Third Avenue

“Most of my mixtapes all had songs I’d written while I was in jail,” Fredo tells Apple Music. “This is all different. I was free the whole time and put a lot of time and thought into it. This is my first album, and my first piece of work I’ve been out here to do.” Third Avenue is a debut that marks a period of relative serenity for a London MC who’s overcome two prison spells and celebrated a UK No. 1 (2018’s “Funky Friday” with Dave). It’s a debut that also, crucially, pays tribute to his roots. “I’m from a place called Mozart Estate,” he says. “West Kilburn on the map. There are six avenues leading into the estate, and I grew up on the third one. I’m here today because of that place. If I had left, ain’t no telling what I’d be doing.” Take a guided tour of Third Avenue with Fredo.

“Survival of the Fittest”
“I had that song for, like, a year. We didn’t want to start with nothing too jumpy, or nothing too vibesy. We just wanted to start it with something more 'core.”

“Morning”
“When it comes to individual songs, I never sit down with a plan on what sort of song I want to do. The beat decides it for me. Here the beat made me think about mornings. Before you know it, I just decided to go down that road.”

“Mmhm”
“We tried something different on this, with the funeral-style organs. Again, the beat just brought this song out. I’ll just give people my email and tell them to send me beats. If I like them, I’ll use them. That’s how I found most of the main people I use. Through my email.”

“Money Maker”
“I hope this is a big one. You never know what’s going to go off, though. I wrote 'Money Maker' in 15 minutes; I don’t usually write songs so quick, but that beat is crazy. I don’t have notebooks lying around with bars in them. I’ve never just written. It's always to a beat.”

“Pray for You”
“This is about shit that I’ve been through. People have been saying to me that I’m deep and that I’m rapping a lot about this and that, but I just rap about my life. I don’t sit down and think about being deep and shit.”

“BMT”
“I like this tune. It’s fun. I’ve got a couple of catchphrases now, and ‘Big Man Ting’ could be one.”

“Property Picking”
“Life’s changing and I’m just rapping about it.”

“All I Ever Wanted (feat. Dave)”
“Dave’s a genius. It’s not hard to work with him when he’s making beats and hooks like he is. He’s the most interesting artist I’ve worked with because he can play the piano, make beats and do everything. And he’s real humble. Does he bring out a different side to me? No, only girls can do that. And family and shit.”

“It’s Like”
“You can’t go wrong with that beat there. There’s no chorus, too. And no one’s ever said anything to me about needing choruses, or telling me not to say certain things. You can’t flipping see someone’s progress and want to do business with them, then ask them to change. That doesn’t make sense.”

“Doing the Most (feat. Lil Dotz)”
“Lil Dotz is my friend GDotz’s little brother. GDotz passed away in 2012, and I’ve watched his brother grow up, and he’s good at rapping. He’s got a couple of songs out, and they’re doing good. I needed him on there. I could’ve had anyone on the album from the UK, really. I didn’t say no to anyone, I just didn’t say yes.”

“They Don’t”
“I’ve been through situations with disloyal people. I know what’s going on now. I like to learn from other people’s mistakes. There are a lot of people you can’t trust when you’re living a certain kind of way. Everyone’s not going to react to stuff the same way you do. That took me a long time to understand.”

“Love You for That”
“As soon as I heard that beat, I knew this one would be the song for my mum. I give my mum too much special treatment, so I wouldn’t play this for her before it came out! I don’t know why, it’s hard to explain! She’s always on at me for exclusives, so she needed to learn to chill a bit. I wanted to make her feel like a kid waiting for their present on her birthday. It’s been driving her mad.”

“Third Avenue”
“It made sense to wrap the album up here. You can’t end an album on a mad crazy hype tune.”