ABOUT

About Manny D.Biography

Over the years, Manny D. Rosa has worn many hats - he's been a writer, graphic designer, web developer, video editor, co-owner of an internet radio station, on-air radio personality, owner of a mixtape company, a club promoter, owner of a Hip Hop media outlet, music promoter, filmmaker, project developer, team leader, visionary, renaissance man, self-proclaimed autodidactic, consultant, an internet marketer, and now a podcaster. But through it all, first and foremost, he's a Music Producer.

JAM3 Productions is owned and operated by Music Producer Manny D. Rosa. But to appreciate everything he has done over the years, you might have to go back to 1988, when Manny D purchased his first drum machine, the Roland TR-909. Or even further back to 1979, when he wrote his first rhymes, onto initially becoming an MC.

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 environment, 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 tri-state 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 was 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 Supreme’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 on 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, a lot 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 a lot 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 an 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 owned and operated. Being totally against sites that feature negative behavior, and labeling it as Hip Hop, knowing there was a lot of great positive examples of his culture out there, he dove right in, cultivating a product he was 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”. This endeavor was eventually put on the back burner. But will soon return in a different format.

Always being one to author his own opportunities, and create his own lane, Manny D continues to create and share his music, marching to the beat of one's own drum (pun intended - lol). He forges ahead with creating his own projects. He's been getting heavily involved in co-directing the visuals that bring his musical creations to life. He continues to submit his music for licensing, to be used for television shows, commercials, and movies. Together with Ticnology Films (an independent film company owned by his childhood friend, Nes "Tic" Morales), Manny D is presently making a splash into the indie film world, which will feature pieces of his own music in every project.

Understanding the importance of Marketing in the digital era, to help shed light on his creative endeavors, Manny D spent almost three years (and well over $10,000) taking every Digital Direct Response Marketing course he could get his hands on. Along with geeking out on every Marketing book & podcast he could get in front of him, he dove feet first into a whole new arena. Eventually launching his own marketing agency, "Fambiz Marketing, LLC" (2019), he began to take on clients to consult. His goal is to teach creatives how to look at themselves, and behave, as businesses. Fambiz Marketing will also be front & center in handling the marketing & promotions of all his creative ventures.

While Manny D continues to teach the Producer community about keeping their business in order, he realized there were parts of his own business he hadn't checked all the boxes on. He proceeded to dive into the Music Publishing world. After a year of studying the confusing world of publishing laws, Manny D eventually felt comfortable enough to launch his own Publishing Company, Mags Publishing, LLC ('20). For now, the purpose of this entity is to handle and oversee all Pub Amin duties of his own music catalog. Mags Publishing will also be the entity to oversee the publishing of books Manny D. will author. With the first release coming in 2022.

Manny D also launched his "Dare To Be Great Vlog" Series that will tell everyone his story, show you behind-the-scenes what he's working on, and passing on words of wisdom he's learned along the way. Also, with with the urging of those around him, he launched "The Manny D. Rosa Podcast" ('23), in order to pass insight, motivation, and direction to his entrepreneur community.

As he did early on, he felt the need for a multi-faceted media entity. A Music Production company, and Independent Film company, and Publishing company, all under one umbrella. Although music production was always his first love, Manny D. insists on putting other parts of his skillset on display. So, in an effort to "break the box", he launched MDRosa Media.   

Stay tuned.. ..the journey never stops.

MISSION STATEMENT:

Manny D. Rosa lives & breathes his creative nature. His number one goal is to always continue to grow as a musician, as a filmmaker, and as an entrepreneur. He has been fortunate to be able to unite with other like-minded folks over the years, to put out the best possible art, and the best entrepreneurial efforts. At this point in his career, the only objectives are to continue to develop artistically, to serve his fellow creatives, and to build a platform to push culture forward. So as his skill-set continues to grow, so will the size of his impact.