Criminal Manne

A Billboard-charting MC who spent the '90s selling mixtapes out of his trunk, solo artist Criminal Manne is also a member of the Project Playaz and hails from Memphis, Tennessee. With the Project Playaz, Manne hit in 1998 with the track "Buck & Naked" which led to a deal with the strong indie label Relativity Records. After the group's single "Buck with Me" became the first video aired on the BET television network's influential show Rap City, the group signed a deal with Rap-A-Lot Records but began to dissolve around 2002. That same year, Manne went solo with the album Play Time's Over, then 2003 saw him drop Neighborhood Dope Manne, a Rap-A-Lot album that featured Lil Flip and La Chat along with the legendary 8Ball & MJG. Street Ways followed in 2005 and climbed to 97 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, while 2006 saw the collaborative album Atlanta 2 Memphis drop with Pastor Troy along for the ride. 2007 mixtape daNeighborhood Dopeman arrived hosted by the starmaker DJ Drama. The Takeover mixtape with Frayser Boy landed a year later with the official album Got Work in 2009, then a series of mixtapes with DJ 5150, DJ Scream, and Traps N Trunks brought the MC to 2014, a year he cut the Arm & Hammer LP, along with his OJ Da Juiceman collaboration Kings of the Trap. In 2016, he landed back on the charts thanks to a guest appearance on Young Dolph's album King of Memphis. ~ David Jeffries