Freeway is scheduled to drop his second album, Free At Last, this week and I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of what is easily my favorite album of the fourth quarter so far. Free At Last is Freeway at his best, spitting raw lyrics with his classic delivery, and suffering from no shortage of interesting content. Executive produced by Jay-Z and 50 Cent, almost every song on Free At Last is a banger and plays like a journey down a long road, with barely any bumps in between.

Not surprisingly, the only track on Free At Last that I didn’t like was “Take It To The Top” with 50 Cent. Not only does the track sound out of place with the rest of the material on Free At Last, it just sounds incredibly forced and attempts to duplicate a commercial “Candy Shop” sound that Freeway just isn’t accustomed to. The pop/radio vibe of JR Rotem’s production on this track does not mesh with Freeway’s style well at all.

However, the rest of Free At Last sounds entirely different from “Take It To The Top,” and there really aren’t any other bad songs on the album. Most of the tracks are backed by soul-influenced production, like the first track on the album, “Can’t This Be Real.” On this song, Marsha Ambrosius delivers a great chorus as usual, and Freeway gives us a quick rundown of the last 10 years of his life or so. He covers everything from his arrest for “attempt to deliver,” to his eventual signing to the ROC, and the split between Roc-a-Fella founders, Dame Dash and Jay-Z. The details of his humble beginnings and success in the music industry give us an honest look into the life of Freeway, which was largely absent on his debut album.

Even though Rick Ross shows up for an impressive guest appearance on “Lights Get Low” and Jay-Z contributes a verse to “Roc-A-Fella Billionaires,” some of the best songs on Free At Last are the ones without the guest artists, like “It’s Over” and “When They Remember.” “It’s Over,” is an energetic track with Freeway showing off of his lyrical abilities over an up-tempo beat. He addresses rumors of him signing to G-Unit on the second verse, where he says “If Jay ain’t approve it, it wouldn’t happen/So you need need to fall back and concentrate on your music, bastard.” “Still Got Love” is another up-tempo track, where Freeway expresses love for his fans and those who supported him.

It’s difficult to choose, but my two favorite tracks on Free At Last are probably “When They Remember” and “Baby Don’t Do It” featuring Scarface. Produced by Bink, “When They Remember” contains some of the heaviest soul-influenced production I’ve heard in years. Freeway just doesn’t let up on the lyrical side either, displaying his celebratory side with lyrics like “We livin. All my women, they in Christian Dior/Yeah, Free’s up in the Bentley, but he’s missin’ the Porsche.” On the third verse, he even proclaims “Yeah my bars like Sars, knock your relatives off,” which many people will probably agree with after hearing this album. On “Baby Don’t Do It,” Free even addresses his competitors with menacing verses, like “If you think that you built, I think that you not/ I think that I will dump lead in your grill.”

Freeway delivers an incredible sophomore album with Free At Last and will probably surprise many critics and fans with his combination of impeccable lyricism and soulful production. I’ll admit that it took me a while to get used to Freeway’s voice when I first heard him around 6 or 7 years ago. And though I ended up thoroughly enjoying his debut album, Free At Last shows a significant improvement and is definitely one of the more well-rounded and cohesive albums that I’ve heard over the last few months.