Free-wizzle is cool

SOHH had an interview with Beans where they (and framed it as if Beans did) took a shot at Freeway’s 1st week sales. I believe the quote mentioned a disappointing 36,000.

I find it hilarious how people who have never released their own album can minimize another person’s efforts. I am not sure who the writer was but I would be surprised if they had ever sold 36,000 records as an artist or executive. Now the reality is that 36,000 on Def Jam is indeed terrible. But 36,000 as a number itself is awesome. It’s not like Free was a top priority like a Jay or Rhianna. Anyone who expected him to do six figures was bugging from the jump. He is not that type of artist. That is why he got pushed around in that system. Free would do better on Koch, Imperial or RED. But he could pull a Kanye and force the machine to push him to the top of the agenda.

It’s hard to go to the CFL after you 5 years in the NFL, know what I mean? A mid level artist on Def Jam gets a lot more perks than a starter for Koch. No offense. They are both great machines.

Back to my point. These people who comment and want to belittle this artist or that have probably never built a co-op plan, wrote a bio, taken them to Kinko’s at 1 am, stayed up all night making promos for press, driven a van from Edinburgh to Brighton for a show, trooped up to NY from DC on a work night to rock for 10 minutes with Kweli, spent their life savings, ate potato chips for dinner, gone to the plant and loaded up 4,000 records in your whip just to save shipping costs, slept three deep in hostel, threatened a distributor to get their check, done a sales presentation for a room full of uninterested sales people, spent 23 ½ hours in the studio to mix one song, gone to the emergency room, paid royalties out of the rent money, cried after listening to the final mix in a rent a car back from LaGuardia, stood in Tower Records for 45 minutes to see who bought your record, and wish they could have moved 36,000 copies.

They probably have sat on the sidelines and thrown stones for years, lounged in comfy offices while legions of people they have and will never see do much of the dirty work, dismissed an underperforming artists and moved on to the next news cycle, wrote reviews without listening to an album, focused on their career rather than the art, watched a lot of TV and mastered the art of mimicry.

Freeway, your album is dope. Be proud brother.
And to all you critics as they say, walk a mile in that brother’s Gucci Mocs before you pop too much sh*t.