Verzuz Cheat Sheet: Mannie Fresh x Scott Storch

Would the world know Lil Wayne if not for Mannie Fresh? It’s hard to be sure. As Cash Money Records’ franchise producer and the man behind a large majority of the label’s most enduring songs to date, Fresh produced the whole of young Weezy Wee’s earliest projects, in addition to multiple offerings from Juvenile, B.G. and all the rest. He’d get around to working with a number of the South’s other most accomplished MCs (T.I., Young Jeezy, 2 Chainz)—but not before helping to change the modern lexicon as we know it with “Bling Bling”. How does Scott Storch measure up to that? Well, he wasn’t so much a part of any one camp as he was the kid at camp everyone wanted to know. Over the course of a decades-long career, Storch would deliver hits to just about anyone who could afford them—which, to be clear, meant Dr. Dre, Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera, Ja Rule, his former band The Roots (Storch played keys) and so many others. He never rapped like Fresh did, but he did know how to get the best out of an MC—something that earned him a notoriously lavish lifestyle. Hear how both producers would end up living well from their work on the official Mannie Fresh x Scott Storch Cheat Sheet playlist, curated by Apple Music host Lowkey.