Mannie Fresh is coming to his own defence regarding his recent beat battle against fellow producer, Scott Storch, over Instagram live last week, claiming that the rules weren’t clear enough and that, ultimately, he was the real winner. After Mannie and Scott went head-to-head last Wednesday night in a battle of the beat-makers, Scott was somewhat unanimously declared the champion. However, many pointed out that, despite boasting an expansive catalogue of hits, Mannie excluded tons of his best work. The producer has since explained his reasoning for leaving out some of his strongest contenders, noting that he was under the impression that the battle was purely hip-hop.
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“I mean if it’s hip-hop, it’s gotta be hip-hop,” he told the hosts of The Breakfast Club. “I was told that it was a hip-hop beat battle. I didn’t know it was an R&B beat battle.” He admits that he definitely could have “went harder” with his choices; however, he ultimately disagreed with his pick, “Back That Azz Up” by Juvenile, resulting in a draw with Scott’s pick, “Still D.R.E.” by Dr. Dre, in the final round. While he has no regrets about participating in the battle, since it exposed a new generation to how many hits were actually made by the same producers, he does believe that he was the true winner.
“Some of these songs [he] didn’t do,” Mannie pointed out, referring to how some of the tracks Scott chose were only co-produced by him rather than entirely his own production. “I stuck to the rules. These are songs that Mannie Fresh produced.” Although he felt that the rules of the battle, which was organized by recent battle opponents, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, were unclear, Mannie refrains from speaking negatively about Scott himself. “They gotta do a better job at putting this together,” he said.
Catch the full Breakfast Club interview below and let us know whether you agree with Mannie.
