Talk:Freddy Will

Grammy?

PhilaMirror isn't a reliable source, and the source itself doesn't give any detail (and appears to be self published) on the supposed Grammy nomination. I can't find any evidence other than this Wikipedia article itself and the non-RS that this was ever nominated for a grammy. GRINCHIDICAE🎄 12:36, 20 December 2020 (UTC)

Further sources on the grammy nomination were removed by User:Praxidicae stating they are excessive and not relevant. The user retired and revived under different wikipedia accounts during the last two weeks. A simple google research brings more sources to the 2011 grammy nomination [1] - Here you can see the 2011 Grammy Award, Best Spoken Word Album for Children, Nominated to Healthy Food album which Freddy Will worked on. Further articles are referring to the same nomination including the respectable AllMusic website. [2] [3] PhilaMirror is an Indian website that catalogs all postage stamps worldwide. It is very reliable for postage stamp collectors. Working on this wikipage turns out to be a very interesting experience as I've watched User: Praxidicae style of editing which I am not sure to be in the spirit of wikipedia. I would recommend to double check if this user is using several wikipedia accounts to make baseless claims while vandalising wikipedia articles. User:Nadimir 22:28, 2 January 2021 (UTC)

First source is a Wikipedia article itself, see WP:WINARS. HealthyVoyager and AllMusic don't look like reliable sources to me. WP:BLP is clear: info on a BLP must be sourced to reliable sources. Also, Nadimir, please cease casting WP:ASPERSIONS on Praxidicae, such as of sock puppetry and vandalism. Such accusations are considered to be personal attacks and may lead to blocks. Thanks. JavaHurricane 12:50, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

I have reverted Nadimir again as they are continuing to add blatantly fake and unreliable sources. Nadimir you must get consensus here before restoring it. 13:40, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

With all due respect, I will never add a blatantly false information here

I want to say that I respect Wikipedia. I will never put any information here that I know to be false. I may not be an experienced programmer with advanced technical skill but I am an academic with experience of how to discover and convey factual information. Every information which I added to Freddy Will's article is true. I did not exaggerate or advertise anything, rather, I left some things out.

I have no reason to add fake information. This is the first article I edited. Now I'm afraid to edit another article before I cause it's mutilation. I have been accused or suspected of conflict of interest, threatened with getting blocked and alienated from a community that I was excited to join. And I had no intention to engage in an edit war. The only reason I'm here is because I have holiday from work and we have lockdown. Now I see they are even deleting some of my photos. If I ever meet Freddy Will he must buy me a cup of coffee.

It is my strong belief that the rejection of Freddy Will's true accolades is because he's a black person from Africa. I am not accusing anyone here of direct or intentional racism. What I mean by that is because Freddy Will does not fit the usual stereotype of African/black men. Most people who read his story will doubt how this black man survives wars and poverty, naturalises in the US, and studies there?

Then moves to Canada, naturalise there also, launch his music and writing career, independently? He signs publishing and distribution deals, release albums, and books (some of them, not self-published), becomes a Grammy nominee, gets in national postage stamps? Then he becomes a diplomat, moves to Belgium while continuing to maintain his homes in USA and Canada. He publishes more books and in doing all this no one really knows who he is? Of course it sounds like a fairytale. He should come to live in Germany.

Even if there are articles with interviews time stamped over the time line of the story. It would be easy to deny the credibility of those websites, newspapers and magazines than to accept the information as the truth. He is a black man. This story has to be false. It cannot be true. Everyone who vouch for him or support him must be paid. It is a PR advertisement. We are talking about a black man from Africa so I believe the possible reason there may or may not be so many doubts as to Freddy Will is because of subconscious racial bias.

I am a white woman, from Germany. I know that a man from a prominent family, born in Switzerland, Norway, or Luxembourg, with blue eyes and blonde hair, the same information in Wikipedia, raises no suspicion. I know many such people who are born into powerful families that own entire media companies much larger than the newspaper of Freddy Will's father. Nobody doubts them. On the contrary, a black man from Africa, his information is carefully checked, its sources dismissed easily or referred to as PR gibberish or advertising.

These are not very big accolades but unfortunately, he is given recognition fitting for the lower class. If I would be him I would quit. There is information that I did not add in his Wikipedia page. For example, he studied at Villanova University [4]. Why doubt a Grammy nomination when it takes minutes to clarify this? Can someone change the facts in reality? Removing Juno and Grammy award winners he worked with does not suddenly erase the fact. It only prevents the sharing of the information. He is who he is.

Who published his first three books?

I am not saying something is wrong with self-publishing but it is misinformation to put in the article that Freddy Will self-published his first three books. He did not start as a publisher. He signed a three books deal with Soul Asylum Poetry and Publishing Inc. [5] to publish his first three books as well as a music distribution deal for their accompanying albums. He did NOT self-publish those books. The owner of Soul Asylum Poetry and Publishing Inc. is Ken Cowle [6]. The books were edited by Charles Ross, [7] editor in chief of SAP&P Inc. The three books are: My Book of Chrymes, The Dark Road from Romarong, and Hip Hop Kruzade.

This information is found within the physical copies of the books or in the detail section of the book in online bookstores. Google the books and see the name of the publisher. Freddy Will was one of many authors under Ken Cowle's publishing company in Canada. He wrote the manuscript, recorded the music (with Eddie Bullen). Soul Asylum Poetry and Publishing Inc. edited and published them. Ken Cowle also owned Double K Records [8]. That is how Freddy Will's books were published and released with accompanying albums. Freddy Will's song for the Grammy nominated album is released under Double K Records.

Self-publishing

I guess Ken Cowle became fond of Freddy Will because he mentored him for ten years. He taught Freddy Will how to publish and encouraged him to become a publisher. Years later, Freddy Will started his own company. He self-published seven eBooks. Those eBooks he calls, Sandmann’s Journal. They are different from the first three books. The moment you say Freddy Will self-published all of his books you distort this information and take credit from Soul Asylum Poetry and Publishing Inc.

About his Grammy nomination

I am confused why this artist's claim to his Grammy nomination is upsetting. The album is credited as a various artist album. When a various artist album is nominated that means every artist and producer on the album is a nominee. It is similar when a sports team wins a championship. Everybody in the team including the substitute players are champions. It was a team effort.

Jim Cravero, [9] a Grammy winning music producer, engineer, and owner of East Coast Recording, [10] who produced the album once wrote: “Freddy Will, American rapper, songwriter and author has contributed to this CD project in the most wonderful way. The title of his track is Future and it speaks to us, as adults/parents about what children need from us and the things that are harmful to our children. He tells the kids that they are the Future and asks the adults to make the way for them. It is a great song that Freddy wrote for us to share with you. Please visit his page and learn about this multi-talented artist and listen to some of his tracks!” [11], [12], Jim Cravero's comment was deleted from FW's Wikipedia and his contribution minimised from artist to featuring artist.

To verify any information about an entertainer most times all one has to do is visit their social media. They post everything. There are even detailed conversations in the comments section. The postage stamps happened. Phila Mirror [13] is correct. The stamp ceremony was an impressive event. [14], [15]. A white person would never need this much confirmation.

Here he even holds the Grammy certificate which does not say he was a feature. [16], [17] So, his peers congratulate him as their colleague, the executive producer praises his contribution, his proud father published articles about this on his newspaper but when someone from Wikipedia does not believe it, that means this Grammy nomination is exaggerated? That is unfair. [18],[19], Musicians do not generally lie about things like this. Clearly ten years later certain websites covering these events are now deleted or inactive.

Collaborations with Juno and Grammy award winners

I am not asking for anything, only to clarify that the information I added in the article are not false. Two of his songs - Providence [20] and Save [21] - are produced by Eddie Bullen (Juno winner and Jazz musician from Toronto) [22], [23] and featured Carvin Winans (5-time Grammy winner/US Gospel singer). [24] Carvin introduced Freddy to philanthropy. Eddie Bullen produced another song that features Liberty Silver [25] (a Grammy nominee and Juno award winner from Toronto). [26]

Eddie Bullen produced all of Freddy’s albums who also recorded hits with Kao Denero [27], who is popular in Africa. I discovered this from the credits on his albums (Spotify, Apple Music, etc.). I did this research before editing his Wikipedia article.

Why I reverted the article

The updated one showed his full discovery and bibliography. The version I applied was closest to the truth. I was not advertising anything. I corrected his personal life section and added some information based on his interviews and articles that I read.

The version that is currently published has distorted information. It claims his first three books are self-published when Soul Asylum Poetry and Publishing Inc. published them. It also claims he was featured on the Grammy nomination. Freddy Will wrote, composed, and performed as one of the main artists on the album of various artists. [28]

Source of information

Much of the information we know about entertainers come from their self. They go on TV or radio to do interviews. Some celebrities own a radio station, podcast, blog, television station, magazine, publishing company, or record label. This is common among black entertainers when they are not given the same opportunities as those who are not black.

The mainstream media gets its information directly from the celebrities and their family members who tell them the story during interviews. Even if you read Forbes, or Rollingstone the information was sourced from the entertainer or the people around them.

All research cannot be made on websites. Companies go out of business. People may delete articles during website update. A website or story may not be published forever. The information may be lost one day. If we had obtained information through websites only, these sources become permanent dead links in the future. For example, ISBN of published information that is archived in a permanent database, social media posts, newspaper and magazine clippings, etc may not be on some media websites. Nadimir (talk) 09:40, 11 January 2021 (UTC)