Mannie Fresh: Back To the Future

Ladies and gentlemen, cats, snakes, chickens, elderly people and twerkers—Mannie Fresh is bringing it back. He’s got a new home at Def Jam, but the Chubby Boy can’t stop working with the old Cash Money crew (Yep, Wayne too).

interview Justin Monroe photography Jack Thompson

Even before Hurricane Katrina swept through, New Orleans had started falling apart. In 2001, Cash Money, the city’s hottest hip-hop collective, seemed infallible. The label’s in-house producer Byron “Mannie Fresh� Thomas had been anchoring their slew of multi-platinum albums with his bouncy 808s since the early ’90s. Hits like Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up,� Lil Wayne’s “Tha Block Is Hot,� and B.G.’s “Bling Bling� took shine from Master P’s rival label No Limit and made the N.O. a hip-hop hot spot. Then, B.G. and Juve left, charging that co-CEOs Bryan “Baby� Williams and Ronald “Slim� Williams had mismanaged finances and owed them millions. In August 2005, after seeing the light, Mannie abandoned the label he’d helped build. And even after Baby began bashing him in the media, he maintained that it was strictly business, never personal.

Like his city, 33-year-old Mannie, who got his start DJing in the mid ’80s, has started rebuilding. In April, he signed a deal with Def Jam to oversee the label’s Southern acts, as well as to produce, sign new artists and put out a compilation album. But don’t think the house that Rush built has Freshley Snipes locked down. He’s reunited with T.I. (their last collabo “Top Back� is still playing in Chevy commercials) for “Big Shit Poppin’ (Do It),� the lead single off of the rapper’s new album, T.I. vs. T.I.P. He’s also been making music with old running mates B.G. and Juvenile (whose upcoming album he’s executive producing). He’s even started working with lone Cash Money straggler Lil Wayne, a move that may one day help bring the winning team back together,if not for business, to be family once again.

SCRATCH When did President Jay reach out about you joining Def Jam?
Mannie Fresh When I first left Cash Money, I talked to him. [Cash Money] sent out some letters saying that I still had some obligations with them, so that kind of stopped the deal from happening. But he was like, “Once you get it straight, come back and holler at me.�

What’s the first thing you’re doing for Def Jam? I’m going to do a compilation with a lot of dudes I’ve never been able to give my beats to. I’m gonna do Def Jam artists—Nas, Jay, Mariah. I’ll go outside Def Jam [too]. I got a song with T.I. I got a song with Tyrese. I got a song with Akon. The whole compilation is almost done.

So you can produce non-Def Jam artists? I guess [Jay-Z], being in hip-hop, understands my hustle. I gotta eat, so I can’t work [only] when Def Jam wanna work. I respect them for letting me do what I do.

Have you got your eye on any artists to sign? I’m in that stage right now where I’ll go to the studio, cut a few tracks with some cats, and see what their work ethic is. It’s got to be somebody who loves this and is ready to do this at a drop of a hat, because it’s a job.

Why did Jay feel you were the man to watch over Def Jam’s Southern artists? It was my vision. I just wanted to do something different with a label that ain’t been done in a long time. I’m looking for that next movement. I just feel like Def Jam got a whole bunch of talented artists but not all of them know each other—they just know of each other. Why Jeezy gotta go on tour with somebody else while his family is here? They got Jeezy, Ludacris, Jay—that right there is a tour. We could actually put all this together. They got the power to do it. I’m not saying nobody was thinking that way, but sometimes it takes another vision to say, “We gotta get together.�

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This is only a preview! To find out the full story on Mannie Fresh and read the rest of the features, pick up the July/August issue of Scratch, on stands NOW!

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