FREEWAY (RAPPER)

'Leslie Pridgen' (born July 8, 1979 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) better known as 'Freeway' is an American rapper signed to Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella imprint under Def Jam Recordings. He is notable for rhymes which are checkered throughout his verses, and for the long beard he keeps due to his Islam faith. He got his name from the infamous drug trafficker Ricky Ross, similar to another rapper called Rick Ross. Currently lives in The Marquis Apartments in King of Prussia, PA. Free was a part of the Philly group State Property.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Debut album

Ice City

Recent events

Other collaborations

Albums

References

External links

Biography

Early life

In 1997, Freeway, who began his career as an MC by battling at the lunch tables in his high school cafeteria, met fellow Philly native Beanie Sigel while rapping on stage at a hometown nightclub. "We ain’t never exchange numbers or anything, but he told me I was hot and I told him he was hot," said Freeway. The two struggling MCs also made a pact that whoever got signed first would help get the other a record deal. Staying true to his word, Beanie Sigel "came back and got Freeway" not long after being signed to Roc-A-Fella Records. Freeway became one of the label's most valuable artists after making his first appearance on '' and appearing on several other Roc-A-Fella releases before putting out his solo album, ''Philadelphia Freeway''.

Debut album

The album was produced primarily by Roc-A-Fella-affiliated artists, Just Blaze, Bink!, and Kanye West and featured mostly Roc-A-Fella rappers as well, many of them from State Property, a Philadelphia-based bunch of Roc-A-Fella members that Freeway and Beanie Sigel had compiled into a group. The album's biggest hit was "Flipside" featuring Peedi Crack.
Relations between Beanie Sigel and State Property soured after the incarceration of Sigel, and State Property essentially broke up. Whether Sigel and Freeway are still friends is unclear, though Sigel has said he didn't know if he would ever work with State Property again. However, Sigel was present at Jay-Z's ''I Declare War'' concert alongside Freeway. On the most recent Young Chris mixtape entitled "Killadelphia: More Bodies than Dayz", Freeway is on a track with Beanie, Peedi Crakk, and Young Chris, which seems to indicate at least some members of State Property are back on good terms.

Ice City

After his debut album, Freeway put together another Philadelphia-based crew named Ice City. The group is named after their neighborhood North Philly. Besides Freeway, Ice City is made up of Face Money, Bars, Indy 500, Peedi Crakk, and Hydro. ''Welcome to the Hood'', their debut album, was released under Sure Shot Recordings, but received little attention.

Recent events

Freeway is currently recording for his second album, ''Free at Last''. It is scheduled to be released on October 9th 2007.^[1]

Other collaborations

★ He had a verse on the Kanye West track "Two Words" with Mos Def from album ''The College Dropout''. Also was featured on the track "We Gangsta" on Tito 6's album ''King of the Great Lakes''.

★ He also appeared in the video game ''.

★ Appeared on Hector "El Father"'s compilation album Los Rompe Discotekas and collaborated with Polaco on the track "Soñando".

★ He appeared along with Jay-Z on Eminem's ''8 mile'' soundtrack on a song called "8 Miles and Runnin'".

★ He also collaborated with Keshia Chante on the song "Fallen".

★ Freeway has also made appearances on albums by Jay-Z, Memphis Bleek, The Diplomats, Jermaine Dupri, among others.

★ Freeway was also a featured guest on the "Cannon Remix" by DJ Drama, Lil Wayne, Gillie the Kid, Detroit Red,and Juice (which is going to be on the upcoming '')

★ Freeway has also collaborated with Phoenix based rappers AZ Boys on a song called "Murder Scene" also featuring The Game.

★ Collaborated with Paul Wall on two tracks: on "State to State" from ''The People's Champ'', and also on "On The Grind" (along with Crys Wall, Paul's wife) from ''Get Money, Stay True''.

★ Collaborated Turf Talk on the track: 'Minnie Minnie' from The Westcoast Vaccine (The Cure)

★ Appeared on a remix of "Ooh Wee" by producer Mark Ronson. The track also featured Ghostface Killah, Saigon, Nate Dogg & Trife Da God.

Albums

★ 2003: ''Philadelphia Freeway''

★ 2007: ''Free at Last''

References

1. [1]. DefJam. Accessed August 23 2007.

External links

★ Official Site

★ Freeway

★