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Work For Da Money - Mouse on tha Track

Mouse on tha Track might be too happy. Actually, that is not the case; the guy is the correct amount of happy. A few years removed from his big mid 2000s hits (“Miss Independent”, “Wipe Me Down”, “Zoom”), Mouse continues to produce songs that should at least achieve minor regional hit status, but he is even struggling to get that level of success.

But, thankfully that is not heard on his solo mixtape Swagga Fresh Freddie, and instead the mixtape is full of joyous party songs that are ready to light up any club from Virginia down to Mississippi. After the intro, and great getting to know the rapper track “Swagga Fresh Freddie”: “Unwind”, “Mad At Me”, “Stupid Like Them Hoes” hit like a three punches to the face, where if you’re not knocked silly enough to want to dance by that point the mixtape is not for you. “Unwind” and “Stupid Like Them Hoes” should be familiar to those who’ve heard Trill Entertainment’s handful of hits, but if the name Webbie does not ring any bells, the songs are a great mix of Lil Jon hype with the sound template of Mannie Fresh. That combined with Mouse on tha Track’s surprising skill at writing hooks and humor makes these light-hearted club songs sound like a breeze. 

Even if Mouse on tha track did not shout to Mannie Fresh, it would tough to ignore his influence on this mixtape. “Turn Da Beat Out” is not the career retrospective of “The D.J.” from The Mind of Mannie Fresh, but is instead a quick romp of trying to get the party started with a bang and it is still all about the DJ. I spoke about “Money and Stunting” before, but it is hard to over state the how entertaining it is to hear someone continue the Mannie Fresh’s brand of R&B, which is what made the early Big Tymers albums so good.

This year has been a great year for rap producers letting their instrumentals escapes the need for a rapper on them (Araabmuzik, Clams Casino, DJ Burnone), but it has also been a good time for producers to start rapping and cutting out the rapper middleman. But, as some producers start rapping and releasing pure instrumental releases, Mouse on tha Track’s Swagga Fresh Freddie sounds like it could have been an excellent major label side project instead of being a free easy to forget about mixtape.