Freeway-Diamond In The Ruff-Baby Grande-(2012)
Artist: Freeway
Album: Diamond In The
Ruff
Label: Baby Grande
Producers: Jake One, Just
Blaze, Mike Jerz, Needlz, Incredible Stro, others
Philadelphia’s
dark horse Freeway has gone through a long journey. Former member of the
illustrious group State Property and Beanie Sigel’s right hand man Freeway has
been strong arming the hip hop game with albums and mixtapes still keeping his
name relevant. The ex Roc-A-Fella
solider now signed with Baby Grande has finally come out with one of the most
anticipated albums of 2012 “Diamond in the Ruff”
The fourth solo album starts off on
the right foot reminiscing of the Freeway days with state property. The soulful
influenced “Right Back” featuring the songstress Marsha Ambrosius is an example
of how to start an album right. This is a compatible match of Freeway lyricism
and Marsha Ambrosius soulful voice produced by Jake One. “Greatness” continues
the consistency with Vivian Green sings the chorus as Freeway lets people know
he had never fell off: got the piranha flow, hard kinds of flow/serve beef like
dominoes, bring it to ya peeps… stay in your places/young Ali we are destined
for greatness/the roc-a-block breakup, my mom and pop broke up/you think I fall
off, you got the wrong information. The lead single “Jungle” hits the average
listener with hard bass lines and drum kicks provided by producer Incredible
Stro while the Just Blaze track “Early” sets Freeway back to his debut album
Philadelphia Freeway with swift punch lines over a dope beat.
With many hot tracks come with a few
that just doesn’t stand out. “True” featuring Wale fits the bill. Although the
beat is dope and Freeway did his thing, the chemistry with Wale sounds okay;
cool track but can’t match up to the other tracks on the album. In addition,
the annoying chorus just oversaturates the album. “No Doubt” also didn’t fit
with the strong superior tracks on this album while “Wonder Tape” is an album
filler with average lyrics and Suzette Christine didn’t put too much of an
impact like the other features.
Diamond in the Ruff catapults
Freeway into high status among Philadelphia rappers despite being one of the
most underrated rappers. This is an awesome effort since the Jake One/Freeway
collaboration album. Jake One and Mike Jerz produced half the album that made
this album worth listening too. Freeway’s
lyrical consistency with the right production by his side and good guest
appearances make this a successful album from start to finish.
Strong
Tracks: “Right Back”, “Greatness”, “The Thirst”, “Jungle”, “Early”, “Dream
Big”
Weak
Tracks: “True”, “No Doubt”, “Wonder
Tape”
Rating:out of
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