Mannie Fresh Reveals The History Between Cash Money And No Limit
DX: Let’s take it back a bit real quick. Break down for the HipHopDX readers your history with Mystikal. ‘Cause a lot of folks mistakenly think because he ended up on No Limit [Records] and you was on Cash Money [Records] that meant y’all didn’t mess with each other.
Mannie Fresh: Nah! The crazy thing is everybody that was artists from Cash Money [Records] to No Limit [Records] knew each other. We grew up in the same circle of doing music. … The two heads of those labels was the people that was beefin’. The artists were never beefin’. But it was just that ‘cause that was your side you had to go with your side. Shit, I been knowing Mystikal before he even made his first record.
DX: Yeah, I didn’t know till Juvenile told me last year that he’s the one who actually took Mystikal to Precise, who signed him to Big Boy [Records].
Mannie Fresh: Yeah. But he had a deal before that – Well, he ain’t have a deal, he had a local record out before that with the dude [KLC]. And KL seen it. Me and KL deejayed in the same club when we was young. And, Mystikal used to hang around the spot. And he just had this style – what he’s doing now – that was like, “Wow. Damn, that’s it! That’s something nobody never heard of.” So the first song that he got put on, it was more of KL hooked him up. Because, KL was the dude who was like, “Man, y’all listen to this dude, pay attention to him.”
DX: I didn’t know you and KL was in a – like, you deejayed together, that’s crazy.
Mannie Fresh: Yeah, we deejayed before either of us was making records. We was deejaying in the same club.
DX: N.O. Hip Hop was crazy interconnected originally. A lot of people don’t know you started your career with another No Limit soldier, Mia X, in a crew called New York Incorporated.
Mannie Fresh: Yeah! Dude, Mac, that was on No Limit, I pretty much raised Mac. He’s in jail right now, but Mac was signed to No Limit. But if you go back and you watch … a video called “I Need Wheels.” Mac was probably nine, 10-years-old in that video, on his first record.
DX: So you produced on his first album, you was down with Mia, so just out of curiosity, how come you didn’t end up on No Limit yourself?
Mannie Fresh: Well, Cash Money was formed before No Limit. No Limit was kinda like … This is the real story of it. [Master] P was out in California. His company was not even started in New Orleans. It was started in [Richmond], California. And, it was one of them [situations where] he came down to visit [New Orleans in 1995] and Cash Money had this song called “[Nigga I’m] Bout It” out. And “Bout It” was like the hottest song on the streets. So basically he took – this is where all the beef started at – he took the slogan, “Bout it,” and ran with it. It was already a local song that Cash Money had out from a group, U.N.L.V. And it was like the hottest song out at the time. So, he was on some ol’ like, “I’m just visiting from California,” [but then] ran with the idea and didn’t say thank you or nothing. And the whole “Bout It Bout It” [by TRU] thing started his whole legacy. So that was the beef, because everybody was like, “Well damn dude, that wasn’t yours to take. That belonged to Cash Money.”
DX: Wow, I didn’t know that. You produced “Bout It” [for U.N.L.V.]?
Mannie Fresh: Yeah.
DX: Was it similar to the same track [as TRU’s KLC-produced song]? I haven’t heard the original.
Mannie Fresh: No, it wasn’t similar to the same track, but it was just that that slogan was such – it was like “whoadie” at the time. It was like when we started saying whoadie, the world started saying whoadie. And you know when you got something. They knew they had something [with saying] “bout it.” And everybody was like, “Damn, that’s the slogan.” Like, all throughout Louisiana. And all of a sudden, now you got somebody who just [like], “Oh, shit. I can take this and run with it and make it worldwide. And I ain’t even gonna tell y’all, ‘Thank you.’”
DX: Wow, wow, you droppin’ some history here. So you know this is the part of the interview where we segue into the Cash Money stuff. I don’t wanna make you rehash like 15 years of history, but I do wanna kinda get some final clarification on just what really happened with the Big Tymers, if y’all fell out really over royalties or there was more to it?
Mannie Fresh: Yeah, all of that: royalties, loyalties, all of that. That could go on for forever [breaking that down]. But it’s the same situation that you hear [about business relationships ending] everyday: over money, over what’s right morally and all of that.
DX: I mean, maybe it’s not my business, maybe it’s nobody’s business, but did you ever just go to him like, “Why?” “Why the fuck are you messing this up?” Like, “Why?”
Mannie Fresh: Yeah. I’ve had that situation even recently like, “Dude, was that all really worth that?” And on top of that, if you had an opportunity to fix it, why won’t you fix it? Like, is it that crucial? I would say this, if I did do something dude, and I’m a human being, even if it took me five years I owe you an apology. And it was never an apology for it. Okay, you can’t give me possibly what you owe me, ‘cause that’s way too much, but you can start with an apology. Just by like [saying], “You know what, dude? That was my bad.”
DX: I thought – from an outsider’s perspective – that the apologetic gesture was gonna be the Hot Boys reunion. Last time I spoke with Juvenile he kinda got a little aggy actually when I went into my Hot Boys reunion questions.
Mannie Fresh: Well, I always did say that’s not happening. It was just a ploy; it was just something to make them look good at the time. It was like, okay, we saying this, but I’m like, “How are y’all saying this, and y’all not getting in touch with nobody about it?” It’s like asking somebody something in an interview and you don’t know how to dodge that question ‘cause the next question might be the same thing you asking me. Like, “Well, dude, okay, if it ain’t gonna be that, then how you gonna straighten out things with these people?” So the easiest way to get out of that is like, “Yeah, we working on it, we doing it.”
DX: So am I just reading too much into it, or was that on-stage reunion [in June] with Wayne at Bonnaroo a little awkward, a little uncomfortable?
Mannie Fresh: Nah, not really, because I still talk to [Lil] Wayne. I talked to dude like three days ago. I called him because he made a step that was so important to Hip Hop – I don’t know if you seen his latest YouTube video, where he’s telling the kids don’t do what he do, and the reason why he drunk syrup was because he thought [that since] we all grew up like that, we all grew up on UGK, and he thought it was the cool thing to do, so that’s why he did it. And he understands now that there’s a lot of people that’s following dude and doing what he does. And he was being sincere. Like, he said some cool shit, and I was just like, “Wow.” So I called him myself and was like, “Hey dude, I’m proud of you. I’m super-proud of you for what you said and what you did.” Because, you know, if I said that during our little reign when we was there it was taken as like, “Dude, you soft. You being soft right now.” And I’m like, “Dude, this shit is real right now. It’s kids that do everything that we do.” I’m not saying like my credibility is shot, or even losing credibility, by telling you like, dude, this is only entertainment. Don’t get it twisted.
DX: Yeah, you would think that’d be obvious in 2011, but … [Laughs]
Mannie Fresh: Well, shit, look at how weird kids are dressing. That’s all it take is one kid to do something crazy and everybody got on stockings and a little bitty-ass shirt