Philadelphia rapper Freeway teams up with Seattle-based producer Jake One to create the Stimulus Package. The album is the Freeway’s second post-Roc-A-Fella album and his first for Rhymesayers Entertainment. While Freeway is the headliner of the album, it is Jake One’s production that gives the album its well-defined feel.
Jake One, understanding where Freeway is from, taps into the Philadelphia soul sound to produce songs like “She Makes Me Feel Alright” and “Throw Your Hands Up”. The tracks with soul samples are clearly the best songs on the album. The other tracks have a little more mainstream-type production. “Follow My Moves” sounds like a mix of DJ Toomp‘s production on “What You Know” and Timbaland‘s production on “AYO Technology”. “Know What I Mean” sounds like it could be a Scott Storch beat.
Production doesn’t make or break every song. “The Product” is a little too stereotypical of a track lyrically. The chorus of “yes, I am the product/I am the narcotic/that’s right the world is depending on me/yes, I am the product/instead of hooked on phonics/I got the whole world hooked on me” feels trite and a little amateur. Although if the beat had a little less watered down mainstream feel, the track may have been better; it’s hard to rescue a track from such a lyrical performance.
Bad lyrical performances are not the norm from Freeway. For the most part, he is able to stick to the theme of money (making money, not having money, etc) and not make it sound too forced or overbearing.
Rating: 7.0/10
