The Biography of Freedom Williams

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He was the pivotal force in creating a musical anthem that was heard around the world.

“EVERYBODY DANCE NOW!”

Once anyone heard the voice of Martha Washington, they awaited the smooth bass flow of Freedom Williams’ palpable lyrics. “ Here is the dome, back with the bass, the jam is live in effect and I don’t waste time, on the mic with a dope rhyme, jump to the rhythm, jump, jump to the rhythm, jump… ”

As the front man and co-founder of the international multi-platinum selling group C and C Music Factory, Freedom has traveled and performed around the world extensively, and has yet to meet a crowd that he couldn’t captivate. His performing abilities are just one of the things that keep the crowds mesmerized. However, once they get past that, they are shocked to realize that he is so down to earth .

Freedom, born in Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn,NewYork, moved to CambriaHeights,Queens, New York at the age of 7, which is where it all began. Queens, New York has been the home to some of the greatest rappers and entertainers to ever grace a stage. Freedom went to Junior High School I.S. 192, located on the famous 205 th Ave. in Hollis, Queens, which was home to RUN-DMC, Jam Master Jay, and L.L. Cool J.Freedom wasn’t just a watcher of Hip-Hop culture; he was one of the innovators and early hands-on creators. He would rock basement parties as MC Tiny Tim, a name he took from the 70’s and 80’s funk group The Fat Back Band and their song entitled “King Tim the 3 rd,” which predated Sugar Hill’s “Rappers Delight” as the first commercially successful Rap record. In June of 1981, about to enter his teens, Freedom became a member of the 5 Percent Nation of Islam, and, thus, acquired knowledge of him-self and his people. Around 1983 he was arrested for burglary and various other omissions, which gave the judge no choice but to remand him to live in Boston with his brother, who was a police officer and attending HarvardUniversity at the time. Freedom believed that this turn of events helped to save his life, and helped him to realize the true power of Hip-Hop and the power that many in his native NewYork were taking for granted. In the Boston/Framingham area Freedom honed his skills while rapping to young teen audiences who had just recently become familiarized with this vibrant New York street culture. To these Bostonians,Freedom was as close as they could get to real NewYork culture.

From there Freedom went to college and formed a rap group called “The Chosen Few” (also known as “Hard Core”). They opened for Dana Dane and Joe-Ski Love, and even opened up for the Beastie Boys’ first show ever in NewportNews, Virginia.

However, his love for the music wasn’t fully realized, and while attending Virginia’s own HamptonUniversity as a history/mass media communications major he was counseled by a music professor (whose real estate properties Freedom managed) to follow his heart and focus on music. This professor was the internationally renowned RolandCarter, who was Chairman of the music department at Hampton University and director of its internationally acclaimed choir for nearly quarter of a century, and who would later be named UC Foundation Professor of Music at theUniversity of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Today Mr. Carter is also Chairman of the National Association of Negro Musicians (NAMN), which was founded in 1919; it is the oldest organization dedicated to the preservation of African American musicians. A devout advocate of education and disciplinarian, Mr. Carter obviously saw something in Freedom that prompted those timely words of wisdom. Freedom and Professor Roland Carter are still friends today.

Within two years of Mr. Carter’s advice, Freedom found himself back home as an assistant engineer at Quad Recording Studios in MidtownManhattan. This was 1988. Freedom’s first commercially successful single was put out on the independent label Nu-Groove Records owned by Frank and JudyRussell he was featured as a guest vocalist. Def Jam records executive KellyMonaghan, who at the time was running a label distributed by Nu-Groove brought him to them. Interestingly enough, the song was called “Rise to Freedom,” which was produced by the 7 member, house music super group, Total Science out of East New York. The single featured Underground Network founder Barbara Tucker. Total Science also known as the underground kids consisted of house hit makers MichaelBaker, Shaka, SamuelMedina, and IanSkeete.

This was an underground house hit admonishing the oppressive apartheid regime in South Africa. Freedom’s second single entitled “Get-Dumb,” which was distributed by Vendetta/A&M Records and co-produced by Kenny “Dope” Gonzalez of the now famous Masters at Work tandem (which also includes Little Louis Vega), was on the B-side of the hit song “You’re my One And Only (True Love)” by the three girl singing group Seduction, which was put together by mega-hit producers Clivilles and Cole. Freedom met KennyDope when they were hanging out in the house studio of Nu-Groove. Shortly there after, Freedom, Cole and Clivilles would form C and C MusicFactory featuring Freedom Williams. Freedom became famous for literally smashing clubs like ThePalladium, TheTunnel, and RedZone. A story goes that rapper K-YZE, who had a hit single out called Stomp (That’s The Idea), laughed at Freedom as he ran across the bar and jumped from table to table, telling his Friend “he’s corny he dances too much.” Shortly thereafter Freedom went on the sell millions of records because of this dancing. Before the Palladium’s closing Freedom would perform by himself for 30 minutes with one single and literally in front of thousands perform like it was his last performance.

Initially, RobertClivilles and DavidCole did not know that Freedom was a rapper. They found out through a friend who was working at the studio, whom Freedom happened to be college buddies with. Freedom initially was an engineer at QuadrasonicSound working on the first Rakiem/Genius project two artist later to be known as RZA and GZA of Wu-Tang fame. Freedom worked on the SSL recordingconsoleextensively, and says that “although my intention was to become assistant engineer, then chief engineer, then producer, then eventually artist, in the studio there is serious protocol and studio etiquette, and running up to producers, free-styling, was something that could get you fired in a heartbeat. So you knew your place and waited your turn.” As soon as Rob and Dave (Clivilles and Cole) heard Freedom rap, it was a wrap.

Together, these three founding members, writers and co-producers of C and C Music Factory reached Number 1 on the US dance charts and Number 3 in the UK in 1990 with "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now).” The single sold 1.7 million copies. Freedom, along with female vocalist Zelma Davis (whom he brought to the group) being the only two of the four to tour and promote the album and singles, felt compelled to tear apart any stage ascended, which is one of the many reasons why they sold almost 7 millions records worldwide aside from his high energy stage shows, and bodybuilders physique. He has won several awards for bodybuilding and power lifting, and has appeared on body building shows and in “Flex” magazine. He prompted celebrated actor BlairUnderwood to proclaim that Freedom “should put his shirt back on.” One of Freedom’s goals has been to run the New York Marathon. He jogs often. The group garnered 5 Billboard Awards, 5 American Music Awards, 2 MTV Awards, Australian music awards, Japanese music awards, andeven Grammy nominations. Venues around the world were selling out upon the announcement of a scheduled show date.

The song “True Love” went to the Top Twenty on the Billboard Pop Charts and Number One on the Dance Charts. This precipitated Freedom’s love affair with dance music, which seemed to oppose his straight hardcore rap background. Freedom says - “The beat was faster than what was normally considered a rap beat. It was called H ip-House back then. One day, while living in Bed Stuy,Brooklyn, I was walking down Fulton Street and I heard Rob Base and DJ Eazy Roc’s “It Takes Two To Make A Thing Go Right,” blasting out the back of somebody’s jeep. “The whole hood jumped, it was a slightly different twist on Hip-Hop. So I knew that what Rob, Dave and I were doing was on point. Besides, it was different and I liked the challenge of being different.” Because of Freedom’s innovative stage show, which featured 10 to 15 dancers whose dances he often choreographed himself, Freedom was signed to Columbia Records, and the rest is history. Freedom still tours domestically and internationally quite a bit.

Freedom , has worked with some great female lead vocalists in his time, from Zelma Davis to the original voice behind “Gonna Make You Sweat,”Martha Washington of the Weather Girls to Sandra St. Victor of the Family Stand, and house pop diva Crystal Waters. Though they went on to enjoy six more UKTop40 hits during 1991 and 1992, including a re-recording of U2’s"Pride (In The Name Of Love),” featuring Debra Cooper on vocals, the only song to reach the Top 10 was "Things That Make You Go Hmmm…” which was jointly credited Freedom Williams. The latter also provided the group with their third consecutive USTop 5 hit, following the Number 2 hit "Here We Go, Let’s Rock and Roll". Freedom released a solo record on Columbia records in 1993; Freedom, Mike Moore, The Family Stand and Dr. Period, the discoverer of MOP, produced it. Freedom was proud to co-write with his friends NickAshford and ValerieSimpson on this album. Freedom says “this record had really incredible talent on it like brother of JamesIngram,PhillipIngram, LutherVandross producer MarcusMiller, and the famed QuincyJones horn section used on OffTheWall and Thriller.” Freedom and producer MikeMore flew to Los Angeles without confirming any of the musicians to personally work with these guys and mix with Babyface engineer JonGass. It was luck that they were all in town at the time and Marcus Miller was flying out of town the next day. Freedom says, “We were young, brash and naive, we just wanted to work with the best.”

Freedom worked on his friend ChrisRock’s 1998 Grammy winning spoken word album entitled “RollWit TheNew” starring TracyMorgan, VernonReid, Oran “Juice” Jones, MarioJoyner and produced by DeLaSoul founding member PrincePaul. The single was called Champagne.

Freedom has recently formed “Freedom Williams Entertainment,” where he is now lending his vast talents and experiences to new, up and coming artists. One such artist is “Alkebulan,” a female vocalist who has been currently touring with Freedom around the world.

Freedom WilliamsEntertainment inked a deal with RMDEntertainment in mid 2004 which released “Sweat the Remixes” to rave reviews in Europe. The name of the group that Freedom anchors, which features him as well as several other artists, is collectively known as “TheExchange,” a name Freedom derived from the stock options that RMD offers while brainstorming on the phone with the company PresidentGio Costonis. The name of the album due in the summer due in the summer of 2005 is RMD VS C and C Featuring Freedom Williams and The Exchange the greatest hits remixed. It features the Black Knights 7 th Brigade, Alkebulan, Ra-Sun, Bed Stuy Murder Mafia, and KC Flightt.

The new “Sweat” remixes have garnered rave reviews and is getting major spin in the clubs and on radio in Europe. Mega Bop/Universal distributes it.

It is currently in heavy rotation on Radio 1 in London, and features remixes by Double G., Cheyne Christian, JackFunk, Sleepwalker and Andy Bork (who produced Punjabi MC, who had a big stateside hit with Jay-Z late in 2003) and forthcoming the Drumatic Twins, who are dubbed the “Neptunes of London.” Danny Tenaglia, Hernan Cattaneo, the Plump DJ’s, Phantom Beats, Dark Globe, Junior Vasquez, Sandra Collins and many more support these mixes.

Freedom was assigned to the executive post of Vice President at RMD Entertainment. Blue Horse Entertainment, a publicly traded company under the symbol BHHD, wholly owns RMDEntertainment. A clothing line called Navy Blue/Black is due to be released in the fall of 2005.

Freedom recently resigned from the post Vice President/director of Entertainment of the “ The Universal Hip-Hop Parade” an association dedicated to bringing a positive message through Hip-Hop music, graffiti and dance. Freedom was instrumental in bringing sponsors to the table like Power 105.1 (number #1 station for Hip-Hop and R&B in NY), ecko clothing line, Dr. Pepper, and Def Jam Records to name a few. Community activist and politicians who adamantly supported Freedom’s call for giving back to the community were Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Minister Kevin Muhammad, Assemblyperson Annette Robinson, and the late great councilman James E. Davis. Forthe Freedom was uniquely able to bring together rappers and politicians in August at or around the birthday of Marcus Garvey to celebrate life with children. During Freedom’s 2 and 1 half years with this organization he directed the not for profit entity to its highest point, Freedom then decided it was time to leave and focus on other areas of entertainment.

Continuing in the tradition of giving back to the community Freedom currently penned a 350-page history book, which is garnering rave reviews, entitled “The Black Knights: The African Origins of Medieval Culture from the Middle East through Europe.” The book asserts that the African presence and control over Spain and Italy, which lasted for almost 800 years, inevitably prompted Columbus’ infamous expedition to the so-called “NewWorld,” which lead to the final construct to the demise of the African Continent and the uplifting of Europe to first world status. He says that before then, Europe would have been considered third world status, if there actually is such a thing. The book contains a plethora of facts relating to the wonders of Black people in medieval times. The medieval word “moor ,” which means- Black, is prevalent in words such as - a mour (French), a mor (Spanish) both meaning love; in names like Morgan, Moore, Moreno, Maurice, Maury, Maureen and Marsha; in negative words like moron, morbid, as well as in famous names of literature such as Mordrid from “KingArthur” and Mordor from “Lord of the Rings.” It is even present in the word “ murder.” It is quite evident that there are examples of the Black presence in Europe within the English lexicon. Of course a musical CD is attached to this illustrious body of work. Which will feature some of the artist off of FreedomWilliamsEntertainment. There are at least nine hundred pages of work already written by Freedom which will be broken up into at least three more books (one which will be a beautiful tribute to the presence of horses in ancient and modern culture), each with additional musical CD’s attached. He has also written a three part comic book, complete with superheroes and villains, which can be viewed on his website, it feature a group called the BlackKnights C.O.N. (Council Of Nine) Freedom says “the book was written with young people in mind in a language that they can understand, Hip-Hop has done more to bridge the gap between the races then any politician or clergy, so in that respect it will continue to help young people have a respect for each others cultures of the world. The children are the future.”

Furthermore, Freedom has created a foundation in the name of his great-great grandfather (on his fathers’ side), ReverendDr. RufusL. Perry. He was a Black man who escaped slavery in 1852 as a teenager and went on to become, among many things, a fluent scholar in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages. He went on to write the seminal classic “The Cushites, or the descendants of Ham: as found in the Sacred Scriptures and in the writings of ancient historians and poets from Noah to the Christian era.” Information can be found about the foundation on the web under the banner www.rufusperry.org

Freedom hopes to acquire his bachelor’s degree through his world experiences and writing endeavors and his masters shortly thereafter. Freedom studied under Dr. Gabriel Oyibo, the West African genius who completed Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, which he entitled “The Grand Unified Theorem,” or “GAGUT” (God Almighty’s Grand Unified Theorem”). Dr. Oyibo was nominated for the Nobel Prize in math and physics in 2002.

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