Mannie Fresh

The musical backbone of New Orleans rap powerhouse Cash Money Records, Mannie Fresh is revered for his percolating, ultra-funky production. On his solo debut, he lives up to his name, dropping 30 tracks full of skittering beats and baller-centric rhymes. "Real Big" and "How We Ride" are standouts.

Even hard-core Southern hip-hopheads could do without several of the ribald skits and
phoned-in cameos that dot the solo debut from Cash Money's longtime producer. You can
forgive Fresh, though, because the rest of the time he's wilding out and throwing down
big-eared bangers, witty interludes, first drafts of crunk hits and even some solid rhymes.