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Freedom Williams talks hoops, C+C Music Factory

Posted on June 20th, 2007 – 1:18 PM
By Michael Rand

000000000000000000001freedom.jpgIt started as a throwaway line at the end of a post yesterday, but you, the reader, said you wanted us to follow through. So we fired an e-mail to Freedom Williams — majority owner and VP of the CBA’s Atlanta Krunk and formerly a vocalist with chart-topping C+C Music Factory. He responded just a few hours later and said to give him a call. We did today, and even though we caught him in the middle of lunch, he was gracious enough to answer our questions about the Krunk, new head coach Kenny Anderson and a bunch of other nonsense that he probably shouldn’t have had to put up with but did. Ladies and gentlemen, Freedom Williams:

RB: Kenny Anderson – how excited are you to have him as a coach?
FW: I’m extremely excited about Kenny. … I call him the crossover king. I grew up with him, and I’ve known him for years. It was the perfect opportunity. He was a wonderful guard. He traveled in the NBA, he’s a stickler for the game and he’s a student. The CBA needs that type of boost right now. It needs Kenny to really galvanize things.

RB: How much cred does he still have in Atlanta from his Georgia Tech days?
FW: I think he has a tremendous amount of credibility. He took them to the Final Four. He got Steph [Marbury] to go to Georgia Tech. Atlanta is really excited about having him.

RB: How much flat-out fun is it to own a basketball team?
FW: For me … it’s extremely exciting. Now, I also do entertainment for the NBA — New Jersey, Cleveland, Houston, Phoenix, a lot of halftime shows. Being involved in the CBA, being a majority owner, is just another step.

RB: A player comes late to practice and he’s smellin’ like perfume. Is that something that makes you go, “Hmmmmmm?”
FW: (Laughs) Absolutely. You have to wonder about that. But that’s Kenny’s job now.

RB: “Gonna Make You Sweat” and “Here We Go.” Both awesome songs in their own ways. Compare and contrast.
FW: They’re different songs but they have the same rhythm. … We wanted a similar song and we didn’t want to move the bar too far. [He said something in here about Babyface that we didn’t quite catch]. It’s a technique that a lot of artists use.

RB: What are you working on right now outside of this hoops project and the other things we’ve talked about?
FW: I have a wonderful artist Alkebulan, an incredible singer. She does most of the anthems when I do halftime shows. She’s just an incredible artist. … We just shot a video, and BET picked it up. She’ll also be the voice of the Krunk.

RB: I went to your myspace page. Is that the real Al B. Sure among your friends?
FW: Yeah, he’s my buddy. He’s a good guy.

55 Responses to "Freedom Williams talks hoops, C+C Music Factory"

Stu says:

June 20th, 2007 at 1:34 pm

Awesome.

Ryan P. says:

June 20th, 2007 at 1:50 pm

Kudos RandBall. You just gained +3 street cred.

Sassbottom says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:12 pm

What a delicious waste of time.

RandBall, could you ever have dreamed, back when you were a wee tot in Grand Forks or wherever the hell you grew up, that someday you’d grow up to interview C+C Music Factory’s Freedom Williams for a “blog” on the “Internet?”

‘Tis an amazing world.

Coyote says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:13 pm

Have you ever used a combination of “cred”, “flat out” and “smellin’ like perfume” in an interview before?

I think your goal should be to get Sid to say “cred” on the Sports Show some week.

RandBall says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:16 pm

I’m not sure I’ve ever used any of those terms ever before except flat out. But the perfume question was my ace in the hole, even if it requires specific knowledge of a song that topped the charts about 15 years ago.

The Sports Hernia says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:17 pm

“RB: I went to your myspace page. Is that the real Al B. Sure among your friends?

FW: Yeah, he’s my buddy. He’s a good guy.”

thank you for that

Tuna Can says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:24 pm

That was awesome.

Does this qualify Freedom Williams for the Randball golf tournament?

Extra P. says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:29 pm

Wait a minute…. Crunk=street cred. C&C Music factory does not = street cred.

Loved it, though.

Rodrigo says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:36 pm

Whoa, no questions pertaining to the team’s name? Is alcohol allowed in the clubhouse? Is Vin Baker the team’s spokesperson? Lastly, any clue if the following is a CBA Mascot Party hosted by Atlanta’s own: http://youtube.com/watch?v=-CWJgT5NTWg

Jon says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:40 pm

This post gives me great hope for the future of the mainstream media, and is an immediate inductee into the RandBall Hall of Fame.

Speaking of which, we should have a RandBall Hall of Fame.

RandBall says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:45 pm

Rodrigo — I did ask the team name question, but frankly it’s not that interesting a story. Krunk (actually Crunk) is a musical style made popular in Atlanta. But I’m sure there will be several regrets as time goes on.

SG says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:46 pm

Holy cow, dude. I haven’t read the interview yet, just blown away that you actually did one.
This is unreal. In a good way.

Stu says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:52 pm

But I’m sure there will be several regrets as time goes on.

You think?

That said, Atlanta Krunk makes more sense than Utah Jazz or Los Angeles Lakers.

Rodrigo says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:54 pm

Cheers, Mike! The U’s journalism program is proud. My first thought was to get a RandBall Crunk Classics mix tape in order. But sure enough someone already stumbled upon that genius: http://www.crunkclassics.com/ — unless the RB community still wants to drop their two cents (or is it 50 cent)? Hard to top that cover art, though…

RandBall says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:55 pm

SG — Expect to see more of it. I’ll be working Q&As and other stuff I used to do for the paper into the mix as my newspaper duties change. I’ll probably address that more in a post in a day or two, but Page 2, which I do at the paper currently, is essentially being eliminated as of Sunday.

Stu says:

June 20th, 2007 at 2:59 pm

Speaking of which, we should have a RandBall Hall of Fame.

Can we exclude things on an arbitrary, wholly inconsistent basis, just like a real Hall of Fame?

Rodrigo says:

June 20th, 2007 at 3:00 pm

Hmmm, upon further research (or Wikipedia), the team actually roots from Charlotte, N.C. Never realized they got their Crunk. Poor city, first the Hornets, and now this gem.

Jon says:

June 20th, 2007 at 3:33 pm

Whoa, no more Page 2? Well, there goes 33% of the content that I *always* read in the sports section.

Jon says:

June 20th, 2007 at 3:35 pm

I missed this just now, so another quick comment -

Stu: I would’t have it any other way.

RandBall says:

June 20th, 2007 at 3:37 pm

Preachin’ to the choir, good sir. But space cuts/staff cuts are going to take a toll. Some of the stuff that used to go on the page (like Reusse’s notes on Tuesday and Zulgad’s media column on Friday) will find new homes, but everything I used to write will be no longer. RandBall, though, will survive and thrive. And, honestly, will probably be better as I fold some of the content into the blog.

Stu says:

June 20th, 2007 at 3:41 pm

I’ll just second what Jon says about Page 2 and leave it at that.

Toonces51 says:

June 20th, 2007 at 3:46 pm

So, will the Sports section now just skip to Page 3, like hotels skip from 12 to 14? Or is the Strib going to the single page sports section?

Nathan says:

June 20th, 2007 at 4:14 pm

I’m with Stu and Jon. I’m utterly disappointed. But if it means more high-brow RandBall, well . . . now I’m even more disappointed!

This entry needs to be the initial inductee into the RB HOF.

Stu says:

June 20th, 2007 at 4:24 pm

Nathan: I’ll make it my life’s mission to prevent this joint from ever being highbrow, even if I have to write “poop” at the end of every post.

So, “poop.”

RandBall says:

June 20th, 2007 at 4:25 pm

Not more highbrow. Never that. Just more original content, like this here post.

University Update - Georgia Tech - Freedom Williams talks hoops, C+C Music Factory says:

June 20th, 2007 at 8:41 pm

[…] Wake Forest University Link to Article georgia tech Freedom Williams talks hoops, C+C Music Factory » Posted at Randball on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 Freedom Williams talks hoops, C+C Music Factory Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 [ 000000000000000000001freedom.jpg] … from his Georgia Tech days? FW: I think he has a tremendous amount of credibility. He took them to the Final Four. He got Steph Marbury to go to Georgia Tech. Atlanta is really excited about having him. RB View Entire Article » […]

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