BIOGRAPHY

_{F R E D D Y W I L L . C O M}

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A LIFE OF PROMISE ON A JOURNEY FROM WAR TO PROMISE

FREDDY WILL born Wilfred Kanu Jr. is an American rapper, producer, song/screenwriter and Author who is also the CEO/President of Freddy Will Publishing and Ghetto Breed Entertainment also know as GBE. He was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, raised in Monrovia, Liberia in West Africa and spent his adult years in the state of New Jersey, USA. In the early 90’s he wrote and performed his music all over Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone and Serekunda, Senegambia, Fajara and Banjul three of the main cities in The Gambia in West Africa by mid 90's. He became well known in The Gambia as the Sierra Leonean refugee who loved hip hop music by artists such as Naughty by Nature, The Notorious BIG and Tupac Shakur. He represents a continuation of a generation of hip-hop tradition that has spanned from the old school in the U.S., Canada and Africa. Freddy Will later naturalized and became an American citizen.

His hustle reached new heights in the United States and Canada when he released a mix tape in Toronto entitled “Stay True” on September 18th, 2006. That mix tape generated hype drawing the attention of an acclaimed movie producer who wanted almost every song for the soundtrack of his upcoming movie.

In 2007, Freddy Will returned to the studio and enlisted the help of crossover producer Stephen Staddleman and JUNO award winner Eddie Bullen to produce and record his highly anticipated debut album entitled “While I’m Still Young- The Talking Drums.” Upon completion he inked a national in store and world wide online distribution and promotion deal with Soulkiss Entertainment and Dep/Universal Music Canada.

Freddy Will soon discovered that Soulkiss Entertainment was not living up to their end of the agreement. In fact they were using Universal Music Canada as bait for independent artists who had already recoreded a full length album and independently sponsored professional music videos, to claim their production credits, hamper their promotional efforts and pocket proceeds from this exploitation of the independent artists. Soulkiss Entertainment breached almost every aspect of their promotion and distribution contract with Ghetto Breed Entertainment. After claiming to be backed by Universal Music Canada and Dep, Soulkiss Entertainment failed to deliver on their obligation to promote and distribute the album in stores nationally in Canada as the contract had stipulated. Their (Soul Kiss Entertainment) CEO Brian LaRoche told one lie after another in an attempt to verbally redefine the terms of their signed contract. Mr. La Roche dodged phone calls from Freddy Will's management and used delay tactics to buy himself time for their contract to expire. In the meantime he utilized CDBABY secretly distributing Freddy Will's album on the internet. Soulkiss Entertainment proved incapable of physically distributing Freddy Will's album in Canada. The only copys of the album that they (Soulkiss Entertainment) were able to manufacture were the one thousand (1000) copies paid for by Ghetto Breed Entertainment and even with that they could not sell more than twenty (20) copies of it. Ghetto Breed Entertainment has sold three (3) hundred copies of that one thousand (1000) copies in Canada independently. Ghetto Breed Entertaint formed its own independent distribution department (Ghetto Breed Distributions) and facilitated manufacturing and distribution of the album in the United States. Six (6) thousand copies of the album was sold independently in the United States with several hundreds more shipped to England and West Africa. In January 2009, Freddy Will pulled the plug on Soulkiss Entertainment and recalled his album from Universal Music Canada and Dep.

A new promotion and distribution agreement was inked a month later with Double K Records. Under the Double K Records agreement, (Double K Records which is a division of Soul Asylum Poetry & Publishing), a joint distribution and publishing venture with Ghetto Breed Entertainment and Freddy Will Publishing was put in place towards the releasing of Freddy Will's "While I'm Still Young - The Talking Drums 1.2v" album (which is a re- release of the album Soulkiss Entertainment could not distribute.) The new release contains several new songs and an entirely new packaging. Along with the re-release of Freddy Will's debut album is the publishing of his first book entntled. 'MY BOOK OF CHRYMES' which were both launched in the United States and Canada on August 11th, 2009. Their one album, two books deal will also see the release of Freddy Will's second book. Ghetto Breed Entertainment reclaimed Freddy Will's internet distribution from Soulkiss Entertainment and Freddy Will Publishing now independently distributes and publishes the book and album online in conjunction with Soul Asylum Poetry and Publishing and Double K records.

Photography by: Shane Reed.

DON'T FORGET TO VISIT BLOG.FREDDYWILL.COM

MUSIC CAREER...

In the early 90’s Freetown was a social haven. Night life were thriving, street life became popular, waves upon waves of refugees poured into the city from the war torn provinces while everyone expected the rebels to attack the city at anytime. Freddy attended high school in the East end. After school he carried a boom box around playing Naughty by Nature albums. He knew the lyrics to all their songs and lip synched “OPP”, “Yoke the Joker” "Hip Hop Hooray and “Ghetto Bastard” all the time.

He made new friends and soon started to perform his music at local talent and high school variety shows. As the war drew closer from the provinces, he wrote about violence and expanded on his list of rap icons to include Dr. Dre, Snoop, Scarface, Nas, Tupac, the Luniz and Biggie.

In 1995, Freddy moved to The Gambia to avoid the war in Sierra Leone. At this point in his life he had seen enough and frustration was starting to set in. His mother had gone to the States right after the Liberian war to join his father and help secure a new home there since the ones in Liberia and Sierra Leone were lost. However, plans for him to join them in the States was delayed and the years continued to pile on.

Traveling from Bo to Freetown Freddy had hoped that a plane ticket would arrive with his name on it. By the time he got to The Gambia it was literally down to a waiting game. At that point things were taking too long to get better and the struggle started taking its toll.

Depression began to set in on him heavily and he began to write intense angry lyrics. The Gambia presented many opportunities for Freddy Will to master his art. He performed all over the country, from Banjul to Fajara, Latrikunda German to Senegambia, Freddy became well known for his battle rap and controversial lyrics. Even though he was a refugee in The Gambia, he kept his spirits up when showcasing his talent everywhere he performed with high energy. As the time passed, Freddy grew wearier and decided to travel to neighbouring Senegal for a change of scene.

When in Dakar, a French speaking city, he became even more lost and frustrated because he didn’t speak French. Battling French MCs was pointless since he couldn’t understand what they were saying. Low on funds, weary, disappointed, exhausted, Freddy Will hung on until the the last minute when the phone call finally came. He picked up his plane ticket and join his parents in the United States the very next week.

Once he arrived in New Jersey in 1998, life changed. Freddy reunited with his parents for the first time since he was 12 years old. Now a grown man, he wanted a fresh start with a decent shot at life. He moved out of his parents home shortly and settled down with a determination to work hard and earn a decent keep.

"I did my thing in Plainfield, New Brunswick, Franklin and Freehold. I started going to Newark, Jersey City, East Orange and seeing what the spot was like from Paterson to Trenton. I lived in PA for a li’l while and Brooklyn for a hot second.” Freddy said in his blog. "I was broke even though I had my own crib and a whip and all that. Hustling on the side was not only an option, it was a necessity. I had to work two jobs to keep it moving.

I went from washing dishes in a nursing nome to working in two of the top hospitals in central Jersey as a phlebotomist and a patient care technician. I felt like the best way I could really help my patients is if I was in a better place. Plus the whole time I was passing up on my passion, which is music and theatre. So one day I made my decision to give this music shit another shot.”

Freddy Will decided to head up north to Toronto, Canada in 2006 to meet with one of his close friends from Freetown who was now a Canadian. Freddy Will joined Qing of Qryptonik Records for a short while, recorded several demos and performed with other artists on that label. After becoming active in the music game, he started performing all over North America.

He released a mixtape in Toronto with Fred E. Fame of 5th TV entitled 'STAY TRUE' (which was released off Qryptonik Records) and got a buzz in New Jersey and Toronto. The following year, he hooked up with JUNO award winning producer Eddie Bullen and crossover producer Stephen Staddleman to work on his debut album entitled ‘While I’m Still Young – the talking drums.' This album was released in September 2008 off Ghetto Breed Entertainment initially distributed in Canada and online by Soulkiss Entertainment. In 2009 it was re-released as 'While I'm Still Young - The Talking Drums 1.2v' spunning several new tracks and all new packaging and is currently abailable in a packaged with his first book entitled 'My Book Of Chrymes' through CDBABY, AMAZON, DOUBLE K RECORDS and RHAPSODY through Ghetto Breed ENT and Soul Asylum Poetry and Publishing. The previous distributors Soulkiss ENT/dep/Universal Music Canada had almost caused the promotion effort of the 2008 releases to stall with their heavily breach promotion and distribution efforts. The debut album was revamped and released AUGUST 11th, 2009. Freddy Will also pened his first book 'MY BOOK OF CHRYMES' which was also released on the same day in a Book and album packaging.

Who is Freddy Will? ... now you know.

www.myspace.com/freddywill

Twitter.com/freddywill

Blog.Freddywill.com

        EARLY LIFE...

Freddy Will spent his early life in the West African city of Monrovia, which is the capital of Liberia. His father taught at the Central high school.  While living in Monrovia his father began to lecture psychology and moved the entire family to Margibi County, Liberia.

“At the time Liberia had a thriving economy and it was known as ‘petite’ or ‘little America in West Africa.” Freddy Will explained.

At age of eight he adored artists such as Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley and Michael Jackson. He started to performed at talent shows his neighbors held during birthday parties. By this time break dancing had hit in West Africa. Freddy’s talents was already blooming when he re-wrote his first Bible stories into a play for his church theatre. He soon learned to play the guitar and became a star player on his local soccer team.

One day, while walking home from school, he overheard the song “Wild, Wild West” by Kool Moe Dee. He stopped in his tracks and listened to the whole song. He then went over to the owner and begged him to record the song on his cassette. He dug deeper into the world of hip hop to find out more about the new sound and discovered other hip hop artists such as L.L. Cool J, Ice Cube, Gangsta Nip, Snap and Public Enemy. He was one of the first few in West Africa at the time to adopt urban culture as a way of life.

In December 1989, a civil war erupted and changed everything. Genocide hit the innocent streets of Liberia with an iron fist, shredding through the country from county to county leaving behind nothing but terror. Freddy’s father had fallen seriously ill a few months before the war started and had flown to The United States for treatment. Back in Liberia, the rebels were looting, killing and raping mothers and daughters... Children were being brain washed and turned into vicious child soldiers. Dogs fed off dead bodies laying on the streets all while the rebel forces made a steady advance for the capital city. Music and art took a back seat and survival became everyone’s priority, including Freddy Will’s.

“Most of the people I knew or grew up with in Liberia are now deceased. Almost all of them were brutally murdered. I have no childhood friends left and I haven’t been to the place where I grew up since I left Liberia in 1990. I’ve spent most of my adult years in New Jersey and recently came to Toronto, Canada to record my debut album.” Freddy Will lamented.

Freddy Will made it out of Kakata, Liberia mere weeks before rebels raided their family home. His family narrowly escaped the masacare in Liberia. Later, news from Kakata reported rumors that when the rebels reached Kakata, no one was speared in their house to house invasion. Luckily, Freddy escaped to Sierra Leone before the last batch of rebels got there.

There were very close calls on his rather unpleasant journey to Sierra Leone. This was his first time leaving Liberia and at age 12 he had more knowledge of how to operate a rifle than he did his algebra. He knew it may take a long time before he would return to the place where he lost his innocence, Liberia. To this day Freddy has not returned to the place where he grew up or met anyone from his early childhood since he met a few acquaintances in the refugee camps at Bo and Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Two years after escaping the genocide in Liberia, neighbouring Sierra Leone came under an even fiercer rebel attack. While living in the Province of Bo, Sierra Leone, he dealt with the abrupt change from Liberia, an American colony, to the very different British lifestyle . One of the most difficult challenges he faced at that time was finding his place in his new society. On one hand, he was a refugee in his home country and on the other hand, he was meeting relatives for the first time. He soon settled with relatives and adjusted there after.

“It was rough. The refugee camps were brutal, food was scarce and everyone was sick. When it rained water leaked into the tents, people basically slept next to puddles all night with hundreds of mosquitoes buzzing and biting. There was no clean water for miles and many of the people there had lost everything they had in the war.” He elaborated.

Photography by: Shane Reed.

In Sierra Leone, Freddy had to learn how to fetch water manually from deep wells, how to split logs with an axe, know the basics of agriculture and how to live off the land. As he got to know his relatives he appreciated the opportunity of getting to know his uncles, aunts and grandparents. He was very eager to experience Sierra Leone in its entirety. Often the troublesome child, he used gangsta rap music to rebel against anyone who over stepped their authority.

When the war in Sierra Leone started to get more serious, he began to hang out with the soldiers deployed in the provinces. He ran their errands, did chores for them and helped carry their bags. In exchange, they taught him how to use several weapons including automatic rifles and small explosives. Sometimes he traveled with the soldiers into rebel territories where one day the soldiers he was with came under attack. Freddy Will aged 14 at the time, participated in some fire fights where many army units took causalities. Everyone who survived the battles left with some sort of cut or bruising if not a fatal injury. Once, Freddy got grazed from a stray bullet in his left hip. One day, a Colonel spoke to Freddy Will and put him on a cargo truck bound for Freetown charging him to return to his family and to go back to school. He went to Grassfield and lived with two of his Aunts.