About

Before his pre-teen years, he was close-knit with six of his Bronx neighborhood friends. As it turns out, four of them were MCs. So, being influenced by his friends, and his constant attendance to all the neighborhood jams, block parties, and house parties, Manny D began putting pen to paper. At first...
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Before his pre-teen years, he was close-knit with six of his Bronx neighborhood friends. As it turns out, four of them were MCs. So, being influenced by his friends, and his constant attendance to all the neighborhood jams, block parties, and house parties, Manny D began putting pen to paper. At first in secret, he cultivated his craft behind closed doors for about a year and a half, even before family members knew of his rapper aspirations. The culture back then didn’t allow newbies to shine, and definitely frowned on wackness. So he knew his skill-level had to be polished, before putting it on display. Fast forward a couple years to middle school, he began doing talent shows, and any chance to jump on the mic at house parties and park jams, Manny D was all in. By the final year of junior high school, he had already captained his first rap group, “DJ Rozy Roz & The Turn-On Three”, including himself, MC Ramp-Ski, and MC Sammy Sam (later replaced by MC Louie Lou). By high school, the group had dissolved, as he found more success with his second attempt with the rap duo, the “Full Strength Force”; which included himself, then Manny D, Da Nemesis, and his younger blood brother MC Baby Fresh. The group, with new disc jokey in tow, DJ Fresh, began making the neighborhood rounds. As their practice tapes began circulating the area, microphone-time was being garnered, and dues were being paid. Double time ahead to the late 80s, the group had a new DJ. Their new maestro, Mixmaster Supreme, who had toured the world with B-boy legends, The Magnificent Force, and produced music for rap icons like Kurtis Blow, would later become a bigger influence on Manny D, than anyone had anticipated (more on that later). By 1987, the group united with Lightning Rod Management, began doing shows throughout the tristate area, and eventually began sharing stages with a multitude of heavyweights in the industry; like Nayobe, Monet, Lisa Lisa, T La Rock, Fascination, Spinderella, Trilogy, Judy Torres, and The Village People to name a few. The group also enjoyed the pleasure of interacting with video show legends Carlos De Jesus (WKTU DJ and host of ABC’s “New York Hot Tracks”) and VJ Uncle Ralph McDaniels (“Video Music Box”). In 1988, he were were instrumental in launching “Atrevete En El ’88”. Along with the New York City office’s of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, led by Betty Arce and Lightning Rod Management, they were involved in the inception of a city-wide voter registration drive geared toward encouraging hispanics, ages 18 to 21, to register to vote. After years of going to their DJ’s house for practice and hanging out, watching Supreme make beats for his group, and many other artists, Manny D began to catch the production bug. So in ’88, he purchased his first piece of gear from Supreme, and spent the next couple years building his very own home studio. Back in those days, it wasn’t affordable to have a home set-up, like it is today. Not too many people had racks of outboard gear, had a string of midi apparatus, and recorded to reel to reel, the way Manny did at the time. He spent ten years (from ’88 to ’98) juggling both, rapping and cultivating his production skills. Until he finally put the mic down, and focused solely on his music making abilities. Manny D has no regrets, because he says it helps him in the studio, working with artists, if he needs to help develop a hook, or restructure a verse, his many years of writing always comes in handy. He feels he has the advantage over other Hip Hop producers, because most come from a DJ background. Plus he says, alot of the time, he makes music that he would have liked, if he was still an artist. Unfortunately, life has a way of sideswiping you when you least expect it. In the late 90’s, Manny D lost his studio, and walked away from music for a number of years, thinking he would never look back. By 2004, he began to get that musical itch again. By this time, the musical production world had quickly shifted from analog to the digital realm, so he knew he had alot to learn. He began reading everything he could get his hands on about plug-ins, DAWs (digital audio workstations), and all the latest recording equipment. Thinking big, as he usually does, Manny D wanted to start a multifaceted company, which had hands in several areas of bringing music to the masses. A company that would produce and manufacture mixtapes, do club promotions, delve into internet radio, and reign at music productions. So, with the help of his brother (DJ Mr. President), his father (DJ Vic), and his friend (DJ Tech), the four embarked on this mission called “La Familia Entertainment”. Within a few years, [1] their mixtape catalog was up to 85 installments, manufacturing all of their own physical copies (duplicates, artwork, etc.). [2] They’ve promoted large venue events throughout New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina, booking many big-name headliners in the process. [3] Seeing the upcoming streaming trend early on, they launched True Fire Radio, a legal internet radio station. Being one of the first to utilize video streaming technology, to broadcast syndicated shows from around the country, where Manny D was on-air personality, and produced two different shows. [4] And with music production being Manny D’s number one passion, he launched JAM3 Productions. La Familia Entertainment was prominent in all these lanes, from it’s inception back in 2005, until spring 2016. During this time, they would enjoy working and networking with artists and industry types, including the likes of Jim Jones, DJ Prostyles (BET), Famlay (Pharrell’s Startrak artist), Too Tight Productions/StreetRatt Promotions, DJ Mad (DJ Kings), DJ Escobar (DJ Kings), SED Models, The legendary Dana Dane, The WondertTwinz (Sirius Radio), DJ 2Smooth (official tour DJ of Toby Love), DJ Kast One (Hot97 and The Heavy Hitters), Clear Channel’s 103JAMZ, DJ Fontz (103Jamz), DJ Jack Of Spades (103Jamz), Chris Caliente (radio personality, 103Jamz), DJ Rick Geez (103Jamz), EJ Greig (radio personality, 103Jamz), Consequence (Tribe Called Quest and Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music Imprint), and Craig G (from Marley Marl’s Juice Crew), just to name a few. Seeing the need for an actual Hip Hop Culture media outlet, which positively sheds light on all the elements of Hip Hop culture, Manny D spent a year helping to develop the Culture Cable website, which he now owns and operates. Being totally against sites that feature negative behavior, and labeling it as Hip Hop, knowing there was alot of great examples of his culture out there, he dove right in, cultivating a product he is extremely proud to have helped birth. He says, “I never click on fight videos, because I don’t find it entertaining, to watch my people behave in that manner. It only reinforces the negative stereotypes”. Always being one to author his own opportunities, and create his own lane, Manny D continues to make music with some of his favorite underground artists. He forges ahead with creating his own projects. He’s been getting heavily involved in co-directing the visuals that bring his creations to life. He continues to submit his music for licensing, to be used for TV, commercials, and movies. Together with Ticnology Films, Manny D is presently developing a web series, which will feature a piece of his music in every episode. And he launched a Vlog Series that will take everyone behind the scenes of everything he’s working on, and show how he miraculously juggles it all. -Stay tuned.. ..the journey never stops.
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