“Over the last several years, I would frequently hear Tolliver's version playing in house music parties and clubs in both Brooklyn and Manhattan,” says Hayes in an email. “It's been an honor to create a new rendition of ‘I Need a Freak’ to add on to its legacy.”
The song will be released in late May on the album that's being distributed through Fat Beats Records. Mani Ajami and Monyear worked in the recording studio on the track. The group’s last studio work, “Follow the Leader (Reimagined as Jazz,” a collaboration with rap duo Eric B. & Rakim, ended up hitting No 1. on the Billboard Jazz Charts.
“The Cleveland area is a special place to me, as it was so very special to my biological mom who was a Dawg Pound Cleveland Browns fanatic,” says Hay. “I was adopted and making music was my escape and refuge growing up. After 40 years of not knowing who my mother was, thanks to 23andMe, I was able to finally connect and meet her in her home in Ashtabula, several years before she passed away in 2021.”Jeff has been covering the Cleveland music scene for more than 20 years now.