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from Drag Rap (Profile, 1986)

Alright grown ups, in betweens, children and babies, I’m back with part two of the Mannie interview. Here Elvis Freshly talks about a record that he himself sampled dozens of times, New Orleans Bounce archetype (by way of Queens) The Showboys’ “Drag Rap (Triggerman)”. Click here if you missed part one of the interview.

When did “Triggerman” first catch on in New Orleans?
I guess from the release date of that song. It always was a hot song in New Orleans. I want to say Memphis, as well. Memphis and New Orleans. It was just one of those songs that was embraced. And I guess what made it so hot around New Orleans was just the 808, you know it’s two different drum sets in it. You got one with a hard kick, a hard snare and then it just breaks down into this 808 beat. And you know, down south that’s been the favorite drum machine for forever, the 808. And they’re some New York cats, but nobody ever knew they was from New York. And the whole way the song was formatted – it’s story rap and it’s got that southern feel to it. (more…)

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from Throwdown LP (D&D, 1987)

Gregory D & DJ Mannie Fresh – “Buck Jump Time“

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from Buck Jump Time 12″ (Yo?, 1989)

Waaah. AIN’T MY VAULT is a new poorly titled and hopefully semi regular series of from-the-archives interviews that I never took the time to transcribe or publish. First up is a conversation with the great man Mannie Fresh about everything from his days with New York Incorporated and Gregory D to the personal and musical impact of Hurricane Katrina. What follows the second half of an hour long conversation that amounted to one quote in “The Big Bang”, a piece I wrote about The Showboy’s proto-bounce classic “Drag Rap (Triggerman)” for Scratch. (Originally conducted 6/1/07)

Noz: So tell me a little about New York Incorporated.
Mannie Fresh: That was my homeboy, Denny D. He came down from New York and they had a mobile DJ thing that was going on. I was doing my own thing, I was doing local things before I got turned on to them. Denny D is my homie DJ Wop’s cousin and Wop was like my cousin got all the schools on lock and they want to check you out. So I came to the dudes crib, did a little audition, showed him what I was made of, what I could do. And they was like “holy shit, you the youngest dude right now and the table’s are on fire” so they put me down with their crew. So all love to New York Incorporated, that was my first family, my first DJ group and we pretty much ran the city from the 80s to the 90s. Ain’t a house we ain’t been to, ain’t a school dance we didn’t do. (more…)

Z-Ro & Trae reunited. Both off Rap-A-Lot. New ABN album coming soon.