Philadelphia Freeway

Philadelphia Freeway is the debut solo studio album by American rapper Freeway. It was released on February 25, 2003, via Roc-A-Fella Records. Recording sessions took place at Baseline Studios, Quad Recording Studios and Sound On Sound in New York, Circle House Studios in Miami and Larrabee North in Los Angeles. Production was handled by Just Blaze, Kanye West, Bink!, Black Key and Ruggedness, with co-producer E-Bass and additional producer Gee Roberson. It features guest appearances from Beanie Sigel, Jay-Z, Young Gunz, Allen Anthony, Faith Evans, Nate Dogg, Nelly, Sparks, Peedi Crakk, Rell, Snoop Dogg and Mariah Carey.
In the United States, the album debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200, selling 132,000 copies in its first week. It was supported by four singles: "Line 'Em Up", "What We Do", "Alright" and "Flipside". Its lead single, "What We Do", reached number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 47 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. The second single off of the album, "Alright", made it to number 64 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The album's third and final single, "Flipside", peaked at number 95 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 40 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and was featured on the Bad Boys II: The Soundtrack.
Its sequel, Philadelphia Freeway 2, was released on May 5, 2009, for Real Talk Entertainment.

Critical reception

Philadelphia Freeway was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 74 based on seven reviews.
Chris Ryan of Spin called the album "the rare hip-hop debut that does justice to its buzz". Jon Caramanica of Rolling Stone stated that the album is "supported by the most accomplished set of beats in recent hip-hop memory". In his mixed review for Stylus, Brett Berliner concluded: "Freeway is great on guest appearances, but it seems that he can't string together an entire song by himself".

Track listing

;Leftover Tracks

"Roc the Mic "
"Show Go On"
"Night Shift"

Notes

signifies a co-producer
signifies an additional producer

Sample credits

"Free" contains a sample of "Freeway Song", written by Joey Melotti and Vicki Sue Robinson, and performed by Vicki Sue Robinson.
"What We Do" contains a sample from "I Just Can't See Myself Without You", written by Skip Scarborough, and performed by Creative Source.
"All My Life" contains a sample of "I Want To Go Back", written by Curtis Mayfield and Ben Krass, and performed by The Impressions.
"Don't Cross the Line" contains a sample of "To Get Love You Must Give Love", written by Vinnie Barrett and Bobby Eli, and performed by Ultimate Music Experience.
"Life" contains an interpolation of "Life for the Taking", written by Eddie Money.
"Victim of the Ghetto" contains a sample of "We Belong Together", written by Yvette Davis, and performed by The Spinners.
"You Don't Know " contains a sample of "Inside My Love", written by Minnie Ripperton, Richard Rudolph, and Leon Ware; and performed by Minnie Ripperton.
"Alright" contains an interpolation of "Mystic Brew", written by Ronnie Foster.

Personnel

Leslie "Freeway" Pridgen – vocals
Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter – vocals, executive producer
Dwight "Beanie Sigel" Grant – vocals
Nathaniel "Nate Dogg" Hale – vocals
Pedro "Peedi Crakk" Zayas – vocals
Cornell "Nelly" Haynes – vocals
Calvin "Snoop Dogg" Broadus – vocals
Faith Evans – vocals
M.A.J. – additional vocals
Christopher "Young Chris" Ries – vocals
Hanif "Neef Buck" Muhammad – vocals
Gerrell "Rell" Gaddis – vocals
Kenneth "Omillio Sparks" Johnson – vocals
Alaine Laughton – additional vocals
Allen Anthony – vocals
Torrey Torae – additional vocals
Mariah Carey – vocals & producer
Eric "E-Bass" Johnson – guitar & bass
Justin "Just Blaze" Smith – producer
Roosevelt "Bink!" Harrell III – producer
Melvin "Ruggedness" Carter – producer
Kanye West – producer
Mickey "Black Key" Davis – producer
Gerald Roberson – additional producer
Gimel "Young Guru" Keaton – recording, mixing
Carlisle Young – recording
Brian Stanley – recording & mixing
Doug Wilson – recording, mixing
Shane "Bermuda" Woodley – recording
Rabeka Tunei – recording
Pat Viala – mixing
Manny Marroquin – mixing
Ken Lewis – mixing
Paul Gregory – engineering
Dana Jon Chappelle – engineering
Colin Miller – engineering assistant
Dave Perini – engineering assistant
Giulio Antognini – engineering assistant
Manuel Farolfi – engineering assistant
Tony Dawsey – mastering
Damon Dash – executive producer
Kareem "Biggs" Burke – executive producer
Tia Johnson – art direction, design, cover
Jonathan Mannion – photography