The Big Tymers released their last album thirteen years ago. But Mannie Fresh and Birdman are still the golden standard of strictly-for-stuntin' music. Evidence: the hook on Nef the Pharaoh's breakout hit "Big Tymin'":
"Ooh, I'm ballin' like Baby/ These bitches they wanna have my baby
I'm fresh like Mannie/ That's why a fuck nigga can't stand me"
The Big Tymers ethos is perhaps most succinctly summarized on the cover of their most commercially successfully album, I Got That Work; the Cash Money emblem, fashioned in the shape of a church facade, is completely encrusted in jewels like a colony of barnacles smothering a big rock.
Click through the gallery to revisit the best of Big Tymers.
"Big Ballin'"
Appearing on Big Tymers' 1998 sophomore album How You Luv That Vol. 2, "Big Ballin'" is a good example of the duo's obsession with material wealth, cars in particular, that defines their entire body of work. Mannie Fresh invites the listener to check out the "mothafuckin' Big Tymers car show” by namedropping Cadillac, Lexus, Lincoln, and Mercedes-Benz, all within the first 45 seconds.
"Stun'n"
"Stun'n" has a certain West Coast, Nate Dogg-ish flavor that occasionally shows up in Big Tymers' music (later: "Still Fly"). The conceit of the video is that the Cash Money brass have literally covered every square inch of the back of their Range Rover in cash, and they give out by the armful to friends recently released from jail. Not only are they rich -- they are charitable. Check out that computer at the 0:27 mark.
Also: check out the track's Lil Wayne remix.
"Get Your Roll On"
Arguably the premiere Big Tymers turn-up track, "Get Your Roll On" is an homage to luxury cars but, with the unprecedented number of people taking Molly these days, it could find new life as an MDMA anthem.
"Get Your Roll On" is the lead single from the Tymers' 2000 album I Got That Work -- the first of two Tymers albums that debuted at #1.
"Number One Stunna" is Birdman's career in a nutshell -- his incredible nose for talent and his equally incredible knack for alienating said talent. Mannie Fresh, Lil Wayne, & Juvenile have all severed ties with Birdman.
"Big Tymers" feat. Boo & Gotti
"Big Tymers" got buried at the back end of I Got That Work but it is indisputably one of the best songs on the album. Birdman is not the most consistent rapper, but here he delivers one his best verses ever, recalling his gangbanging days: "Back where I started on my set in black/ Hopped out the passenger side of my 'llac/ Under my nuts was two ounces of crack."
"Stuntastic" feat. B.G.
Some might disagree with the inclusion of "Stuntastic" on this list. But it is one of the best examples of Mannie Fresh's pared-down production style. Here, he lets a razor-sharp monotone synth vamp do the heavy lifting. Or, as he raps, "[I'll] take a whack-ass track and have that bitch bumpin'."
"Still Fly"
The lead single off the Tymers' 2002 album Hood Rich, "Still Fly" is their highest charting single ever, reaching #11 on the US Hot 100. An ode to living large, (look no further than Mannie Fresh’s afro at the time... massive) "Still Fly" stands the test of time fourteen years later.
"Oh Yeah!" feat. Boo & Gotti
The "Oh Yeah" video opens with a hilarious mock episode of MTV Cribs and co-stars Mannie's pet rat, named “Thug Love." It may be a winking admission that his life is not quite as glamorous as his music would have you think -- but it is not for long. Before you know it, he and Birdman are transported to a yacht stocked with females and heading to Hawai'i.
"This Is How We Do"
"This is How We Do" is the lead single from Big Tymers' final album, 2003's Big Money Heavyweight, which was released after Mannie Fresh resigned from Cash Money due to a financial dispute with Birdman. As "This Is How We Do" indicates, they were at the top of their game at the end of their partnership.
"Gangsta Girl" feat. R Kelly
R Kelly has a whole fleet of "gangsta girls" who ride around Miami on Vespas. You know this is 2003 by the the excess number of oversized basketball jerseys in the video.
Based on the exotic flute 'n xylophone melody, this sounds suspiciously like a Scott Storch production...