Split: Legendary / Philadelphia Freeway 2 (Special Edition)

Album Review

Released a couple months after he announced the forthcoming Stimulus Package, recorded with Jake One for Rhymesayers, Freeway came out with this relatively low-key, no-frills set. Related to 2003's Philadelphia Freeway only in a nominal sense (certainly not in stature), this so-titled sequel is a succinct independent album with production from many of the same names that populate other Real Talk releases (Beat Killaz, Cozmo, Vince V.). Tending to be as gruff and excited as ever, Freeway gets the rallying beats — reminiscent of Roc-a-Fella-era highlights like "What We Do," "Flipside," and "It's Over" — to match. Freeway sticks to his strengths as an MC, dishing out threats and boasts, some of which are weaved through tales of drug slinging. One of the album's few mellow cuts, "It's a Good Day" rewrites Ice Cube's like-themed 1993 classic.