Former Cash Money super producer Mannie Fresh has opened a new chapter in his musical evolution with a new group called Sole Fresh.
The group, comprised of a pair of New Orleans teenagers, garnered Mannie’s attention as they found a following on the local music scene.
Knoxx St. Peter told AllHipHop.com, “We just created some buzz in the city. We were opening for Drake, Knuxx and Tyga and Mannie is like the kingpin of New Orleans, like the Hip-Hop scene. He ended up signing us to his label.”
"These are white kids that wear skinny [jeans]. When I met them, they didn't feel out of place," Mannie Fresh told. "[Sole Fresh] just like 'Hey, dude, this is what we do.' I feel you have to have courage these days anyway."
The pair said Mannie Fresh took them to his new studio in Houston, where they found they worked well together. The pair impressed Mannie and he signed them to his Chubby Boy Music imprint.
“[Our sound] is something different, its something new,” said Leonardo “Nardo” Jonze. “What he really liked was we were just doing ourselves. He liked that we weren’t trying to be anybody. He appreciated the originality in the music. That kind of sparked his interest. We went from there.”
“I caught an interview and he said our diversity kind of caught his eye. We have rap songs but we also have songs that are definitely rock influenced. Its just a whole variety of different things.”
The group call themselves a blend of their “Hip-Hop base” with pop and some rock influence.
Much of their base in the music game comes from Mannie Fresh, Nardo said.
“Mannie throws the stardust in there,” he explained. “I produced our single, ‘I Don’t Want To Grow Up,’ and he came in and touched it up. But he produced the majority of the album.”
Barely, college age, Nardo and Knoxx said they may one day seek to do more conscious songs, but for now, they simply enjoy making music.
“We just do us and have a lot of fun while doing it.”
Sole Fresh’s debut Peace, Love & Overweight Babies is due in June.