Earlier this week Sudan-born, United Arab Emirates-raised, and Toronto-based artist The Free (formerly Eeshii The Free) released a brand new single titled “Calypso” in anticipation of his upcoming project titled Vibe of a Mango.
Produced by LA super-producer Mantra, “Calypso” is one of the best single releases of May 2017. The track is a direct reference to the nymph Calypso, and is both a love song and a hate song. The Free revisits a painful point in his life when he had his heart broken by a female.
The Free took his time to heal before making this song, so that he could approach the song from a less of an emotionally-devastated standpoint. The end result is a booty bounce summer anthem about the women who reel you in, hold you hostage, and leave you broken.
HipHopCanada was fortunate enough to catch up with The Free this week for an incredibly in-depth interview about this track, The Free’s recent rebranding, and how he’s managed to hone in on this sound that’s unlike anything else churning up out of Canada right now. Listen to “Calypso” below, and scope our exclusive interview.
Q&A: The Free
HipHopCanada: Start off by telling me what this track means to you on a personal level.
The Free: “Calypso” is a love song weaved by hate. When love piles up within you and goes unreciprocated by the other party it becomes a one-way destructive thing that develops into self doubt, then despair and hate. Finally at some point Father Time does his job and you move on and it becomes a distant memory; mentally (subconsciously) bookmarked for you to look back at and draw strength from. The record is me going back to this mental bookmark of pain with a fully healed heart and spirit, and a stronger mentality, and making my own formulations of this nasty saga.
HipHopCanada: You recently rebranded by dropping the “Eeshii” from “Eeshii The Free”. Talk to me about that decision.
The Free: “Eeshii” is what my friends, family and people called me. Short for “Hisham”. The Free is who I wanted to become as an artist in every sense of the word; free of everyday chains that govern our every moves. I am a big believer that what we are born into (culture, religion, society, family, etc) [should] guide us, and make us feel comfortable and safe in this new homo-sapien experience but has no right whatsoever to hold us back from a vision. A vision is the only real communication between you and god or the universe. The more I understood that, the more “The Free” became more and more suitable. It leaves much more ground to build these skyscrapers on. “Eeshii” started becoming so limited. It became an anchor that brought me back down to reality and the everyday cycle of life.
HipHopCanada: How have you changed – artistically and personally – since the release of Wild Flower and Eat, Love, Revolt.
The Free: Since those two mini albums (that are in the process of being pulled down and hopefully remixed and mastered for the future), personal growth has been monumental. Mainly because I developed patience, which was something I never had. Patience is the key to learning. You have that [and] you can do anything in green and blue world. Artistically… honestly all the development there comes naturally. All you have to do is get out there and experience the good AND the bad that your book of fate has in store for you. And if you are an artist – a REAL artist sent here to accomplish something – the flow of energy will come in one angle and explode into the world, through the prism within. Just be yourself at all times.
HipHopCanada: Who produced “Calypso”, and how did that collaboration come about?
The Free: My man Mantra out in LA a genius. I was linked to him by an acquaintance. Worked with him on “Freedom Island.” Our sounds just synced like it was meant to be. The record went viral and that was that. He produces around 70% of the summer album The Vibe Of A Mango that will be dropping a month from now. Remember his name. I guarantee you… sooner than late at least 10% of the Billboard Top 100 will be produced by him. He just hit his first gold record producing on Future’s latest album HNDRXX. Defo a legend in the making.
HipHopCanada: On that note too, what sort of sonic vibe were you going for? This track is such a genre crossover.
The Free: “Genres” is a word thrown by consumers of art, not the creators. The word “genres” actually hurts music because it automatically creates a box of perception around the creation on what it should sound like. Which defies the point of creating it. I like stepping into the unknown when creating. It always ends up giving birth to something different. In art opposed to the real world. Different is winning.
HipHopCanada: What sorts of influences – musically, culturally, and geographically – have led to your sound. It’s a sound that I’ve definitely never heard out of Toronto before.
The Free: “In this bright future you cannot forget your past” [quoting Bob Marley]. That being said my past has been riddled with life-changing interactions with other cultures. I grew up in UAE, a little country in the Middle East where immigrants all across the world flock to make a living to send back home. So it’s a cultural-immigrant oasis IF you choose to look at it that way. I did. My family were Sudanese immigrants who left Sudan and now living visa renewal-to-visa renewal in the Middle East. So that sense of uncertainty made me always know this was not home and search for more. The same with my closest friends who literally came from every corner of this earth (Kenya, Lebanon, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, South Africa, Palestine, Jamaica). So my style is tribute to all of them for the days we would sit around and listen to their parents’ whack ass music CDs. The move to Canada (Ottawa, then Toronto) – the world’s biggest cluster of immigrants – solidified my cultural knowledge of music. I chose to keep my style, even through the strongest wave Toronto has ever seen. It would have been easier for me to switch up and join the wave. But my artistic integrity just kept on rejecting it every time it came to writing and kept coming with the new new. My style is and will always be all over the place and thats how i like it. Cause my life has been all over the place.
HipHopCanada: Was there a particular female or situation with a female that inspired this track? Talk to me about that.
The Free: Of course. I would rather not, though.
Interview conducted by Sarah Jay for HipHopCanada
