Behind the Beats: Mannie Fresh

Fans haven't heard much from Mystikal since his [article id="1629820"]release from prison in 2010[/article] after serving six years on sexual battery and extortion charges. There was, of course, his feature on [article id="1639336"]Lloyd's "Set Me Free,"[/article] and a leaked song called "Uh Oh," featuring Jazelle and produced by Mannie Fresh. The slow, seductive "Uh Oh" was proved that despite being locked up, the New Orleans rapper hadn't lost his touch on the mic. And Fresh and Mystikal clearly have good chemistry. In fact, a 2010 viral clip of the former No Limit MC freestyling while the former Cash Money producer plays beats has racked up over half a million hits on YouTube.

MTV News recently caught up with [article id="1665822"]Fresh at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival[/article] and talked to the producer about his work with Mystikal.

"The amount of hits on that is nuts, because we were just sitting in the car vibing," Fresh said of the viral video. "I was just going through beats, and he was rapping on it, and I'm trying to convince him [that] I think that would be his mixtape."

As the two continue to work together, Fresh is urging Mystikal to continue to put out free music and worry about selling an album later. Mannie thinks the rapper should build off of all the positive comments that the viral clip received and give the people what they want.

"I think we should go through the songs that everybody liked, put that out as free music then do the album," he said. "I am pushing for that."

Ultimately, Mannie is just looking out for the base that Mystikal has built starting with his 1996 debut album, Mind of Mystikal. "Every song that he picked, I'm like, ''Hey, just put it out there,' " Fresh recalled. "Your fans miss you."

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