On this week’s People’s Party, Talib Kweli and Jasmin Leigh sit down with legendary New Orleans producer, rapper, and the architect of the Cash Money label sound, Mannie Fresh. The extensive interview covers everything from Mannie’s early days in New Orleans to watching Lil Wayne evolve as a lyricist to the beginnings of Cash Money. Towards the end of the interview, Mannie speaks to the fallout and criticism he received after his Instagram Live Verzuz Battle with fellow super producer Scott Storch after many fellow producers and fans said he went too hard on Storch.
“I mean honestly, it was a battle… this is what goes on in hip-hop. Hip-hop is the story of your life. Nobody gave me the memo that this is the new hip-hop.”
Mannie came to the battle prepared, explaining that he did his homework on Storch in order to put together his skits and burns, which included light-hearted jokes like making fun of Storch’s iconic glasses, and more personal jabs about Storch’s struggles with drug abuse and specifics about his personal life. The pushback from friends and fans was enough to lead Mannie to reach out to Storch to explain his attacks were all love and in good fun and the spirit of hip-hop.
“I came to win… I don’t have no bad feelings about Scott Storch. I love him like a brother. But if you want to be a part of hip-hop you’ve got to open up your good and your bad. You don’t have a day where you can say ‘nah ya’ll can’t say that about me.’ This is what hip-hop is… We came to battles we didn’t come to kumbaya.”
While Storch and Mannie Fresh are still tight, the pushback was enough to turn Mannie off from ever competing in a rap battle again, which is an absolute shame if you actually caught the battle itself.
Check out the full chat on this week’s People’s Party with Talib Kweli above and watch Mannie detail the “controversy” in the clip below.