All artists under G.B.E. own the exclusive rights to their work including, but not limited to master recordings. This is a Record Label which helps artists display their talents while using a portion of the proceeds towards foundations and organizations in the community.  This allows the opportunity to administer momentous assistance and community service to others. Each artist entertains their own crowd, developing on their own accord their skills and talents, while being an evocative element in their society. However, G.B.E. has artist development and management services available to artists who wish to benefit from it.

The concept of the title ‘Ghetto Breed Entertainment’ comes from the reggae playing ghetto slums in Sierra Leone where Freddy Will hung out.  This was a place where cheap cookeries (hut restaurants) served some of the best home cooked Sierra Leonean native dishes and where reasonably priced barbershops housed highly skilled barbers who were assumed to be the ‘information highway’ in the neighbourhood.  You could buy and smoke marijuana there and prostitution was not authorized. Many people who lived in the surrounding areas bought provisions from badly stocked improvised convenience stores. In particular, it was notorious for being a place where some of the most hard core delinquents hung out. During the civil war, government soldiers frequented the huts that served palm wine, a natural beer like drink that came from palm trees.

“I frequented a ghetto called ‘Mandela’ on Ross Road in Cline Town, Freetown and ‘Babylon’ by Cantaine Street in Fourah Bay when I lived in Freetown.”

Freddy first learned of ghettos when he was a young boy in Sierra Leone seeking a place to escape numbing hungers. He became separated from his parents after the Liberian war and lived with distant relatives who despised his open display of love for hip hop. They gave cold shoulders and cut him off from their inner circle as punishment. His parents sent them an ample monthly stipend which his guardians were supposed to use for his daily requirements. Instead, they kept most of the money for themselves and left him to wander the city as he sought for solace. At the ghettos, Freddy found a hustle and joined rackets that paid enough to buy cookery food, a decent hair cut and used clothing.  Poverty reigned in the ghettos. There was no electricity, no tap water, no flush toilets but its inhabitants coped by building improvised sheds to sleep in, latrines and wash yards. Many residents were skilled in everything from music to sports but the opportunity to utilize their talents beyond the boundaries of the ghetto was seldom. It was a place where everyone strove to make it out of, but once they did, they never forgot the bond they had with people they hung there with.

“Most people see me now and ask themselves why I like nice things. My hanker came from being in the ghetto - swag, paper stacking, chest moves, how to mac, how to deal with authority, how not to snitch (no matter what), how to live in our culture, keep our traditions, respect the worthy, be loyal to those that got your back and even the concept of ‘death before dishonour’ was taught to me in ghettos. Ever since then, I knew I was a ‘ghetto breed’ and I’ve been screaming that from way back then, not to mean that I am still in the ghetto but contrarily it is to bring an awareness for change to be possible. How can a place where you gained a wealth of knowledge be a place where the poorest people live? I call myself a Ghetto Breed because I was partly bred in it, my father’s house was bound with bread but because of immigration issues I was suffering everywhere I went. I strive to bring success back with me to the ghetto so that others can see that it’s possible for good things to happen to us.”

Freddy Will Publishing has collaborated with Soul Asylum Poetry and Publishing to publish Freddy Will’s first book in 2009. Together with G.B.E. and Double K Records they facilitate marketing, music promotion, distribution and publishing of Ghetto Breed literatures. 

                                                         
                                             FILTHY RICH