Maybe it’s the New Yorker in us, but there is something like a sixth sense that just lets you know a person is from the boroughs. The same goes for hip-hop. You can listen to rap from any part of the country, the world for that matter, and easily recognize which artist is from New York. That was the experience of listening to Freck’s latest single, “Been A Minute.” The Southside Jamaica, Queens rapper has a voice and flow that is so distinctly New York, you almost immediately want to Shmoney dance.
“Been A Minute” is a nearly two-minute track that, if it was a person, would definitely don the classic Timbs and Yankee fitted. The beat, produced by AyoWithTheMayo, bumps just enough for Freck to bring his untamed energy to the track. He sets the mood of the song with the opening bars, “I don’t know what you think we got / Too much Henny on the rocks.” These opening lines do a good job of setting the standard that we, as listeners, don’t know Freck at all, and immediately builds the New York attitude with the classic reference to Hennessy.
Freck claims he makes “music to rock a crowd.” Well, there’s certainly no doubt in anyone’s mind about that. The bass towards the middle of the song is enough to bounce a person’s brain off their skull. A crowd means it’s a live show, and “Been A Minute” is sure to have showgoers shaking the foundation of whatever venue is tasked with hosting that experience. Just imagine being an avid listener of Freck, heading to one of his shows, and being utterly decimated as he rages onstage spitting these bars, “Flexing on my old hoes / My old hoes be so dead to me / Are you kidding me? / Double-ball like centipede.”
Freck surely brings an energy that most New Yorkers can resonate with. The big task for him now would be to appeal to a larger, national audience, if that’s something he finds interest in. Until then, we can expect many more anthems from him in the future.