Beanie Sigel & Freeway – “Philly N*ggas”

Ask anyone who considers themselves a fan of Hip-Hop who their favorite duo is and you’ll get a list of the usual suspects. Outkast. UGK. Eric B & Rakim. Jay-Z & Kanye. The list could go on, but a selection that usually gets overshadowed for a variety of different reasons. Beanie Sigel and Freeway may have never put out an album or mixtape together (State Property not included). Yet, these two helped put Philadelphia back on the rap scene in a major way. Where Will Smith brought the commercial aspect years earlier, Beans and The Phreezer captured the grim, grit, hustle, violence and depression that is Philly’s inner city.

Their styles were unique, but the penchant for capturing the surroundings of the inner city which damn near took their lives and manifesting them into actual lyrics went a long, long way into helping carve their way the genre’s history. “Philly Niggas” was found on Kanye West’s I’m Good mixtape released many, many moons ago. Some may have heard it awhile back, some may have never heard the record to begin with, which is fine, too. That said, the chemistry these two had for one another was a tour de force that was beyond apparent. Maybe Freeway was more “lyrical” and maybe Sigel was more of the emotion-based rapper, but whatever the formula may be, it worked. And it worked quite often.

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