EARLY

Finally, I feel like a few really quality rap singles have surfaced in 07, and it only took until December to realize them. The first is from an unexpected source given recent mixtape material and sporadic, underwhelming appearances popping up over the years; not to mention an ill-advised G-Unit alliance and the unanimous and embarrassing freestyle battle loss to Cassidy a while back. Regardless, Freeway beats the odds and drops a surprisingly strong sophomore album titled Free At Last. The first single illustrates Free's "hood on smash" delivery he nailed on past glories like "What We Do" and "Flipside", this time with the assistance of Jay-Z who provides the necessary swagger to balance things out. Roc-A-Fella Billionaires is below.



Secondly, we have an odd-couple pairing of Diplomat Jim Jones with classic beat maker Pete Rock. It blows the mind a bit to wonder whose idea this was and who would've approached who - the two are in such drastically different worlds within rap to begin with. However, as unexpected as a good Freeway album, we have "We Roll" and the collaboration highlights what each party does best here. Pete Rock isn't trying to sound like The Heatmakerz, and Jim Jones...well, Jim Jones can only be Jim Jones. "We Roll" is below.



Our last track comes from underground contender Styles P, mixing it up with one of the most underrated lyricists in all of rap, AZ. Strategic wordplay in the chorus really does it for me on this track as the two strike up effortless chemistry and produce one of the catchiest underground hits of the year. Check out "The Hardest" below.