Freedom (How We Get) Shadez Remix: A Collaborative Reflection on Liberation and Resistance

Freedom (How We Get) Shadez Remix: A Collaborative Reflection on Liberation and Resistance

In an era where the word freedom is used freely but lived unevenly, Brooklyn MC, producer, DJ, and educator GMS returns with a reminder that liberation is not a slogan — it’s a practice.

“Freedom (How We Get) Shadez Remix”, featuring Chordz Cordero and Vic Shadez, is not built for passive consumption. It’s a conversation starter — a powerful meditation on what freedom truly means in a world shaped by power, politics, and personal accountability. With sharp lyricism, soul-driven urgency, and live instrumentation, the track explores freedom from fear, self-doubt, systemic oppression, and the uncomfortable truth that freedom often begins internally before it can ever be realized collectively.

Over soul-driven production, GMS interrogates the forces that shape modern life: racism, sexism, antisemitism, global imperialism, economic debt, media distraction, and the quiet ways people are conditioned to fight each other instead of the systems that profit from division. The track refuses to simplify these tensions. Instead, it challenges listeners to sit with them.

GMS has never been an artist chasing trends. A veteran of New York City’s underground hip-hop movement, his roots trace back to Lyricist Lounge, End of the Weak, Braggin’ Rites and the Nuyorican Poets Café, sharing stages with icons including Wu-Tang Clan, Slick Rick, Biz Markie, Das EFX, Doug E. Fresh, Souls of Mischief, and Sadat X. In the late 1990s, he was managed by Paradise the Architect from X-Clan. That lineage matters — not as nostalgia, but as context. This is music shaped by rooms where words mattered and ideas were tested in real time.

The Remix Origin:
What began as a remix experiment evolved into a collaboration born from community. In 2022, GMS partnered with NYC underground collective End of the Weak (EOdub) and their podcast/producer contest EObeats Producer Challenge. Seven contestants were challenged to remix the original Freedom (How We Get) by reinterpreting GMS’s flute arrangements and Chordz Cordero’s a cappella verses. Two stood out — and GMS declared a rare tie. One of them was Vic Shadez, whose demo verse over the beat resonated so deeply that GMS invited Shadez to officially feature on the record. Shadez went from remix producer to featured collaborator, ultimately producing the official remix, recording live drums for the track, and appearing in the video — turning a beat battle moment into a fully realized statement on freedom, collaboration, and creative trust.

Chordz Cordero and Vic Shades are also longtime veterans of their respective underground scenes in NYC and NJ, each bringing unique depth and experience to the song.

What makes “Freedom (How We Get) Shadez Remix” especially relevant now is its refusal to dictate conclusions. The song doesn’t demand agreement. It invites dialogue. GMS makes space for debate, contradiction, and reflection — acknowledging that freedom doesn’t look the same to everyone, and that disagreement doesn’t have to mean division.

That openness is intentional. GMS has long positioned his work at the intersection of art, education, and community. Freedom, as framed here, includes freedom from debt, stress, ego and cynicism — but also freedom to create, question, organize, and imagine something better.

While the remix previously existed only in limited forms — via Bandcamp, an NFT-based music player, and NFC-enabled apparel releases — this marks its first full-scale digital release. The audio arrives on DSPs January 25, 2026 (GMS’s birthday), followed by the official music video premiere on YouTube January 27, 2026, debuting live at a community watch party in Brooklyn.

Take an advance peek here:

“Freedom (How We Get) Shadez Remix” doesn’t pretend to have all the answers. Instead, it asks better questions — and in a cultural moment defined by noise, that may be its most radical act.

Follow GMS & Collaborators:
📱 GMS: IG | FB | YT | TikTok | [X]

📱 Follow Chordz Cordero:
IG | FB | [X] | TikTok |

📱 Follow Vic Shadez:
IG | [X ] | TikTok | FB

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