Mannie Fresh has been teasing a project with Lil Wayne for the last few years and now he confirms The Fresh Files is on the way.
In an interview with XXL Fresh was questioned about the project and said:
“Hell yeah! People are asking when are we’re going to do this, but it can’t interfere with Tha Carter. We have to let it get to the point where they feel like now go ahead you can do this. I get it, because it’s not just him. It’s Universal and all of that. The label is like, because Mannie is your dude, we’re allowing Mannie to do this. It ain’t got nothing to do with Universal. It would be purely just me. The world is definitely going to get those records. If I could’ve put it out with Universal it would’ve been out.”
In regard to what we should expect on The Fresh Files Mannie added:
“I feel like it’s the Wayne that people want to hear. The format of those songs are even different from the two that are on this album. The format on “Start This Shit Off Right,” that wasn’t the way the song was put together. There were some people that felt it was too musical and they dumbed the song down. On the project that I’m putting out, you’re going to get the version of how the song was before it was touched. When you do something with people, you have to compromise. By no means am I arguing with it. At the end of the day, that’s Wayne’s baby. Tha Carter is his thing. I get it. Tha Carter was important to him. Wayne was gone for so long, so I knew why he was so protective of how he did this one. The cool thing is that there are some die-hard Mannie Fresh and Lil Wayne fans that want to hear Wayne over Mannie Fresh beats without engineers tampering with it or without a room full of people going, “It would be cool if we moved this here.” So the ones you’re getting from me are the way Mannie Fresh would have did it. They are unreleased songs. Shit, I got about two albums worth of songs on Wayne.”
Fresh inked himself a deal with production platform Splice. He elaborated on the situation saying:
“I’ve always had people ask why I haven’t done a sound pack yet. I just figured, why not partner with a company that I actually get sounds from, because Splice has always been my go-to if I was in a jam and I forgot something. Sometimes you can be somewhere across the world and somebody asks you about doing a beat and I’m like, damn I didn’t bring nothing to do the beat. But I know where I can get a kick from or a snare from, because like I said they’ve been my go-to to do that. So that was kind of like the marriage. They are 100 with how they do it, how they put it out and how they support it.”
Mannie continues:
“I got a friend who I do music with. He’s kind of like my tech guy that keeps up on everything that’s new. My background is more old school like SP-1200 and MPCs, so I got into Ableton from him and then from Ableton he was like, “There’s this shit Splice and with Ableton it’s like peanut butter and jelly.” Since my dude put me on it’s been my go-to whenever I need hi-hats or kicks or something that I need to do fast production wise that’s going to be quality.”
Lil Wayne released his awaited album The Carter V in September. It quickly went platinum and he later hit the road for his I Ain’t Shit Without You tour. Tunechi recently connected with Kid Ink and Saweetie in a video for “YUSO” as well.
Check back for more information on The Fresh Files as it becomes available.