Go DJ: A Tribute to Mannie Fresh Posted by Lucas G. on 02/27/14 | Filed under Opinion, Cash Money, Producers, Mannie Fresh

The life of a blogger is pretty great, I won't lie. No commute, no suit and tie, no annoying co-workers, plus I get to write about music. Pretty much the only negative (besides convincing my parents blogging is an actual thing) is that it isn't hard to spend all day sitting at home in sweatpants. It's great, but if I continue not having to do any sort exercise or movement for the next ten years I'll end up looking like Fat Joe on Thanksgiving.

So, in an effort to you know, be a real person I have started going to the gym. The only thing I hate more than running is running on a treadmill so I can only workout if I have the perfect soundtrack.My workout songs have to be energetic, inspirational (sometimes) but mainly, I just need some fun brilliant ignorance to get me through.  In my two months since starting working out, I have come to appreciate early Cash Money as they have been my go-to. Not just Birdman or Weezy, either, I have really grown fond Mannie Fresh, and am amazed at how underrated he is.

Now you might be wondering why included the above video. Well, besides the fact that its one of the greatest music videos ever, it has also been sampled more than a few times. The first time I heard it was on last weeks #NoRapHour. Obviously it was used by Rakim and Pac, but for some reason, I found myself singing the wreckage of some distant hook, filed away in the depths of my brain. All I could piece together was "I'm about to stunt, don't you know its a way of life?". It wasn't much, but it was enough to find "Way Of Life" from Lil Wayne's 2002 album 500 Degrees; it has been heavy rotation since.

I didn't even know the name Lil Wayne back then, but here I am 12 years later, listening to "Don't Look Any Further" and somehow, pulling the hook out from the mind vault. In a million gagillion years, I never would have remembered this song, but all it took was one listen to that bassline and it came flooding back; crazy how the brain works. So what does that have to do with Mannie Fresh? Well, in addition to producing the beat, I think it is represent of what made the early years of Cash Money so fucking awesome; great beats, catchy hooks, and lavish lyrics. The latter doesn't have much impact on me, but the first two, define Cash Money and since, Mannie Fresh was behind a lot of those beats, I think it's safe to say he played an integral role in the rise and success of Cash Money; yet he gets no credit.

Look, I love Lil Wayne and the rest of that early 2000's squad, but you can't sit here and tell me they are great rappers. They make catchy, outlandish hip-hop that is so much fun to listen to, but has next to no substance. With the exception of "Still Fly" (produced and rapped by Mannie), I never leave a Cash Money song remembering the lyrics, I leave with the memory a crazy beat or hook and how much fun I had listening; that "Four 15's - didn't see no wires/And then I heard (boom) from the amplifiers" is a classic. That is 100% fine with me, but when Lil Wayne is (self) dubbed the best rapper alive, and the true engine behind virtually all of the songs that got Wayne to that point (Mannie Fresh) is ignored, something is wrong. I appreciated those songs on the surface back then, but know that my knowledge of hip-hop has grown I can see it was Mr. Fresh, that put Cash Money on the map.

The argument for Mannie's influence looks similar to the one I made for Ryan Lewis.When you think of Lil Wayne, Birdman and the rest of Cash Money, the lyrics aren't the first thing that comes to mind; except for Juvenile, he is a modern day Robert Frost. Like Macklemore, when the emcees are average at best they need something behind them that drives the work, be it a catchy hook or a bangin' beat, for Cash Money, it was Mannie on either or in some instances (see "Still Fly") both. Don't take my word for it, check the resume.

Speaking of Juvenile, his only real hit was "Back That Azz Up". I never really realized it before, but he rhymes "yeah" with "yeah" for his 32 bars. Normally, that kind of shit drives me crazy - your job is to write rhymes, so don't rhyme the same word with the same word, take pride in your work and be a little bit creative - but it never phases me here. You know why? Because that beat fucking goes. Mannie did such a great job turning Brass Construction's "Movin" into a trapified banger that you can barely tell it's a sample and it masks Juvenile's lack of a rhyme scheme. As if the beat wasn't enough, Mannie hops on the mic and in less than half the bars as Juvenile spit, takes the cake with "Big, thick plumber chick, and a Hummer chick/Beat the dick like a motherfucking drummer chick"

And it wasn't just one or two hits here and there; almost all of Cash Money's charting singles were produced by Mannie Fresh. "Number One Stunna"? Mannie. "Project Chick"? Mannie Fresh. "Get Your Roll On", "I Need A Hot Girl", and "Momma Got Ass"? Mannie Fresh. It's no coincidence that all of these songs, some of Cash Money's most successful singles, were all fresh Fresh products. Oh and "Go DJ", a modern day classic and one that helped define Wayne's career? Also Mannie Fresh. He was also the man behind my personal favorite Wayne song, "This Is The Carter".

When you think of Cash Money, Birdman and Lil Wayne come to mind, but look at all their hits; Mannie is just as important. While the careers of Juvenile, B.G, TQ, and to a certain extent, Birdman himself came to an end after that magical Cash Money era, Mannie was still workin', producing song's like "Top Back" and "Big Shit Poppin" (which was all over SportsCenter for like six months back in 2007), two of T.I.'s bigger hits, to go along with a few solo albums.

In sports, you always hear about player being special because they make the others around them better (see Brady or Peyton). The same can be said about Mannie; without his influence, Cash Money would not have had nearly as much success. He gave Birdman, Weezy, Juvenile and the lot beats that covered their weaknesses and played to their strengths. I'm not going to sit here and tell you he is a sample god like 9th Wonder (although he can certainly flip something) or a technical, flawless producer, but there is a certain vibrancy and energy in Mannie's beats that are impossible to deny and it helped define the sound of the early 2000's.

It's the reason why I can run that extra mile or do that extra rep at the gym and it's the reason Cash Money was such a force a decade ago.

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