Three years after his debut studio album, rapper Chron "Hell Razah" Smith releases his second official album in collaboration with producer Selwyn "4th Disciple" Bogard. The guys are part of the groups Sunz of Man and Killarmy respectively, both affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan. So this is an interesting collaborative effort between artists from the two groups in the Killa Beez universe. The cover recites "Sunz of Man Presents Hell Razah & 4th Disciple", so due to the confusion around the group in the early 2000s, this is believed to be a Sunz of Man effort by two of them. The guys thought it up like Gangstarr, G Rap and DJ Polo, Rakim & Eric B., Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, this should be a legendary duo at that height.
Contrary to what it may seem, the production is not entirely managed by 4th Disciple, even though the Wu-Elements producer makes most of the beats, building two thirds of the album and producing the first fourteen tracks and the last: the other beats are provided by unknown amateur beatmakers such as Joe Loops, Nitro, Data, Mark V and Goldie. The album remains very personal and the only guests of the product appear in the last minutes, with the presence of Hell Razah's older brother Baghdad and the author's childhood friend 7th Ambassador, who was part of the groups Mad Mob and Da Last Future together with Hell Razah and later left the group shortly before the birth of Sunz of Man.
Both these guests arrive with tracks carried here from "When All Hell Breaks Loose", Hell Razah debut album released in 2001. This second disk sounds like a debut, and a third of the songs are recycled from that previous CD including the same songs (15-19) and the same stanzas inserted in new songs ("Baby Girl", "Project Love", "Angel Tears", "One Harmony", "Take Your Time"): these tracks include the verses of "Ghetto Love", "Hood for Life", "Don't Hate It" (tracks also featured on this album), "Rowdy Rowdy" and "True Kingz", respectively. Contributions from Baghdad on "Don't Hate It", 7th Ambassador and Embassy on "True Kingz" are all removed in favor of more Hell Razah verses to build these tracks.
The Brooklyn MC's pen is sharper in this LP, whose themes focus more on politics and socio-conscious topics than in the first solo CD, performed with an energetic hardcore rap style. The boom bap rhythms of 4th Disciple are inspired by the chipmunk production of the early 2000s and the Wu-Element inserts several samples of seventies soul songs, practically making no mistakes. Distributed by X-Ray and Big Brother, it consists of 20 tracks and over an hour of music, and is one of the best projects in the rapper's discography, rewarded by a mixing that returns a cleaner sound than the previous record, combining excellent rap and fantastic production, for several minutes flawless. The disk sells 5.000 copies as independent.
In 2007, the project was reissued by Chambermusik Special Products with the title "Freedom of Speech: Classic Edition" and a revised and corrected tracklist. Furthermore, the liner notes state that this is the "real version" of this "classic album" as originally planned by 4th Disciple, a sign that there were some misunderstandings between the producer and other parts in the final draft of the project's tracklist released in 2004. The new tracklist differs slightly from the original one: "High Science" becomes "Watz da Sci", "House-Pitality" is "Hospitality", "Oh-Baby" becomes "Everybody", "Way of Life" changes to "Hip-Hop (Way of Life)", "Same Ol' Thugs" is changed to "Same Ole Thugz", "Project Love" changes to "Hood Love", "Who Gonna Die Next" is replaced by "Dirty Box", "Angel Tears" gets a z, and "We the People" is replaced by "Outro (Let Em Know)".
Tracks by other producers taken from Hell Razah's first album are removed, so this version is entirely produced by 4th Disciple and features Hell Razah rapping exclusively, with no guest contributions, becoming a slightly better version than the original, but not yet a classic as announced in the liner notes because, despite a good amount of solid and interesting cuts, there's really no very strong cut or masterpiece. The closest thing to it is "Same Ol' Thugs", then rightly included in the compilation "Wu-Box: The Cream of the Clan" together with the songs on this album "Oh! Baby", "Don't Hate It", "Way of Life", "One Harmony" and "Rebel Music". “Same Ol’ Thugs” boasts slick soundscape painted by 4th Disciple, twangy bass, somber violins, sad piano keys, sad hook by Hell Razah, slow, heavy, excellent verse from the Sunz of Man emcee making one of his best solo cuts ever on a highlight production by 4th Disciple, here in one of his pinnacle moments.
Rating: 7/10 (Chambermusik version: 7.3/10).
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