when I saw Mannie become a DJ because of who Sabu is,” she said. “I figured he would DJ because his dad DJs—it’s like that in New Orleans.A lot of the kids have parents in bands, and a lot of those kids are band heads, and they end up in brass bands,” she added, noting the city’s tradition-centered culture. However, Mannie’s talent, Mia emphasized, was all his own:“Mannie is Mannie.” Although the members of New York Incorporated were barely into their teens at the time, they took their craft seriously.“We used to practice in [Mannie’s] room,” Mia remembered.“He had bunk beds, and his entire DJ setup was on the top bunk.” Mia was impressed by how Mannie would stand on the side ladder that connected the two beds, creating a vantage from which he could turn the top bunk into a makeshift DJ platform, with space to scratch, blend, and cut records. “His dad bought him a drum machine and a keyboard, and he would play by ear. Early on, I knew that Mannie was a special talent. I knew he had something extra other than just the skill of being a DJ.At the time, we didn’t even know what production was. But, in hindsight, I saw the making of a great producer when we were fourteen.” With Mannie on the turntables and Mia on the mic, New York Incorporated became one of the most sought-after crews within New Orleans’s nascent hip-hop scene.They became a staple at open mics and battles, held down teen nights at the local ShowBiz Pizza Place, and performed at promoter Mr. Eli’s Rap Attack events at the Municipal Auditorium, opening for touring acts like Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick.
As hip-hop exploded nationwide, Miami bass music had the South in a chokehold. The uptempo, 808-driven sound popularized by 2 Live Crew kept the clubs packed, and Mannie was at the center of the scene in New Orleans. The first club set he remembers playing was at Club Rumors on St. Claude Avenue in the Ninth Ward (when it was quite likely still called by its original name, Discovery). The notorious venue was known for being among the most dangerous nightspots in the city, but it was also the proving ground for New Orleans’s best DJ talent, including a young Mannie and KLC of Beats by the Pound fame. “We were underage and had no business being in there,” Mannie said.To set himself apart from other DJs,Mannie began bringing drum machines to the club, augmenting his sets with sounds from a Roland TR-808 or E-mu SP-1200.“People would beat on the glass and say, ‘Hey bro, play that beat !,’” Mannie recalls. “It became, ‘Let him run that beat ,’ and then New Orleans people just took it on, so anything that sounded like that was called ‘ that beat .’” In time, the phrase that beat would evolve to become shorthand for the Triggerman beat, the bedrock of New Orleans bounce music. But first, fate would come in the form of a missed studio appointment while Mannie was an intern at Sea-Saint Studios, the Clematis Street recording facility owned by New Orleans icon Allen Toussaint. Not wanting to waste studio time that had already been paid for, Mannie offered several local rappers the opportunity to come and record with him. Gregory Duvernay, a member of rival group the Ninja Crew, answered the call. What emerged from the session was “Freddie’s Back.” The Miami bass-style track, released on 12-inch in 1987 with credit to Gregory D and DJ Mannie Fresh, playfully interpolated a creepy children’s chant from the 1984 horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street , over 808 drums, a Dragnet -inspired keyboard line, and a dense bed of over a dozen samples. Mannie and Gregory would complete and release their first full-length project, Throw Down , that same year.The album, released through independent Los Angeles label D&D Enterprises, featured a mix of Miami bass and New York-style hip-hop tracks with names like “Rock Rap” and “Bust Down (Y’all).” Though hastily assembled, it showcased Mannie’s ability to create original beats and cut up samples. However, some constructive criticism from his father would remind him that, even though his songs were getting played around the city, he still had room for improvement.“He would be like,‘That’s cool, but that ain’t your best thing,’” Mannie recalled Sabu telling him. “‘It’s kind of bullshit.’”
It was another song recorded at Sea-Saint Studios that would cement Gregory D and Mannie Fresh’s status in New Orleans. “Buck Jump
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( above ) A flyer for a 1989 Gregory D and Mannie Fresh performance at New Orleans’s Booker T. Washington High School. Courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
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