Check The Credits: Mannie Fresh Speaks On Producing For Cash Money, Juvenile, T.I., & More

Working on Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter

“We started Tha Carter at a time when Cash Money was in a bad place. We had a meeting a club where we all basically agreed that if we didn’t deliver with that album it could all be over. Wayne completely stepped up to the plate. I knew I had to switch up the production a little bit and go harder. I felt like we had to make Tha Carter one of the best albums Cash Money could have ever made. I wanted the album to show a different side of Wayne. [The record label] Universal just wanted to keep him sort of comical and as a little kid to keep a younger fan base, but he was grown. We couldn’t keep him in that same place. I felt his cry out too. He didn’t want to be kept in that box anymore. He wasn’t that little boy any more. We ran with that long enough. That album was a real test for a few reasons. That was also the beginning of the digital era in music. At a time where everyone was giving away free music, we wondered how we could compete. I felt like all we needed to do was make something that was above average. For that album to do what it did was proof that the mission was accomplished.”