Juvenile & Mannie Fresh Deliver Hometown Tunes Live At The Jazz & Heritage Festival In New Orleans

via The Times-Picayune

Both Juvenile and Mannie Fresh have new albums out from late 2009, but Sunday (May 2) at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage presented by Shell, the rapper and DJ -- who go back almost 15 years as Cash Money Records label mates -- stuck largely to the old school.

It went back even farther than that at the set's opening on the Congo Square "My Louisiana" Stage. DJ Mannie Fresh did not, actually, DJ at all during the set; that was left to Leroy "Precise" Edwards, who produced Juvenile and Mystikal's earliest tracks, and DJ Wop, who's been running with Fresh since the early 80's, spinning at block parties with the New York Incorporated hip-hop crew.

After a verse from "Go DJ," and the Big Tymers' "Still Fly," Fresh invited out rapper Gregory D, with whom he'd put out an album, "D Rules The Nation", in 1987.

"Me and this dude basically started this," Fresh explained, grinning. The larger-than-life Gregory D replied, "I knew Mannie Fresh wasn't gonna come out to the Jazz Fest and not invite Gregory D!"

A bass player slapped his strings as the two performed their 80's local hit "Buck Jump Time," a shout-out to New Orleans projects, local references and in-jokes with a second-line tuba bass line and a syncopated beat. Then Juvie took the stage and fast-forwarded things ever so slightly, with "400 Degreez" (1998) and "Set It Off" (2000).

Juvenile detoured to the present once, with "Gotta Get It," the second single off of last fall's "Cocky And Confident," but for the most part, he and Fresh stuck to their old catalogs, sparring and joking easily as if the stage were their living room.

"This is the greatest hits of Universal Juvie right here," he said. "Did we forget anything, y'all?"

The mood was briefly somber as Juvenile gave shout-outs to two late Cash Money artists who were killed in the 90's, Pimp Daddy and Yella Boy of UNLV. He then performed "Slow Motion," a collaboration with Soulja Slim that became a posthumous hit when Slim was killed before its release in 2003.

The only off-kilter moment was the introduction of So Fresh, a gangly, teenage-looking rap duo from Metairie currently working with Fresh. Gesturing and jumping like an extra-spastic version of the Beastie Boys, they performed a song that seemed to be about being excited to turn 21, so that they could drink Jagermeister and throw up. It was very hard to tell if it was a joke.

Thankfully, their song was as brief as it was confusing, and it was back to back-in-the-day. The closer was the party-pumping "Back That A-- Up" (little attention was paid to language at Congo Square during Juvie's set) seguing into "Drop It Like It's Hot." Even in the light mist of rain and gusting wind, the crowd did as told.

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(Video courtesy of BillyHarrellH20)