Diplomatic Records’ president Ezekiel "Freekey Zekey" Jiles was released
from prison in Durham N.C. yesterday (Nov. 20) after serving three years in prison
for running an ecstasy ring. Freekey Zekey, 31, was convicted in 2004 on
the drug charges and served almost three years in prison. The rapper was
greeted in front of the Durham Correctional Center by a limousine, which whisked
him away to the Raleigh-Durham International Airport for a flight back to New
a headache already, but it’s all good," Freekey Zekey told AllHipHop.com.
"That’s my atmosphere, that’s how I live. If it’s not loud music, if it’s
not police siren, fire siren, gunshots, people yelling, if it’s not a loud atmosphere,
I am not going to feel comfortable, no way no how."Zekey has appeared
on numerous Diplomat mixtapes and albums by Cam’ron. In April 2003, Zekey was
robbed in New York after a minor car collision outside a Manhattan nightclub.The
robbery and subsequent shooting took the life of his childhood friend Eric Mangrum.
In December of 2005, Chauncey Dillon, 30, was sentenced to 30 years to life for
the robbery and murder. Shortly after the shooting, however, Freekey Zekey
was sentenced to 35 to 42 for his involvement in an ecstasy ring in New Hanover
County, North Carolina. With his past behind him, Freekey Zekey is focusing
on his upcoming debut, The Book of Ezekiel. "I’m touching on all sides,"
Freekey Zekey told AllHipHop.com. "I am not just focusing on one way of rap.
There’s people that just do gangsta rap. My mind fluctuates so much that I just
change course in my music. It might be a happy song, it might be a song where
you shed a tear, it might be a song where you wanna pop a n***a head off, it might
be a song where you just want to party. I’m real diversified because my mind is
like that. That’s how I feel. I might be happy, sad, ready to killa a n***a or
ready to party."Freekey Zekey and his Dipset group members have established
a cult following in Hip-Hop through their mixtapes and independent albums. Zekey’s
freedom comes during another high point for his group. Dipset group member Jim
Jones’ single "We Fly High" has become a national anthem of sorts, for
its catch phrase "Ballllin."The single is taken from Jones’ recently
released Hustler’s P.O.M.E., which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Rap
Albums chart and the Independent Album chart.Cam’ron’s 2002 effort Come
Home with Me has been certified platinum, while his 2004 album Purple Haze
has been certified gold.Juelz Santana’s 2003 album From Me to You
is certified gold and his 2005 release What the Game’s Been Missing is
gold and platinum? That’s all we go!," Freekey Zekey said. "Listen,
we on an independent label, man. Independency means… listen, if you go 50,000
[sales] that’s they recoup. Once you go anything over 50,000 on Koch, Asylum
and all that, Jim [Jones] goes 200-300,000, Killa [Cam’ron] goes the same thing
200-300,000, Duke [Da God] goes 110-189,000. I don’t know the stats on J.R.
[Writer], I ain’t get ‘em, I’m locked up . But when you do over
20-30,000 maybe 50,000, we get eight dollars off of that. Times that by 100-200-300,000.
All that 10 cent, all that 15 cent n***as do on them major labels, we not with
that. We getting real cake, man. $8.45 a record, man. I be home I’ll get
it and you check my stats, check my flow, check my guap. Freekey Zekey’s
debut album The Book of Ezekial will hit stores in December.
