillio Sparks" Johnson – vocals (track 12)
- Alaine Laughton – additional vocals (track 12)
- Allen Anthony – vocals (track 13)
- Torrey Torae – additional vocals (track 14)
- Mariah Carey – vocals & producer (track 15)
- Eric "E-Bass" Johnson – guitar & bass (track 8)
- Justin "Just Blaze" Smith – producer (tracks: 1, 2, 4-7, 9, 13, 15, 16)
- Roosevelt "Bink!" Harrell III – producer (tracks: 3, 11)
- Melvin "Ruggedness" Carter – producer (track 8)
- Kanye West – producer (tracks: 10, 14)
- Mickey "Black Key" Davis – producer (track 12)
- Gerald Roberson – additional producer (track 13)
- Gimel "Young Guru" Keaton – recording (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 16), mixing (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13, 16)
- Carlisle Young – recording (tracks: 1, 3-5, 9, 12, 14)
- Brian Stanley – recording & mixing (track 3)
- Doug Wilson – recording (tracks: 3, 6, 11), mixing (tracks: 6, 11)
- Shane "Bermuda" Woodley – recording (tracks: 6, 7, 9, 10, 12-14)
- Rabeka Tunei – recording (tracks: 10, 14)
- Pat Viala – mixing (track 8)
- Manny Marroquin – mixing (tracks: 10, 14)
- Ken Lewis – mixing (track 15)
- Paul Gregory – engineering (track 15)
- Dana Jon Chappelle – engineering (track 15)
- Colin Miller – engineering assistant (track 15)
- Dave Perini – engineering assistant (track 15)
- Giulio Antognini – engineering assistant (track 15)
- Manuel Farolfi – engineering assistant (track 15)
- Tony Dawsey – mastering
- Damon Dash – executive producer
- Kareem "Biggs" Burke – executive producer
- Tia Johnson – art direction, design, cover
- Jonathan Mannion – photography
Charts
Year-end charts
Notes and References
- Web site: Dansby . Andrew . March 5, 2003 . Norah Tops 600,000 . November 29, 2024 . . en-US.
- 2003 Year-End Charts – Billboard 200 Albums . November 29, 2024 . Billboard.
- 2003 Year-End Charts – Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums . November 29, 2024 . Billboard.
