Old School Wednesday
Jake One ~ “The Truth” (feat. Freeway & Brother Ali) (2008)
🎥 Watch the Video:
👉 YouTube ~ The Truth
📝 Lyrics:
👉 Genius – The Truth
“Cause we spittin the truth and nothin else.” – Freeway
This one doesn’t waste time.
No filler.
Just two top-tier MCs going back to back over a soul-drenched Jake One beat.
Freeway comes out swinging ~ that signature cadence slicing through the track.
Gritty bars about struggle, hunger, urgency.
Then Brother Ali brings the sermon.
Calm introspection. Personal truth. Spiritual flex.
Brother Ali’s verse is too good not to include the whole thing:
“Ah, Jake roll that beat out like a red carpet
I put that blood red target to your head, spark it
Directly out the ghetto marchin like I’m Rev. Sharpton
Bet I’m starvin like it’s free breathe, his head’s startin, look like I’m share croppin
Cooped up squattin in a studio apartment
Food stamps up in the pocket, mixin tuna with the ramen
Boosted a few bottles of baby food out the market
You ain’t grew in this environment, so who are you to comment?
Hungry pacin in a bus station with my nuts hangin
But I never sold base, motherf*** Reagan (motherf*** Reagan)
Sh*t just wasn’t in my upbringin (upbringin)
None of us is above scrappin my brother, so I don’t judge nathan
Some of my buddies slanged it
Then one got taken out, toe tagged, f*** that, rather be butt naked
I say it real, I’m afraid of bein killed
Seein my kids raised in hell, me away in jail
And them poems I been sketchin since I’m seven
Got collected by my brethren, now it’s my profession
Big music industry and seldom gettin mention
But the few that do zoom in respect me as a legend
F*** that, I’m a Reverend
The Philly Freezer with the Street Preacher
Settin up shop teachin the lessons
These are not just words we tell you in the booth
That feeling you just got inside your stomach is our proof ~ that we the truth.”
It’s one of those tracks with a high signal-to-noise ratio but isn’t radio-friendly.
It might not hit the charts ~
But it’ll sit with you longer than most hits ever could.
🧪 The Sample
🎶 Johnnie Taylor ~ “At Night Time (My Pillow Tells a Tale on Me)” (1974)
👉 Listen on YouTube
Jake One flips this Stax deep cut into a haunting, gospel-tinged loop.
The line “The truth is so plain to see” gets pulled into the intro ~
a spiritual cue before the verses land.
It’s warm, worn-in, and exactly the kind of loop that holds weight.
