BY: JAEQWON SUAREZ / MANAGING EDITOR
What’s better than a fun house? Playhouze, the musical duo formed by the cousins Manny and David, has been rocking the house music scene with songs and productions containing elements from other genres.
Seawanhaka had the opportunity to discuss this side of music with one-half of Playhouze, Manny, who has been in the music scene for quite some time.
Playhouze started to make music dating back to 2016-2017. However, they weren’t always known as Playhouze, their journey actually started out as “RENEGADE 92”.
“We got it [RENEGADE 92] from a name generator. I remember the first time we made a song together, we were chilling in my cousin’s bedroom and making a bunch of noise, and this was our first ‘song’,” Manny explains.
That was only the first step in releasing the song. They would then spend the next 20 minutes generating names online, eventually ending with RENEGADE 92.
What started off as just him and his cousin quickly became a family business, with Manny and David being the face of Playhouze.
“Our whole family is really a part of our team. They’re like our ears and if I have a specific song that I know someone might like, I’d send it to them and get their feedback and see how that goes,” he stated.
The change to what they currently are named stems from a conversation the duo had with their friend.
This was so that their music was easier to find for their fans, as RENEGADE 92 was only ever meant to be a temporary placeholder. The name was finalized around 2020, about three years after they had started getting serious about music.
Incorporating elements from Latin and Hip Hop genres is one of Playhouze’s many specialties. Songs such as “La Obsesión” and “One Touch” take inspiration from Caribbean sounds.
In the future, Playhouze would love to expand to different genres and experiment more when it comes to producing music.
One example that comes to Manny’s mind is when he shows his father the Latin tracks that he makes.
“My dad is from the Dominican Republic, so he has all that Latin music engrained in him. He’s the first guy I go to show him any Spanish/Latin incorporations that I use in our music,” Manny explained.
Playhouze takes inspiration from many Latin artists as well. Earlier on in the interview, he talks about how Bad Bunny or Gordo incorporate house elements in their music, these two being his main references for Latin elements.
However, it also depends on what Playhouze is trying to go for within the production.
“If I want to get into heavy-hitting house music, I go to artists such as Julien Jordan or Martin Garrix,” Manny starts off. “But if I want something more chill or even more Latin, I’d go for Bad Bunny or J. Balvin.”
He has a dedicated playlist for inspiration, which contains over 24 hours of music.
“If I ever feel like I need some kind of inspiration, I go to that playlist and click shuffle and see where my mind goes from there,” Manny tells Seawanhaka.
Stepping aside from Playhouze as a group, Manny told the interviewer that most of the work he does solo still ends up being for Playhouze.
“I’m usually just the ideas guy, and then what my cousin would do is be my other set of ears,” he begins. “I’ve been told a lot that you won’t be able to work in this [music] industry alone.”
This statement ends up defining Manny’s character and his artistry as one that seeks connections and community, two important traits that he believes separate good artists from the great.
“He [David] is more diverse in his music style than I am. He is the outside ear in our group. So I generate the ideas, and he put the pieces together,” Manny continued.
His connection with his cousin adds more value to everything they produce together, as he describes, “If it were just me, I would be more disappointed with the stuff that I would’ve put out. A lot of the time, the rough drafts are drastically different from their actual release thanks to him.”
The duo’s use of each other presents itself in the music, as it makes listeners want to dance and have fun, which ultimately wouldn’t have happened without one or the other for Playhouze.
The craftsmanship has only evolved since the duo started. Their first album, titled PLAYHOUZE VOL. 1, came out in 2022, and was “only a collection of songs sitting on my laptop,” Manny describes.
Their second album, BROKEN JUKEBOX, appears more story-driven. Songs like “Lose Control ft. Bringthenoize” or “Take Me Home” stand out from the album.
“My favorite song I made on that album was ‘Lose Control.’ It highlights how we’re not just there for the mainstream type of music,” Manny starts. “The majority of the album is radio-friendly, and then you have songs like ‘Lose Control’, which is not something you would hear on the radio.”
He goes on to say that the entire project was exciting to make. As he states, it felt “fresh” with its story and production compared to PLAYHOUZE VOL. 1.
BROKEN JUKEBOX came from a moment in their lives when they had taken a break from music. The cover art for this album was taken on their vacation, a fun fact that he threw into the discussion.
“I told myself that I didn’t want to worry about music. I just wanted to have fun in taking time off. That album came after we returned from our break. This album, compared to our first one, felt more like an actual worked-on project than just putting a bunch of music together and slappy a title onto it,” Manny states.
Coming back with new ideas and a different perspective is sometimes what artists need to inspire them and produce music that represents themselves and, ultimately allows them to flesh out ideas and work with other artists.
Previous songs show that Playhouze is no stranger to featuring different artists’ vocals, and Manny was able to give a learning lesson on how sampling goes for their group.
The main takeaway is getting permission from these artists and selling them on how they’d be great on one of Playhouze’s songs.
“I tend to message artists like: ‘Hey, I like the way you sound on this song, I think you would sound great on one of our beats too.’ That’s something I need to start doing more, promoting our music more. That’s one of my goals for this year,” Manny finishes.
Though one of Manny’s goals is to promote Playhouze more, it appears that they already have thousands of fans waiting to hear what’s next for the duo.
Their Spotify Wrapped for 2024 displayed that they gained 25 thousand music streams and had an average of 4.5 thousand listeners, which are not just simple numbers to accomplish in a year.
For Manny, his words could not hide the excitement about the accomplishment they’ve made together.
“I don’t like to look at the statistics often, it’s like once in a blue moon. Normally it’s just to see how well a song is doing and it shocks me that so many people enjoy our music, even though I know I don’t post our music as often as I should.”
Even though he may not post as often, it’s not a surprise that Playhouze has been able to gain a huge following within the eight years that they have been working on music.
As for the future? Time can only tell with the musical duo. Manny was able to give some insights into what we can expect from Playhouze, including new music, producing another album, including students from the RocNation program here at LIU, and performing more.
“I believe that the music that will soon be coming out is going to be better but more spread out within the year. That’s the plan at least. Our last release [VINYL Sunshine] was a good way to end off last summer,” Manny stated.
He also hinted that “VINYL Sunshine” is the segway into Playhouze’s plans for 2025, showing their growth as artists from BROKEN JUKEBOX to their next project.
“Our next project coming out is going to be completely different from ‘VINYL Sunshine’ and fans will definitely notice the difference,” he further explained.
As far as performing goes, Manny is eager to do more shows such as the one he did at the beginning of 2025.
“That was my first club experience in New York as far as performing. As nervous as I was, I can’t wait to do it again. Yes, you have music people want to listen to, but you can also incorporate your style of music as well. I feel like that gets a ton of appreciation in clubs.”
As we closed out our discussion, Seawanhaka was able to ask him his opinion on producing concepts and ideas for songs and tracks.
“Definitely making something you’re happy with. If you’re not happy with what you’re doing, you probably shouldn’t be doing it because what’s the point of producing something that combats your own well-being? Once you’re happy with what you’re doing, other people can feel it in your music. We [Playhouze] wouldn’t be putting music out there if we weren’t happy with it ourselves.”
Comentários