Words By Brendan Fredrick
Photos By Brady Fontenot
In the age when hip hop producers give their best beats to former Mickey Mouse Club cast members, it’s good to see someone still keeps it in the family. Best known for last summer’s smash “Wipe Me Down,” 23-year-old producer Jeremy “Mouse” Allen is the musical mastermind behind the recent rise of Trill Entertainment’s roster of Baton Rouge, Louisiana MCs. Backed by his eerie, clean synth melodies, chunky bounce drums and anthemic hooks, Trill is the closest descendant of the spastic gutter rap that Cash Money Records pioneered in the late ’90s.
But back when Mouse was attending Belaire High School, C-Loc and the Concentration Camp (which included a young Lil’ Boosie) were “the only people makin’ noise in BR,” Mouse remembers. However, listening to New Orleans hitmakers like Mannie Fresh and Beats By The Pound convinced Mouse that a future in music was worth an investment. While working at Popeyes, he saved up, bought a Korg Triton keyboard and started banging out beats.
In 2003, BR rapper Handy’s Mouse-produced single “Big Boi” started getting spins on local rap station Max 94.1. But the city’s biggest buzz was coming from Trill, a new indie label lead by Lil’ Boosie and Webbie, a former schoolmate of Mouse’s. Boosie and Webbie hired Mouse to lay tracks for their album Gangsta Muzik. Sadly, Handy died in a car accident the week before Gangsta Muzik was released. “If he hadn’t died, he would’ve been on fire just as much as Boosie and Webbie,” the producer says. In a nod to the artist who gave him his first taste of success, he begins his hits with a sample of an old Handy song: “Mouse drop the track/It’ll make ya bounce and act.”
Off the success of Gangsta Muzik, Trill signed a distribution deal with Asylum Records. Since then, Mouse has been behind every one of the crew’s singles, propelling the label’s roster to success: Webbie in 2005 with the “Gimme Dat,” Boosie in 2006 with “Zoom” and Foxx in 2007 with “Wipe Me Down.” Now, Mouse is rapping and producing in 3 Deep, his new Trill trio.
Finally, the humble producer is in demand. “I’m supposed to be doing something with Juvenile, but I ain’t really got to him yet,” Mouse admits. No, he hasn’t been busy working with a pop star, but he has been focusing on his biggest project to date—a newborn daughter: “I’m puttin’ in my lil’ daddy time!” For Mouse, it’s all in the family.
