Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free)

Album: Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album (2012)
Charted: 76
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Lupe Fiasco's first single off his fourth studio album, Food & Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album, finds him spitting rhymes about aspects of modern American life he doesn't like such as "Suicide bombers and prosperity gospels, emaciated models, with cocaine and blood pouring out their nostrils" as well as socio-political problems in Ghana and the invasion of Iraq. Fiasco debuted the song on May 21, 2012.
  • The Simonsayz & B-Sidet, produced track borrows from Pete Rock and CL Smooth's 1992 song "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)." After its release, Rock tweeted his unhappiness at his original song being used. "I'm not flattered @ all. Dat s--t is wack, and the producer should be ashamed of his fu--in self. Smh That record is dear to me," he complained. Rock's song was written for his friend Troy Dixon, who died in 1990 after a performance with Heavy D. In another tweet, Rock added, "No disrespect to lupe fiasco and i like him alot but TROY should be left alone."

    The section sampled in Fiasco's song has a long history: it is the saxophone part from "T.R.O.Y.", which was itself a sample from a 1967 recording by Tom Scott and The California Dreamers called "Today," which was a cover of a Jefferson Airplane song from earlier that year.

    Upset at the criticism from Rock, Fiasco told MTV News correspondent Sway Calloway that he didn't actually sample "Reminisce," but instead crafted his track from the original source, Tom Scott's "Today."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.