producer: manny fresh

guests: big tymers, b.g., turk, hot boys, lil wayne, paparue, manny fresh, jaÿ-z

Let’s face it, they already have earned more money and piled up on their bank account, than you and me will ever see in our life. And this Cash Money Millionaire spent more money on his gold teeth rims, than we earn in a year. And they are our age. So you start to wonder what we did wrong or what they did right, ha?

It could be put down to a simple rule: it’s all in the music. It has been said, that to clock in the big figures in record sales, you need to sell to females. And it also has been said, to appeal to females you can’t be too hard. Or if you are hard, you need them beats the females like. That’s what is said to be the secret behind the success of these Cash Money Millionaires and the other camp across the town: No Limit. Although they are hard like your mom’s cookies, they got them beats.

Not to take anything away from Cash Money Records independent success, they have released several albums on their own strength, the final break through came in form of the "Ha" track by Juvenile. And this track even deserves getting that kind of attention. It’s a perfect synergy of Manny Fresh’s unique production, who pulls out acoustic glocks and bleeps, to put a bouncy track to Juve’s new way of slangin’ "you don't go in the projects when it's dark ha / you claim you thug and you ain't got no heart ha / you came in the Nolia on new years eve ha / you got stuck in that bitch and couldn't leave ha / it was hard for you to breathe ha".

Although this Hot Boy knows how to flow, he can’t be considered a lyricist. He does paint pictures of ghetto survival and the school of hard knocks, with rhymes like "you making shit more complicated than it should be / you feel your death is coming soon only it could be / nigga got killed because they never understood me / I know your block is similar to how my hood be" ("Come Ride With Me"), his lyrical ability remains aight within the boarders, but falls short in every aspect of advancing beyond the subject matters of flossin’, ghetto angst, threats, and the main interests of a thug: bitches, money, drugs and serving punk ass fools.

On the other hand the production is more than just inspired, more than musical. It’s a orchestrated sound collage of synthesized effects, that are nevertheless moving in an organic sense, borrowing from the g-rides, trump funk of Oakland. "Ghetto Children" is a perfect soundtrack for the summer or for reminiscing over the summer. Same with "Follow Me Now", that follows the momentary Latino trend without trying too hard, but sounding surprisingly fresh.

Add to this more stellar tracks, like "Welcome 2 Tha Nolia", "Rich Niggaz", the epic "Back That Azz Up", and "Juvenile On Fire" and you got a success story. Sure this is not for the backpacker crowd, who like their brain being lyrically whipped and not gun whipped. But everybody that has a secret thug grill hidden on their faces, enrolled to ‘flossin’ 101’ or just likes to study musical output by talented beatsmiths, this is the ish right here.