THE GIVEBACK: FREEWAY
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA | FREEWAY
INTERVIEW TERRELL “REALIFE” BLACK
VALIDATED: Being from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, what’s your earliest memory of Hip-Hop culture?
FREEWAY: Man, it go way back, probably like Gangstar, Naughty by Nature, A Tribe Called Quest, Will Smith and KRS-One. I remember, they all had that song together, it was like a “We Are the World” song, with all the rappers, Miss Melody and all of them. You know, those are like my earliest memories of Hip-Hop that made me want to be like, “Yeah, I’m going to do this Hip-Hop thing.”
VALIDATED: That’s dope. So how did you get your start as an artist?
FREEWAY: Man, just loving music, you know, loving putting words together, loving poetry. It’s something that I always wanted to do. I linked with Beans. I bumped into Beans in the club in Philly, we were battling some other people, and we built the rapport from there, and once he got on, he came back and got me.
VALIDATED: Lets get to the community giveback, you founded the Freedom Thinkers Academy Health and Education Division, what moved you to create that?
FREEWAY: You know, the past 4 to 5 years, I was diagnosed with kidney failure. And in 2015, I got a kidney transplant. 2019, when I was diagnosed with kidney failure, I automatically started to be an advocate for good kidney health. I work with National Kidney Foundation, Gift of Life Donor Program, things like that. So that’s where the health side comes in.
And then you know, just being from the inner city, being from the hood, when I was coming up, if it wasn’t for music, I don’t know what I would be doing. Because at the time, there wasn’t a lot of opportunities.
So as far as the education division of the Freedom Thinkers Academy, that’s what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to provide opportunities for people. We’ve got workforce certification programs where you could sign up for a program, complete the class, take the test, pass the test, and get a workforce certification and be certified to go right into the workforce and start earning money.
VALIDATED: I remember coming out of high school, me and some friends of mine were looking into doing exactly that, and it’s not an easy process.
FREEWAY: It’s definitely not, you know, but what’s dope, it’s a good opportunity for people to invest in themselves and make something out of themselves.
VALIDATED: That’s dope, you know, somebody is actually trying to help kids, come behind them and actually ease that process.
FREEWAY: Thank you.
VALIDATED: So, you pretty much got into what the overall mission of the Freedom Thinkers Academy is. But I understand, as you mentioned, people may be able to actually get funding.
FREEWAY: Yeah, we provide funding for people that qualify for the funding. We’re getting ready to get some more grants and stuff so we could provide more funding for more people, too. So that’s what we’re working on.
VALIDATED: What are some other avenues like employment and education that your program has been able or will be able to assist individuals with?
FREEWAY: Right now, we’re offering four programs, we’re offering CompTIA A+ certification, you know, that’s like anything in the tech world, it’s like a tech certification. I picked four of them. The ones that I picked are very lucrative, and they are in high-demand. So, we’ve got medical billing and coding, we’ve got physical therapists, and then we’ve got a pharmacy technician. And these are all great jobs that have great income, and you can get into it, and you get the certification and they’re jobs that’s high-demand, so you wouldn't have a problem with getting a job.
VALIDATED: What’s been the reception so far?
FREEWAY: The reception’s been great. You know, we have people signing up left and right, man, it’s dope, man. Makes me feel great.
VALIDATED: What are the ages that you have to be? Who does it serve?
FREEWAY: It serves people that just got out of high school, you know, that’s probably trying to figure it out, or any adult that’s just trying to figure it out.
VALIDATED: So, like 18 and over?
FREEWAY: Yeah.
VALIDATED: Are there any additional programs that you’re thinking about adding in the near future?
FREEWAY: Well, I have youth programs, too. We have ‘Do-It-Yourself” workshops on the website, music programs, you know, the art of writing a 16. We have a summer producer program... Now we’re getting ready to do one too that helps people that are interested in doing production. And, you know, we’re building it. We started with these programs, we just basically keeping it simple, and focusing on what’s in high-demand, but the company that we’re partnered with got thousands of certifications, you know, thousands of workforce certification options.
VALIDATED: So, let’s say you have somebody or a company or whoever that wants to actually donate or discuss how they can get involved, who would they contact?
FREEWAY: They can contact info@freedomthinkersacademy.com.
VALIDATED: And for people that are looking to participate in any of the programs, how do they inquire?
FREEWAY: Yeah, you can just go to the website, www.freedomthinkersacademy.com and all the information is right there on the website, you actually can click the link and sign up.
VALIDATED: You’re also dropping a solo project later this year. Can you tell us anything about that?
FREEWAY: Yeah, I’m dropping a warm up project, I’m dropping a Freedom Thinkers Academy project, and then I’m dropping a solo album.
VALIDATED: And from my understanding, the Freedom Thinkers Academy project will actually feature people from the Academy?
FREEWAY: Yes, artists from Freedom Thinkers.
VALIDATED: And you’ll handpick them personally?
FREEWAY: Yeah.
VALIDATED: How important is community giveback to you?
FREEWAY: I mean, it’s very important man. I took from the community for a long time when I was younger, when I was in the streets selling drugs and just basically being selfish and just worried about myself. So now that I’m in a position to give back, in a position to help, in an efficient position to empower people, that’s what I’m going to do.