Lil Wayne

Mannie Fresh Tribute

By Langston in Music 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , ,

Mannie Fresh is one of the five best hip hop producers of all time. Plain and simple. Been in the game for over 20 years and is still killing it. Few other producers match the complexity, diversity, and straight thump of Mannie Fresh beats. He has a signature sound, but rarely gets repetitive or formulaic. He’s solely produced tons of classic ALBUMS and helped build the careers or B.G., Juvenile, and Lil Wayne. He even made Birdman sound like a somewhat credible rapper. Lately I’ve been addicted to Mannie Fresh beats (a long with another producer who I’ll feature later) so I’m gonna share some of his hottest ish.

I’ll start with one of the biggest hits of 1999 Juvenile’s “Back that Azz Up”

Classic. The 808s and the thumping bass were on point, but its the keys that truly made this joint for me. This was the track that put Cash Money on the mainstream map.

Need to slow it up a bit? Need something more mellow to just ride to? Mannie can do that too:

(B.G. f/Hot Boys “Cash Money Niggaz”)

This one here is a southern classic. If you’re from the south, you gotta feel it. One of the coldest diss songs ever, but the beat was so hard that it turned into a club banger.

(U.N.L.V. “Drag ‘Em N the River)

Can he only produce N.O. artists?? Can he only make “Southern” music?? Hell naw.

He’s still doin’ it. Still killing the game. Even after all those albums and all those hit singles, he’s still better than these other boys.

Finally, this is probably my favorite Mannie Fresh joint. He flips this sample just as good, if not better than Brian Alexander Morgan (SWV “Right Here Rmx”), Large Professor (Nas “It Aint Hard to Tell) and others who’ve used it.

(U.N.L.V. “Jazzy Bitch”)

So yeah, I’d put Mannie Fresh up there with DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Dr. Dre, and Marly Marl. If he wasn’t a Souther producer, he’d definitely be getting the respect he deserves. Mannie Fresh is a legend and still has a lot left in him.

More Mannie Fresh

  • U.N.L.V. Uptown 4 Life
  • B.G. Chopper City
  • Juvenile 400 Degreez
  • Lil Wayne The Block is Hot
  • B.G. It’s All On U Vol. 1
  • B.G. It’s All On U Vol. 2
  • Hot Boys Guerrilla Warfare
  • Big Tymers How You Luv Dat Vol. 2
  • Hot Boys Get It How U Live!!
  • Lil Wayne The Carter

Peace

Lil Wayne is not the best rapper alive

By Langston in Music 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Lil Wayne is the hottest rapper alive. No doubt. He along with Kanye West and Jay-Z run rap right now. I’m happy for Wayne. Who knew that the lil dude spittin the bling bling hook would someday be the hottest thing in rap and pop music. I definitely didn’t. Props to Wayne for growing as an artist and taking over the hip hop game.

That being said…

Lil Wayne is not the best rapper alive, no matter what Time Magazine says. What separates him from the rest of the pack? Maybe I’m getting too old or too nostalgic, but I’m just missing it. Wayne is super talented, but no more talented than a lot of artists.

Wayne garners much props because of his freestyle punchline ability. But since when have punchline rappers ever been thought of so highly? Why aren’t Lord Finesse, Big L (rip), Tash, Punchline, Wordsworth, Esoteric, Ras Kass, Cassidy or Lloyd Banks considered great? Aside from Eminem, I’ve never seen such a glorified punchline rapper. “Amili” was cool, but Ghostface did that gibberish shit a little better in the late 1990s.

Much is made of the fact that Wayne does not write rhymes. He freestyles everything off the top of the dome. To some, that excuses the mediocre output. As a fan/critic, I judge the outcome, not the act of production. If something sucks, I don’t care if he freestyled it or not, it just sucks. If John Coltrane produced an improve album and it sucked, we would not excuse it because it was improve. The Carter III was a mediocre to average album. I don’t feel that I should rate it higher just because he freestyled the whole thing.

Wayne makes great mixtapes. Cool. Mixtapes don’t make a great rapper. Mixtapes are supposed to create a buzz for an eventual album. Wayne blacks out on other people’s beats, but so does Asher Roth. So what. (based on the Wayne hype, I think Asher Roth is going to be the next greatest rapper alive. Quote me.)

Lil Wayne was on 3 trillion tracks in 2007. Great for him. He made paper. Hopping on everyone’s song doesn’t make you the greatest rapper alive either. Is T-Pain the greatest singer alive? Nope. Is Akon? Nope. I don’t think its bad the he was on everyone’s song. Tupac did the same thing. I just don’t think it makes you the greatest. It just means that you like to make music and money (probably more so money), which I cannot hate.

Anyway…

I’m a Wayne fan. I’ve defended him hard to people in the past. The Carter & Carter II got major play in my stereo. They were hot albums. The Carter III didn’t do it for me, but it had some strong tracks. Lil Wayne is one of the best out there, but not the greatest alive. He’s basically old school LL Cool J with punchlines. Rakim, Nas, Ice Cube, B.I.G., Tupac, and Jay-Z have all be once labeled the greatest. Does today’s Lil Wayne fit in with them? I don’t think so. I don’t even think he’s better than Nas or Jay right now. I think he’s a very talented rapper, but not the greatest alive.

I wonder if Wayne wouldn’t have called himself the Greatest Alive, would anyone have labeled him such? I think many people got caught up in his powerful marketing campaign. He is what he is, a dope rapper who grinds hard. He’s still very young and I cannot wait to see where his career goes. Peace.