If he isn’t having fun with it, Mannie Fresh doesn’t want to do it. He’s serious about his work, and he stays competitive, but what he’s not doing is wasting his time.
“When stuff is not fun for me, it’s time to unplug the drum machine and move on,” he says matter-of-factly.
That sense of fun, his warmth and his authenticity are big reasons why Mannie Fresh has had such a long, acclaimed career, from pioneering work in New Orleans hip-hop and bounce to building the sound of Cash Money Records — and influencing hip-hop around the world. Now 54 years old, he’s spent the majority of his life behind turntables and drum machines, and he continues to build on a legacy that’s already placed him as one of hip-hop’s greatest DJs and producers.
“He has an unconditional love for music, especially hip-hop,” says rapper Mia X, who grew up in the 7th Ward with Mannie and joined him, DJ Wop and Denny D in New York, Incorporated, one of New Orleans’ first hip-hop crews.
“I think every time he touches the turntables or turns on the board to create a beat, it’s magical simply because when you put love into anything, it’s just going to flourish,” Mia X adds. “I’ve been seeing Mannie put love into records and music for — March 2024 will be 40 years.”
As the 50th anniversary of hip-hop approached this summer, Gambit spoke with Mannie Fresh, about his early years spent learning from his DJ father, Otto “Sabu” Thomas, cutting his teeth with New York, Incorporated, and his work in the late-’80s with emcee Gregory D. But that was only the beginning of Mannie Fresh’s career.
In the four decades he’s been a working musician, he’s produced for countless New Orleans artists, from UNLV, Magnolia Shorty and Pimp Daddy to the Hot Boys and Big Freedia. He’s collaborated with T.I., Yasiin Bey, Young Jeezy and T-Pain. He’s earned Grammy nominations as part of Big Tymers, his duo with Cash Money co-founder Bryan “Baby” Williams. And he’s produced more than a dozen platinum- and gold-selling albums by Juvenile, B.G., Turk, Lil Wayne and Big Tymers.
“Mannie is an avid fan of rap and hip-hop and a lot of those old-school influences that helped him create his own original sound. And still, a lot of new music that comes out of New Orleans has that DNA from early Mannie Fresh and the whole Cash Money run — his sound, the way he programmed his snares, even the type of synthesizer sounds he would use,” says DJ and producer Raj Smoove. “All of us are kind of like branches off the Mannie Fresh tree.”
Gambit met up with Mannie Fresh in October to talk more about his love for DJing, the early years of Cash Money Records, his friendship with DJ Wop and how he reflects New Orleans in his music.
Byron Thomas, better known as Mannie Fresh, grew up in the 7th Ward watching his father DJ block parties and venues around New Orleans. As he started to gravitate toward music, Mannie’s parents encouraged him and would buy him equipment for Christmas and birthdays. Mannie began collecting records and learning how to work a turntable as well as programming drum machines.
As he became a teenager, Mannie began DJing in public, first at school dances and house parties and then clubs around the city. When he was 15, he joined up with his friend DJ Wop and Wop’s cousin, Denny D, to form New York, Incorporated, and asked Mia X to be their emcee. It was the early-’80s and the early years of hip-hop’s growing popularity in New Orleans, and New York, Incorporated, were innovators, scratching records, creating remixes and adding a light show.
“His room was always set up like a studio as a kid,” says Mia X. “He had bunk beds. The top bunk was filled with the turntable, the mixing board, and then on the side of the bottom bunk, his dad had bought him — I don’t know what kind of keyboard it was and a drum machine. But we would go and make tapes. We would sit on the bottom bunk, holding the microphone, while Mannie or DJ Wop were on the ladder, scratching while we were spitting rhymes.”
author: Jake Clapp (Gambit)
