How would it sound if popular tunes by rappers Megan Thee Stallion and The Notorious B.I.G. were remixed and transformed into campy, doo-wop songs?
TikTok star Alfredo “Freedom Young” Austin, 37, is a native of Newark who has spent the last year answering that question for his audience of 500,000-plus TikTokers (@MrFreedomYoung).
But building a huge following on that social platform during the pandemic isn’t the most impressive thing Freedom has done in his singing career. A new accomplishment, official this week, is what makes him most proud.
Freedom will become the ninth member of the internationally acclaimed acapella group Straight No Chaser (SNC).
The group was set to make the announcement official on Wednesday morning.
“I am the new guy, but I feel very welcomed,” Freedom, who relocated to Los Angeles at the end of 2020, said during a phone interview. “Even watching the way that [the guys] interacted with each other at the audition — it really feels like a brotherhood.”
The opportunity to join SNC came about earlier in the year when member Tyler Trepp emailed the singer. Trepp told him there was an opening in the group because Charlie Mechling was leaving; Freedom’s name popped up.
Trepp and Freedom know each other from their days singing in Hyannis Sound, an a cappella group in Massachusetts that Freedom was a part of from 2008 to 2010. He joined the group a year after he graduated from the University of Delaware.
The Blue Hen auditioned for SNC in Chicago in June.
“[It was] the first time I was nervous in a pretty long time, I’ll say. But it went well.”
Capriotti’s family has ties to Freedom
David Britz, manager of SNC, is a Wilmington native who has lived in L.A. for years.
Britz, whose cousins founded the Capriotti’s sandwich chain, was charmed by Freedom as soon as he met him at the audition.
“He just lights up a room. He’s got a presence about him,” said Britz, founder of WORKS Entertainment. “I had no idea that he had any connection to Delaware until he said it during his audition.”
From there, Britz said he did something that was “very Delaware of me,” and he texted his cousin Peter Briccotto, who’s involved in musical theater in the Small Wonder.
Britz wanted to know what he thought about Freedom, and his cousin told him he was a stand-up guy.
“When you talk to enough trusted sources, and they all say, ‘This guy’s the real deal,’ on top of being an incredible musician — you know that he’s gonna come in and add value,” Britz said.
Pandemic led to TikTok fame
Freedom spent five years performing around the world in the a cappella group The Exchange, from 2012 to 2017. Then he moved to Germany to sing in dinner shows.
Those shows are pretty much like miniature Cirque du Soleil performances, but with dinner. They’re usually in cool-looking tents or arena-type spaces, he explained.
Considering Freedom was singing in the background while other types of performers did physical feats in a circus-like setting, “I would say my singing was probably the least impressive thing,” he joked.
But when the pandemic hit, all of Freedom’s gigs dried up, forcing him to move back to Delaware in May 2020.
NBA YoungBoy, Lil Baby & more covers
In September 2020, he accepted his sister’s invitation to move in with her in L.A. She also encouraged her brother to start a TikTok account that year to show off his skills.
The singer’s first three videos that year had nothing to do with music. They were silly vids about him being annoyed by dating on Tinder.
It wouldn’t be until June 2021 that Freedom would upload his first doo-wop rap remix.
His first cover was rapper BRS Kash’s spicy song “Throat Baby,” which Freedom made a little more wholesome with his campy version that included whistling.
For the video, Freedom wore a 1950s-styled wig and multiple suits. TikTokers, including an embarrassed mom, were going crazy in the comment section.
“I’m in the car yelling ‘go baby!’ and letting my girls sing along bc I thought we were saying the same thing!” a mother confided.
“I’m DYING!” replied Freedom.
“This needs to go viral,” a fan wrote. “Dude you should be famous,” another praised.
Since then the singer has covered a bunch of popular rappers, taking them back to the future with his comedic, yet melodic covers.
He’s covered folks like 2Pac, Lil Baby, 50 Cent, Juice WRLD, NBA YoungBoy and The Notorious B.I.G.
There’s also a group of covers by Firefly Music Festival alumni Eminem, Roddy Ricch, Post Malone, Travis Scott and Meg Thee Stallion.
For Meg, he performed a more wholesome version of the spicy song “WAP” and wore a yellow raincoat with a matching hat and boots in the video.
“How do you not laugh,” a tickled fan asked.
“Honestly, I want to play this alone in my mini van on my way to get a milkshake from the dairy bar,” another supporter wrote.
“Even though I hate wap this is not bad,” a seduced commenter explained.
Freedom said he appreciates the attention he’s gotten on TikTok because he likes making others smile.
But the fame hasn’t gone to his head. The singer wears a wig and said most people wouldn’t even recognize him on the street.
“The idea of being absurdly famous where you can’t go out without being recognized — I don’t really love that.”
Fall tour with Straight No Chaser
Freedom does, however, love that soon he’s joining Straight No Chaser on their 25th Anniversary Celebration tour, launching Oct. 20 in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Before the national tour, he’s going to do a mini-run of five gigs from Sept. 17 to 21, starting at Lynchburg, Virginia, and ending at Port Chester, New York.
Freedom and his partner also are slated to welcome their first child together later this year, he said.
Although he wasn’t excited when COVID-19 first struck, the singer found the will to generate “a very positive, optimistic mindset,” he said, because it makes “the tough times easier.”
That spirit of positivity is found in his cheerful doo-wop covers.
Freedom said had it not been for the pandemic, there’s a strong chance he’d still be living in Europe and wouldn’t have joined SNC or created a TikTok account.
“Even in that time when all my performances got canceled … the TikTok avenue opened,” he explained. “Now I’m with [SNC], which is the biggest thing I’ve been a part of.”
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