Emazin: "Come On" (Music Video) + "No Breaks ft. Freeway" (Prod. Nicademus)

Here is the new video for Minneapolis emcee Emazin. He also has a new song with Freeway over an absolute banger produced by Nicademus, which you can stream after the jump.

Freeway & Jake One: 'The Stimulus Package' Release Party (Video)

Freeway & Jake One held a release party in NYC for their anti-Rhymesayers Rhymesayers album The Stimulus Package. Here's some footage from the night, which includes a snippet of Freezer and special guest Brother Ali performing "The Truth," off of Jake One's White Van Music.

Preview Freeway & Jake One's 'Stimulus Package' Vinyl (Video)

I want to personally give my thanks to Rhymesayers Entertainment for giving us a reason to buy the physical copies of albums these days. Last year, BK-One's and Ali's hard copies were super official. Could The Stimulus Package be the greatest album packaging ever? Quite possibly. Also, I don't believe I posted the video for the CD version, because I was on my temporary hiatus, but you can view the video here.

Freeway & Jake One: "Know What I Mean" (Music Video)

Freeway's first single off of The Stimulus Package gets recreated in moving picture form, directed by — who else? — Rik Cordero. If you preorder the album at Fifth Element, it will ship out on February 11, a whole five days before it's street release date.

DOWNLOAD -- Freeway & Jake One: "Know What I Mean" (Right click + 'Save As' to download)

Freeway & Jake One: "Know What I Mean" + The Stimulus Package Tracklist

Lots of rumored leaks from this album have made their way to the internet, but Rhymesayers just let loose of the first official lead single from Freeway and Jake One's collaborative album, The Stimulus Package. The album is due on February 16, 2010, but can be preordered starting right now at Fifth Element. Two lucky "preorderers" will receive a "Stimulus Check" for a $100 gift certificate at Fifth Element. Also, included at the end of the post is the album's tracklist. Everything looks good, with two letdowns. 1) Birdman? Really??? 2) Where's the Brother Ali guest spot? Can't win 'em all, I guess.

Freeway & Jake One: "Know What I Mean" (Right click + 'Save As' to download)

Freeway & Jake One: The Stimulus Package (Tracklist)

1. Stimulus Intro ft. Beanie Sigel
2. Throw Your Hands Up
3. One Foot In
4. She Makes Me Feel Alright
5. Never Gonna Change
6. One Thing ft. Raekwon
7. Know What I Mean
8. The Product
9. Micraphone Killa ft. Young Chris
10. Follow My Moves ft. Birdman
11. Sho' Nuff ft. Bun B
12. Freekin; The Beat ft. LaToiya Williams
13. Money ft. Omilo Sparks & Mr. Porter
14. Free People
15. Stimulus Outro

Freeway & Jake One: The Beat Made Me Do It (Mixtape) + Info on 'The Stimulus Package'

Via Rhymesayers:

February 17th, 2009 in an effort to stimulate the U.S. economy President Barack Obama signed into law The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus package. On February 16th of 2010, another bad brother Philadelphia Freeway, seizes the moment and sets out to stimulate the Hip Hop industry by signing into law the Hip Hop Recovery and Reinvestment Act with the release of his third official studio album The Stimulus Package.

Produced entirely by veteran G-Unit producer Jake One, The Stimulus Package showcases some of Freeway's most dynamic and engaging work to date. The collaboration of these two heavyweights along with the strength of independent powerhouse Rhymesayers Entertainment makes The Stimulus Package already one of the year's most anticipated releases.

Since his breakout Roc-A-Fella debut Philadelphia Freeway in 2003, which achieved gold status selling over 500,000 units, Freeway has consistently been regarded as "your favorite rapper's favorite rapper". Releasing his sophomore follow up Free at Last in 2007, which featured the Jake One produced classic "It's Over", Freeway has kept his skills sharp recording numerous mixtapes, unofficial albums and online leaks all while playing hundreds of shows across the country.

With The Stimulus Package in full effect, Freeway and Jake One's first act of stimulus in their plan will be the FREE download of the DJ Don Cannon assisted mixtape, The Beat Made Me Do It, available today.

DOWNLOAD - Freeway & Jake One: The Beat Made Me Do It (Mixtape)

Brother Ali: "Best@It ft. Freeway & Joell Ortiz" + Preorder Special Offer

Ya'll already know what it is. Preorder Us via Fifth Element, so that you can win that nifty iPod Touch.

Also, the album leaked, and people seem to be uploading various tracks online. "Best@It ft. Freeway & Joell Ortiz" is a popular one, so I'm just gonna follow suit. It's at the bottom of the post, link via 2DBz. I hope you enjoy the song, and don't download the album, buy it. It's important to support hip-hop artists who push the craft further and put in as much hard work as Ali does. Trust me, the album is excellent and it will be worth your money.



Brother Ali: "Best@It ft. Freeway & Joell Ortiz"

Red Bull Big Tune Beat Battle (8/26/09 in Minneapolis)

Thanks to Toki Wright for putting together this interesting highlight compilation of what looks like what was quite a night.

Freeway & Jake One: "Blogger"

This is presumably the first leak from Freeway and Jake One's collaborative album, The Stimulus Package, which should be out on Rhymesayers before the year ends. Props to 2DopeBoyz.

Freeway & Jake One: "Blogger"

Jake One & Freeway: Interview with Peter Parker at Soundset 2009 (Video)

Mr. Peter Parker continues his "Soundset '09 Exposed" video series with an interview. He asks the same questions to Freeway as he did to Jake One. No shots. The Stimulus Package should be out in August. EARLY!

Soundset 2009 Recap (Photos)

You already know just about everything I'm about to say. Soundset 2009 was incredible. Great performances from (most of) the artists. Got quite sunburned. Legs felt like cooked spaghetti by the end of the day. And so on.

I opted not to get a press pass, and spent the entire day in the thick of the crowd watching the shows on the main stage. My biggest regret is not seeing a couple of sets on the Fifth Element side stage – mainly One Be Lo, Unknown Prohpets and Cunninlynguists, as those are the main acts I had never seen before. However I also regret not catching Sims, Blue Scholars and Heiruspecs, who are all great live. The reason for me not catching those shows is that during P.O.S.'s lively set, in a moment of pure serendipity, my friends and I ended up getting pushed to literally the front row. Although in retrospect, Sage Francis, El-P, and much to my dismay, DOOM, were all arguably "skippable" performances, we decided it was in our best interests to not sacrifice our great crowd position to see the shows on the side stage. While, I was up there, I tried snapping a few "point and shoot" photos with my low budget camera. I'm no professional, but they ended up half decent. If you want to see some great photo coverage of the day, though, go to Jules Ammel Visuals or the Rhymesayers Flickr. I'll leave you with a few thoughts I had about Soundset 2009, as well as my photos.

• Toki Wright was one of the better pure performers of the day. He reallys pours his heart out in his shows: jumping and dancing around, using the entire stage, working the crowd, etc. Great stuff. If only the fans were more familiar with his songs.
• As per usual, DJ Abilities was the true star during E&A's set. While Eyedea gets a little quirky during live shows, Abilities spent a solid five minutes amazing everyone with his technical prowess on the wheels of steel. The guy nevers slips up.
• Speaking of never slipping up, Mr. Dibbs absolutely put it the fuck down during his turntable sting during El-P's set.
  
• P.O.S. may be on the verge of breaking through the Rhymesayers ranks, approaching Slug and Brother Ali's levels of stardom. Maybe.
• Sage Francis seemed to be legitimately enjoying himself up there.
• In the biggest disappointment of the day, DOOM's set was pretty terrible. First off, 75% of the crowd didn't seem familiair with DOOM's Rock The Bells scandal last summer, and thus didn't understand his whole imposter joke. DOOM's hype man was overbearing and annoying. The sound was all distorted, and the bass was overbearing, making it impossible to decipher his lyrics unless you truly knew them word-for-word. He seemed unconcerned with hammering home a truly special performance, and more worried about getting his set over with and getting back in his SUV. Because his set was one of my top three most anticipated of the day, I couldn't have been more let down.
• Why the fuck did Freeway and Jake One not play a one of their songs from White Van Music. It was the perfect opportunity to bring out Brother Ali for "The Truth," and he didn't even do "How We Ride!" Although I still loved Freeway's set, that was discouraging.
• I loved Brother Ali's quote: "Jay-Z put of Freeway's first album, 50 Cent put out his second album, and Rhymesayers is putting out his third album." Although it's technically going to be his fourth, Rhymesayers have established themselves as indie heavyweights in this rap game.
• One of my top three songs of the day happened when Slug came out during Ali's set and they did "The Believer."
  
• The Pharcyde were the opposite of DOOM, and were one of the biggest highlights of the day. Great show. Great.
• I've seen Atmosphere perform about six or seven times, on multiple continents, and I can now say this confidently: No one, with the exception of Jay-Z, can control a crowd better than Slug. It may be because Atmosphere's audience is incredibly loyal, and it may seem like that because I was watching an Atmosphere concert in Minnesota, of all places. But, Slug had 15,000 hands in the air waving side to side, and probably every other person in the crowd knew at least some of the lyrics, if not most. And I saw him do the exact same thing in London. Slug can officially rock a show with the best of them.
  

Kanye West: "Two Words ft. Mos Def & Freeway" (Video)

First GLC release some never before seen screen shot images from the long-lost "Spaceship" video. Now we get this. Amazing how things work like that. Props to Kanye for releasing it. He says:

This video never got played because I refused to remove the titles on it. They said people will think a TV show is going off and I said that's the whole point. Wow... even only 3 videos in to the game.... I refused to compromise my vision.

Not sure why it appears so small. Sorry.

Freeway & Jake One: "Never Gonna Change" (Video)

I saw this at NahRight and skipped over it the first time because I'm so used to not being able to post Freeway stuff at MWB. Luckily I caught it a second time around; it looks like Free and Jake One are cooking up something nice for The Stimulus Package, out via Rhymesayers in fall 2009.

Rhymesayers Artists Discuss Upcoming Projects At SXSW (Video)

As you surely know, many artists from the Rhymesayers crew rocked the SXSW festival to promote their recently released and/or upcoming projects. Below is a video with some brief interviews of the artists involved, such as P.O.S., Brother Ali, Jake One, Freeway (I still can't believe I get to call Freeway a member of the RSE crew) and Abstract Rude.

Skye Rossi, who presumably shot this video, also documented the event with some excellent photos of the events and performances of the RSE crew in Austin, which can be found here at his Flickr.

Freeway Announces The Stimulus Package (Jake One Collaboration Album) (Video)

Freeway will be teaming up for an entire album with Rhymesayers producer Jake One. I second NahRight in saying I am completely cool with this, as long as they bring more heaters like 'The Truth" (live performance) and "How We Ride."

Rhymesayers Announces SXSW Lineup

Rhymesayers just posted the lineup for the SXSW label showcase:

3/19/2009 — Rhymesayers Label Showcase
Venue: Habana Bar Patio / Backyard
Address: 708 East 6th Street
City: Austin
State: TX
Doors: 8:00PM
Ages: All Ages
Cost: SXSW Wristband

8:00 - 9:00 - Plain Ole Bill
9:00 - 9:30 - Toki Wright
9:30 - 10:00 - I Self Devine
10:00 - 10:30 - Abstract Rude
10:30 - 11:15 - Eyedea & Abilities
11:15 - 12:00 - P.O.S
12:00 - 12:45 - Brother Ali
12:45 - 1:30 - Freeway & Jake One
1:30 - 2:00 - BK One

Freeway & Brother Ali: "The Truth" (Video)

Yeah, it's Thanksgiving and I'm still grinding away with MB! Don't forget who's hooking it up with this Midwest hip-hop for ya'll. The big blogs stay jackin' material without linking their sources. Believe that. But anyway, Freeway came through to the Element in downtown Minneapolis just last Thursday to put on a little show. Wish I could have been in town for it, but I wasn't. However, Brother Ali stopped by to show his support, as well as perform "The Truth" with Freeway, and Rhymesayers was there to get a little footage. The track goes hard. Definitely one of my songs of the year.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Jake One: "The Truth" ft. Freeway & Brother Ali (Music Video)

Rik Cordero directed the video for one of 2008's song of the year candidates. This video is censored, I'll try to replace it with an unedited version when that drops. Nice to see some Minneapolis visuals in Ali's sections: The Premium Grain Belt sign, First Avenue, the Minneapolis Skyline. Rik Cordero definitely does a good job capturing the essence for this track.

Freeway Speaks About White Van Music

Freeway - White Van Music from Three/21 Films on Vimeo.

Jake One: The Truth ft. Brother Ali & Freeway

So Jake One, this producer who associates with G-Unit, is putting out his debut album on Rhymesayers come this fall, October 7th to be specific. I don't know much about Jake One, because I don't fucks with G-Unit, but he just put out one of his first promo tracks for the album: "The Truth." This joint is absolutely crazy! Who'd have thought that Freeway and Brother Ali would ever be on a track together! This song is great, I can't really say too much else about it. The rest of the album should be just as crazy too. Check the guest list: Little Brother, eLZhi, MF Doom, Slug, Blueprint, and many more. Wow.

Jacked the link from 2DB because I'm too lazy right now to make my own on zshare.

Jake One: The Truth ft. Brother Ali & Freeway