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Balance is the key element that Freeway absolutely nails. Amongst these joints that sound like pure commercial hits, Freeway, drops enough dope introspective material to prove that he is well-rounded.
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Even with the amount of expectation-lowering context heavy on the mind, Free at Last sounds like a very strong follow-up.
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On Free at Last, he demonstrates that being forced to cool his heels since 2003 hasn't dulled the rough edges of his appealingly hectic flow.
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Free at Last is everything that his heads could want.
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Throughout Free at Last, Freeway displays a deft ability to play the foil to less exuberant MCs, with the exception of a firebreathing Busta Rhymes cameo on 'Walk With Me.'
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Having graduated from knuckleheaded threats to a more hardened ghetto perspective that sometimes blossoms into tender complexity, Freeway sounds at home, particularly over the sweetly weeping keyboard loop that grounds 'Reppin’ the Streets,' the album’s best track.
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The star power behind this album--a joint executive co-production between Jay-Z and 50 Cent and featuring Scarface, Rick Ross and Lil' Wayne--leads to the predictable can't-please-everyone mishmash, an appreciable step down from the sampled elegance of the Just Blaze-dominated "Philadelphia Freeway."
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Over the flutes and soul-diva coos of 'When They Remember,' Free delivers an anguished but nimble sermon about his own struggles as a rapper; more than any other, the track shows off the mix of grit and pleasure that defines Free at Last.
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Free At Last isn’t perfect, but when his songs are ripe with emotion and meaning, he can be forgiven for his mistakes.
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Behind-the-boards stalwarts like Bink and Dame Grease provide plenty of soulful hip-hop, but the chemistry isn't quite the same.
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Freeway's penchant for ham-handed hooks and emotionally flat attempts at introspection ('I Cry') and romance ('Take It to the Top') reveal, over the course of these 14 songs, an ultimate two-dimensionality.
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It's what Freeway says that continues to disappoint, and it's not for lack of subject matter.