Freeway Talks Jay-Z Announcement In Philly & Why He Was There!

05/24/2012 •

According to Billboard.com Jay-Z held a press conference (May 14) on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to announce a new two-day music festival, Budweiser Made in America, to be held Labor Day weekend (Sept. 1-2) at Philadelphia's Ben Franklin Parkway in Fairmount Park. Jay-Z-who is headlining the event was joined by Philly Mayor Michael and a few other noteworthy people Also on hand was Philly native and former Roc-a-Fella Records artist Freeway.

"I was there because I wanted to see my friend, and I wanted people to know that me and Jay are still cool," says the rapper, born Leslie Edward Pridgen, who stood silently onstage during the announcement. "If you follow me or you're familiar with what I do on the Internet, whenever anyone comes to town in Philly that I'm OK with, I usually come and support them."

Freeway's attendance at the press conference didn't come without controversy. The rapper wasn't included in a group photo op at the event, prompting media to assume that his presence wasn't actually welcome and sparking a flurry of chatter online that found Freeway the butt of many jokes. Still, he remains unfazed.

"All press is good press, and I've definitely been doing a lot of press," says Freeway, who took to Twitter (@PhillyFreezer) during the press conference to post a picture of himself with Jay-Z at the event with the note: "Stop that shit, Jay my N***a!!" "I'm happy for the press, because the truth is, Jay knew that I was there and it was all love. There's nothing negative about that. People just turned it into what they wanted to. I actually thought it was kind of funny."