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"Freek-a-Leek" is a song co-written and recorded by American rapper Petey Pablo. It was released on December 1, 2003, as the second single from his second album, '' Still Writing in My Diary: 2nd Entry'' (2004). It was produced by
Lil Jon Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971), better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, DJ, and record producer. Regarded as a progenitor of the club-oriented hip-hop subgenre crunk, his production and voice presence were inst ...
and is an example of a crunk&B song. The single peaked at number seven on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in July 2004.


Background and recording

In 2000, following an appearance on the remix of the
Black Rob Robert Ross (June 8, 1968 – April 17, 2021), known professionally as Black Rob, was an American rapper who was signed to Sean "Puffy" Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment. He was best known for his 2000 single " Whoa!", which peaked at number 43 on ...
single " Whoa!", Petey Pablo caught the attention of record producer
Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he is widely acclaimed for his distinctive production work and "stuttering" rhythm ...
, as well as the A&R manager of
Jive Records Jive Records (later stylized as JIVE Records) was a British-American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of the Zomba Group of Companies, Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chic ...
, who helped Pablo acquire a deal with the record label. Pablo's first single, " Raise Up", was an instant commercial success, reaching the top 25 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and receiving heavy airplay on
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
. '' Diary of a Sinner: 1st Entry'', his debut studio album, was released later in the year and initially sold well due to the success of "Raise Up": however, the follow-up singles "I Told Y'all" and "I" failed to have any major impact on the charts. Consequently, Pablo's material received very little promotion from Jive over the next few years and the release of his second album '' Still Writing in My Diary: 2nd Entry'', originally set for 2002, was postponed indefinitely: it was not released until 2004. Despite these delays, Pablo continued to record material for the album, eventually completing it during 2003. He recorded "Freek-a-Leek" following studio sessions with
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
rapper
Lil Jon Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971), better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, DJ, and record producer. Regarded as a progenitor of the club-oriented hip-hop subgenre crunk, his production and voice presence were inst ...
, whose popularity had increased following his work with
southern hip hop Southern hip-hop, also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip-hop, or dirty south, is a blanket term for a regional genre of American hip-hop music that emerged in the Southern United States, especially in Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee ...
duo the
Ying Yang Twins The Ying Yang Twins are an American hip hop duo consisting of Kaine (born Eric Jackson on December 16, 1978) and D-Roc (born Deongelo Holmes on February 23, 1979). Despite the name, the duo are not twins, brothers or related in any way. They d ...
. Before Lil Jon began work with Petey Pablo, at the request of Jive he had made fifteen productions for American rapper
Mystikal Michael Lawrence Tyler (born September 22, 1970), better known by his stage name Mystikal, is an American rapper and actor from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is noted for brash, obstreperous vocal delivery, characterized by a Southern rasp. He si ...
, who also recorded for the label, although he passed most of them on. One of these, the production that would eventually become "Freek-a-Leek", was given to Pablo by Jive without Jon's knowledge, after which he recorded the song. Meanwhile, thinking that the beat had not been used, Lil Jon gave the production to American singer Usher for his single " Yeah!", from which a rough version of the song was recorded, mixed and mastered. Although Lil Jon eventually realized the mistake after Pablo played him "Freek-a-Leek" during one of their studio sessions, Pablo was unwilling to give up the song, especially as it was already receiving airplay on Southern hip hop radio. As a result, Lil Jon created an entirely new instrumental for "Yeah!", and Jive Records solicited "Freek-a-Leek" as the first single from ''Still Writing in My Diary: 2nd Entry'' on December 16, 2003, through release as a vinyl single.


Composition and lyrics

A crunk&B and
dirty rap Dirty rap (also known as porno rap, porn rap, sex rap, booty rap, or pornocore) is a subgenre of hip hop music that contains lyrical content revolving mainly around sexually explicit subjects. The lyrics are often overtly explicit and graphic, ...
song of three minutes and fifty-five seconds in length, "Freek-a-Leek" is backed by an instrumentation which features a "slowly strolling riff", as well as following a tempo described as "heavy- synthed marching band-inspired". It begins and ends with a fake radio show, with Pablo acting as an impromptu host as well as introducing the song. Pablo's vocals are built around a "
Novation Novation, in contract law and business law, is the act of – # replacing an obligation to perform with another obligation; or # adding an obligation to perform; or # replacing a party to an agreement with a new party. In international law, no ...
synth A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
" based melody, with a
flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
becoming audible during the chorus as well as a set of "cleverly layered vocal chants". The lyrics of "Freek-a-Leek" were noted for their heavily sexually explicit nature: according to David Jeffries of
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
, "Pablo rattles off the names of different drugs, girls and sexual positions as if he was checking off his grocery list".


Remix

The remix features
Jermaine Dupri Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper and record producer. Raised in Atlanta, Georgia as the son of Columbia Records executive Michael Mauldin, he began his career in music at the age of nine. He discovered th ...
and
Twista Carl Terrell Mitchell (born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Twista (also known as Tung Twista), is an American rapper. He is best known for his Chopper (rap), chopper style of rapping and for once holding the title of fastest ...
. The song appears on Twista's album ''
Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
''.


Music video and use in other media

The music video was directed by Erik White and features actress Esther Baxter. The opening scene is based on the film '' Belly''. The sound was also featured on the 2005 video game '' Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition's'' soundtrack. In 2019, American rapper
Saweetie Diamonté Quiava Valentin Harper (born July 2, 1993), known professionally as Saweetie (; also pronounced as simply "sweetie"), is an American rapper and singer. Her 2017 debut single, "Icy Grl", received RIAA certification, double platinum cer ...
sampled the beat of "Freek-a-Leek" in her song " My Type" from her EP ''Icy''.


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freek-A-Leek 2003 singles 2003 songs A&M Records singles Crunk songs Dirty rap songs Jive Records singles Petey Pablo songs Song recordings produced by Lil Jon Songs written by Craig Love Songs written by Lil Jon