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Join Freddy Will Industries to commemorate the 7th anniversary of “While I’m Still Young… The Talking Drums, ” released in Toronto, Canada, on September 23rd, 2008. This crossover album features the single: ‘City Boy feat. Winnie Culture,’ ‘Strangers,’ ‘How Would I Know – feat. Jay NY’ and ‘Waiting for 4 Ur Luv – feat. Liberty Silver.’ Other popular songs include: ‘So Close – feat. Dirty Money, Chris Cruz, and Quality,’ ‘Poor Man’s Curse’ and ‘Horse Dance – feat. S. Davis.’ The album is studded with some of the best producers and artists from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
As a boy, Freddy Will wanted to survive the wars and become an American citizen,
he did that.”
By the time this album was released, Freddy Will had already come through what he describes as hell. He decided to name it “While I’m Still Young… The Talking Drums.” He was celebrating his survival of two wars, rising above co-conspirators who failed to block his hustle and establishing a new life in Canada after accomplishing every dream he had set as a boy. As a boy, Freddy Will wanted to survive the refugee camps and become an American citizen; he did that.
He wanted to attend college and earn a college diploma. He did that. He has at least three certifications now. He wanted to record Hip Hop albums and write books. At the time, he had not published a book yet, didn’t have a website, Twitter, or Facebook, and depended solely on Myspace to promote his music. Freddy Will wanted a family of his own. He has that now. Looking back on where he came from, this album inspires him and every young Canadian emcee because if he could come to Canada from the United States and successfully launch a music career in Canada, they can do the same.
Today, Freddy Will is a living legend who inspires and influences thousands of people around the globe. His name ring bells in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Tanzania, Liberia, Nigeria, Guinea, The Gambia, Senegal, Europe, the United States, and Canada. He has been an emcee for a very long time. Looking back, he sees now that he’s probably one of the most underrated emcees.
Freddy Will is a warrior! For him, it’s always about Hip Hop. He cannot begin to count how many people have failed to stop him from attaining success. Even family members and some friends have co-conspired; he was made homeless, ignored, mocked, slandered, his reputation maliciously tainted, etc., which started before he even recorded this record. Back then, he wrote rhymes and freestyled; he was a walking tape deck who didn’t only spit his rhymes but also recited a slew of rhymes from a wide range of other mainstream and underground emcees.
He cannot begin to count how many people have failed to stop him from attaining success.”
Oud has worked hard, had his place in New Jersey and Philadelphia, dated classy women, and proved that he could establish financial security. He attended college to prove to his family that he could have corporate education. He sang in his church as a bible believing Christian who accepts Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, trusts in God’s grace, and awaits the return of Christ.
One day, he finally decided to record this album. It was long-awaited and highly anticipated, and he wanted to put his lyrical work on wax to solidify his legacy as one of the best who did it. While rapping and freestyling are great, if an artist does not have their music recorded at some point, it will be as if he or she never did it. Their skill level will be up for only a few to take notice or flag down, depending on who’s talking. Freddy Will achieved a dream.
This is how it happened; While living in Philadelphia, Freddy Will ran into an old buddy who had settled in Canada. He was one of those guys who came to New Jersey from Canada and received mad love from T-shirts and instrumentals he shared with friends there. Homie let Freddy know he was making music in Canada. He had dropped an EP in 1997, which all of his friends were happy for him about; he came off as someone who was doing well and said he had a clothing line and a studio in Canada.
Freddy was like, ‘damn if you’re doing that, you already know my skill level. Let’s record an album. We could be on some Jay and Dame shit.’ Two weeks later, Freddy was on the Amtrak from New York, being searched by Canadian Border Agents who became suspicious of him after reading his rhyme book. They came up with his lyrics about nines and Hennessy. Once he told them he was a rapper visiting friends in Toronto, they asked him to rap for them.
Freddy was like, ‘damn, if you’re doing that, you already know my skill level, let’s record an album.”
When he arrived at Union Station in Toronto, his first disappointment was his homie not living in the city. He was in Pickering! Freddy started asking questions like, ‘where’s the clothing line?’ ‘Why are you not in the city?’ ‘How come to the studio is in the basement?’ ‘Okay, that’s my boy. I’ll rock anyway. Homie was showing mad love, and Freddy didn’t want anything while he was there, so it was easy to overlook the little inconsistencies.
It doesn’t matter if the studios are in the basement, if he doesn’t have a clothing line, or if he doesn’t live in Toronto,’ Freddy thought to himself, ‘I’m going to get this album recorded and bounce. The rest will be history.’ They recorded one song after the other, brought in local R&B singers to jump on hooks, and hit the clubs to check out the scene in the city. Toronto was live with Old Skool Hip Hop. Freddy Will enjoyed this very much. It reminded him of the good old 90s. Philadelphia had been very 2005.
He fell in love with Toronto. Once he started dating in the city, it became his second or third home. Almost everyone had some studio in their house or bedroom. Guys seemed knowledgeable about photo shoots, Photoshop, video shooting and editing, radio interviewing, magazine articles, publishing, world events, and all those essential elements that an artist usually don’t know about when they’re starting. He was impressed! He returned to the city, working on his record, performing at local events, and making new friends.
He planned to form a team with different guys who had different skill sets so they could accomplish fame and success collectively. Trying to initiate this movement began to cause problems when he realized everyone valued what they had to offer and often wanted to call the shots or walk away. He didn’t want a feud or lose focus on what he came to do, so eventually, he formed his label, Ghetto Breed Entertainment, his publishing, Freddy Will Publishing, and formed an international team with friends who lived in different parts of the world. From there, he went alone, deciding to do it solo.
His plan was to form a team with different guys who had different skill sets so they could accomplish fame and success collectively.”
This was when the fun began. It was a year later, in the summer of 2007. Freddy was back in Toronto after having released the songs recorded in the previous year on a Fred E Fame and DJ Law mixtape entitled, ‘Stay True.’ After heavily promoting the mixtape on myspace, he took it to the States, where he received rave feedback. He shopped for producers all over Toronto until he met Eddie Bullen. By then, he was working with another producer, Steve Stadelman, to record the second mixtape. Once he met Eddie, the chemistry was magic.
He was ready with rhymes, and Eddie was ready for production. They banged one song after another, re-recorded some of the old songs he had done with his boy who first invited him to Canada. Then Freddy Will brought in his homies Rich, B, and Jordan from New Jersey, Liberty Silver, Diane Seaton, and S. Davis to feature on the album. The feeling was incredible! He was there, and they were recording left and right. Soon, his website and blog went up to control his propaganda, and then he signed up on Facebook and Twitter a while later.
Speaking English was especially helpful for me in Toronto because there is a huge Caribbean community.”
“The majority of my songs are in American English. Speaking English was especially helpful for me in Toronto because there is a huge Caribbean community. Besides being a New Jersey native, I also came up in Liberia as a kid, so my tongue is tuned in the Americo- Liberian tone. Africa is one of those culture havens with thousands of tribal dialects, traditions, and cultures. As an African, I would connect more if my music was exclusively sung in a native language.
The Caribbean native tongue is similar to Creole, which I speak well, and the Caribbean community is also well adept in English languages. This way, I fit in with the Caribbean community when I went on my own in Toronto. This is how I wrote the song ‘City Boy’ feat. Winnie Culture’. From then on, I had found a family in Toronto.” – Freddy Will *
