This is the musical journey of Grammy-nominated artist and author Freddy Will, a Sierra Leonean-American author in Europe. The story begins with his birth in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and his upbringing in Monrovia and Kakata, Liberia, where his interest in the performing arts peaked at a tender age. This semi-autobiography describes critical moments in his life, the circumstances that occurred after the teenager's family separated from him at the beginning of the civil war in Liberia. It tells how Hip Hop changed his fortune.
He excitedly clung to the dream of one day reuniting with his family in the United States and pursuing a career in the performing arts. Only his emergent talent in music, theatre, and literary writing did not sit well with his family, who almost succeeded in ending his artistic pursuits. It's an Afropolitan tale about a displaced youth who flees two genocides through numerous events that almost led to his untimely demise. The betrayals he grieved inspired many of the lyrics on this book's accompanying studio album.
As a teenager, Freddy Will was among the first West Africans to adopt Hiphop. He moved from country to country, living with relatives in Sierra Leone, Gambia, and Senegal, bringing his unwavering dedication to the culture and craft with the aim of becoming a Hip Hop recording artist and author. At the same time, he was waiting for the US Immigration and Naturalization Service to approve his application. Fortunately, at the height of his distress, he emigrated to New Jersey in the United States, after he received a clean slate.
However, he's tormented by bittersweet memories of his extraordinary survival. In the US, the enthusiastic Hip Hop pioneer became distracted. He entered a period of speculative quests exploring theatre studies, American films, chemistry, and accounting. His aptitudes unheeded for nearly a decade, a chance encounter revitalizes his musical passion. After naturalizing in the US, he traveled to Toronto, Canada, to record his long-awaited debut album. There, he became a Hip Hop recording artist and a published author.
This book includes his first crossover album, "While I'm Still Young - The Talking Drums 1.2v," which contains many songs he wrote and performed in West Africa. Follow the lyrics in this book as you enjoy these dynamic tunes. There is a QR code that gives exclusive access to the entire studio album. Today, Freddy Will has inspired numerous recording artists with his crossover style that blends Jazz, R&B, Soul, Rock, Afrobeat, Calypso, and Zouk rhythms with Hip Hop cadences. He writes and publishes his books in Berlin, Germany.