Channeling compassion and empathy into beats
Produced By is a series dedicated to sharing the stories of hip hop producers and to spark gratitude and inspiration for creators.
Free P is a 25-year-old LA-based producer and engineer with creative roots in Tennessee and Atlanta. Free has produced for artists like The Game, Wiz Khalifa, Lorine Chia, Isaiah Rashad, Michael da Vinci, Tut, Two-9, Case Arnold, Rikki Blu and more. Hear all the tracks he’s produced for various artists here.
With a calm demeanor and a zen-like approach towards life, Free is not afraid to admit that he’s still learning and trying to get better every day. He looks to failures and hard times as part of the journey and emphasizes the importance of letting go to progress forward.
“It’s all about pace and not having any doubts,” he says.
His self-awareness and ability to communicate his feelings through his music production has allowed him to stay on course and soak in unexpected opportunities and milestones in his career thus far.
Picking up and going
Free P, whose real name is Freddie Jefferson and who often goes by Free or Fred, was born in Killeen, Texas.
With both parents in the military, Free and his older sister moved around often throughout their childhood. After he was born in Texas, his family moved to North Carolina where he lived until he was 5.
He experienced life overseas throughout the first three years of elementary school when his family moved to Japan and lived at Camp Zama, a US army base roughly 30 miles southwest of Tokyo.
His father being in the military band and having a side band called Hypertension played a key role in Free developing his interest in creating music.
“I was around music my entire life and being able to see him play live and seeing him play keys, bassoon and a lot of different aspects of music, it instilled versatility in me,” he says.
After three years in Japan, his family returned to the US, specifically Clarksville, Tennessee where he spent the rest of his youth up until high school. Clarksville is also home to artists and friends he’s produced for and recorded like Case Arnold and Tim Gent. He attended Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) in Murfreesboro where he met his current collaborators like D. Sanders, ThankGod4Cody, Rikki Blu, Isaiah Rashad, Tut and Michael da Vinci among others.
As he continued to get more serious about production midway through college, he moved to Atlanta and spent two years expanding his sound and building connections within the music community there with artists like Childish Major, Black Metaphor, Two-9 and more. He then returned to Tennessee for six months before moving out to LA in February where he’s currently based.
“I don’t have a problem picking up and going. That’s a part of me and I appreciate it,” he says.
His decision to stay in LA for the long haul was unexpected after a 10-day visit in February turned into a permanent stay through a sequence of events in the Spring–he was reconnecting and creating with friends like ThankGod4Cody and Rikki Blu who were convincing him to stay while he was also waiting to hear back on other production placements.
Unexpectedly, on 4/20 this year, his production was placed on “Two Blunts” featuring The Game, Wiz Khalifa and Lorine Chia. That sealed the deal for him to continue building in LA.
“You never know what’s going to happen. You just gotta stick it out and keep working. Never feel like the lows are too low for you to handle. You can get through it,” he says in reflection of the lows and highs and pure faith he experienced this year that’s led him to this point.
Translating emotions and empathy into sounds
Free has found that his main reason and purpose as a producer and artist is translating emotions into sounds and in turn, giving listeners a sense of comfort in knowing they’re not alone in going through challenges. He attributes this to his personality and ability to empathize and show compassion.
His introspective sound is felt through his own beat tapes and albums and seen in the titles themselves. Over the years, he’s released Phases, Outside Looking In, Inside Looking Out and Deja Vu. Two months ago, he released Past Tense which he minimally describes in the album description as “what once was no longer is.” Listen to all the albums here.
Free says he creates in order to communicate his challenges, learnings and goals to shift thoughts and attitude to make room for progress and growth.
Unexpected paths that lead to unexpected milestones
Being able to express his emotions in his production is epitomized in how the 420 anthem, “Two Blunts” featuring The Game, Wiz Khalifa and Lorine Chia came together.
Free initially created the instrumental beat during the week that he was going through a heavy breakup and processing a range of emotions. The beat was previously titled “The Process Of.” A month later, it became the production behind “Two Blunts.”
Hear the full details of how it all came together below.
That painful emotions fueled into a beat would evolve into a catchy 420 anthem with major rap artists is a blessing for Free.
He attributes it to his belief that everything has a meaning, no matter how small and no matter when the meaning will reveal itself.
“It’s cool seeing every aspect of the process of something manifesting itself,” he says.
Free says it’s important for him to focus on every detail when it comes to production because of the serendipitous way the universe can work when it comes to opportunities especially as a producer:
“You never know what adding that small detail to a beat is going to change for the future. You never know that’s going to be the small element that’s like ‘Oh my God, that’s the reason why this artist wants this beat because of that one thing.’ You just never know.”
Putting faith into his creative community as an engineer
While Free was developing his craft for making beats, he was also putting faith into his creative community in Tennessee by being the go-to engineer to record artists who didn’t have a proper place to record early on in their careers.
He invested in a $1000 mic with a tax refund check to record artists overtime, from T. Clark, Tim Gent and Case Arnold in Clarksville to Rikki Blu, Isaiah Rashad, Michael da Vinci, Tut and more in Murfreesboro.
“I was like I got nothing but faith in these dudes. I’m going to go all in and invest all I have,” he says.
Things have come full circle since he’s also helped produce these artists’ records over the years, and they’ve been his primary, creative circle of friends and creators.
For instance, the first track Free recorded of Isaiah Rashad in his apartment in Murfreesboro was “Fake Trill” produced by Chris Calor and uploaded four years ago. Fast forward to the present — Free co-produced “Find a Topic” with J.LBS on Isaiah’s debut album The Sun’s Tirade which was released in September this year.
“At the end of the day, I like seeing my friends prosper,” he says.
Moving forward: Raising Awareness of Aesthetic
Driven by his past experience providing space and resources for artists to record as an engineer, seeing his friends succeed, and creating from the heart, Free wants to elevate himself and others through an entity he’s created called “Raising Awareness of Aesthetic.”
“Raising Awareness of Aesthetic” is a concept he’s exploring to learn more about artistry across different mediums and promote cross-collaboration. Whether it’s in person or online, he wants to bring people together. He wants to give individuals an opportunity to share their work across different forms to build confidence, celebrate diversity and community and generate peace through music and creativity.
Above all, he feels it’s important to always be yourself and remain open and a student in every aspect of one’s journey:
“Half of the battle is showing up then everything will fall into place. Just trust yourself and find your confidence as you’re going through it.”
Follow Free P on SoundCloud, Twitter and Instagram and hear the full compilation of inspiring interview clips here.
Writer’s note: I’d like to start including some context behind my connection to the individuals whose stories I share. Learn more about how I first met Free P here.
