Freeway

Leslie Edward Pridgen (born August 6, 1978), better known by his stage name Freeway, is an American rapper from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He first gained recognition after appearing on Jay-Z's fifth album, The Dynasty: Roc La Familia in 2000. The following year, he became a member of the Philadelphia-based hip hop collective State Property, which were signed to Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings. After releasing their debut album, Pridgen would sign to Roc-A-Fella as a solo artist and subsequently begin work on his solo debut, Philadelphia Freeway (2003). Upon release, the album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and saw positive critical response. He would release a follow-up, Free at Last (2007) to moderate reception before him and fellow State Property cohorts were dropped from the label.In 2009, Pridgen was briefly signed to Cash Money Records, although his next three albums: Philadelphia Freeway 2 (2009), Diamond in the Ruff (2012), and Free Will (2016) were released independently. He returned to work with Jay-Z in 2018, signing to his successor label Roc Nation; Pridgen released his sixth album Think Free through the company in June of that year.