(AllHipHop News) Mannie Fresh is one of the most accomplished music producers of the past 15 years and claims to have over 200 songs in the stash. In his recent interview with NPR’s Mircophone Check, the self-proclaimed “Manny Glover” speaks on not sequencing Juvenile’s first album, recording with Mos Def and more.
After naming Juvenile’s album 400 Degereez was the best representation of Mannie Fresh’s signature sound, Mannie revealed how there was no sequencing involved in the making of the album. According to Fresh, the recording session were reminiscent of old Motown sessions of the 70s:
Pretty much like if it was an old Marvin Gaye/Motown session. We pretty much had a count-off and we played. We played for however many bars that song was. Juvie rapped those songs next to use while we were playing. On some of the songs, you can kind of hear where it’s 14 bars in his rap instead of 16 so we had to improvise to make the hook work.
Mannie Fresh admits that Mos Def’s recording process is “weird” but they are finishing up the upcoming collaborative album OMFGOD. Detailing their recording process, Fresh admits that recording with Mos Def involves lectures:
We have to listen to him talk, for about two or three hours about life. [Laughs] We got to let him get it all out. He has to give us all of his conspiracy theories and all of that and all of this. Then we like, “ok, dude, you good? You ready?” He’s like, ‘Okay, I’m ready.”
Fresh previewed a new song from their upcoming album, entitled “Let’s Go” that features. Speaking about the influence of technology on music production, Fresh says it has caused a rift between “producers” and “beatmakers”:
When you have something do it for you. It’s nothing wrong with saying ‘ok, I can get an app or a plug-in that’s an 808 plug-in. But, when I buy something and it can, I guess, imitate and emulate the beat, then I’m not really working. You have things now that you can buy that pretty much have chords in it. That have piano patterns in it. Well, why do I have to work? That’s why we have to define things between ‘beatmakers’ and ‘producers’.
Check out the Mannie Fresh preview “Let’s Go” and his full talk with NPR’s Microphone Check below: