Artist: Mantronix
Genre(s):
Electronic
Discography:
The best of (1986-1988)
Year: 1990
Tracks: 10
In Full Effect
Year: 1988
Tracks: 9
That's my beat
Year:
Tracks: 12
Over and supra their standing as one of the best and to the highest degree innovational groups from hip-hop's golden age, Mantronix provided rap music music with its first man-machine, Kurtis Mantronik. A lazy Susan victor world Health Organization unified synthesizers and samplers into the rhythmatic mix in rather of succumbing to the popular manipulation of samples just as pop maulers, Mantronik exploited technology with a quintessentially old school attitude which had little function for instruction manuals and recognised manipulation. After the hip-hop universe began to catch up with Mantronik's developments, he touched from hard-core blame to skirt the ahead edge of social club music, from electro to ragga, techno, and house. And though he never establish a rapper worthy of his huge production talents, Mantronik elysian stacks of DJs and beatmeisters around the universe during the following decade -- in rap, mainstream dance music, and the new electronica -- tied patch his records were much unsufferable to find (many snapped up, no dubiousness, by those same aspiring DJs).
Mantronik was born Kurtis Khaleel in Jamaica, though his household soon touched to Canada and concluded up in New York by the late '70s. Mantronik before long began DJing around the city and was working slow the decks at Manhattan's Downtown Records when he met MC Tee (born Touré Embden). After the duet had assembled a demonstration tape, they gave it to William Socolov, prexy of Sleeping Bag Records. He signed Mantronix before long subsequently hearing it, and released their debut single, "Fresh Is the Word." The track illuminated up New York's streets and clubs during 1985, and brought the full-length Mantronix: The Album early the following year. Two new singles, "Ladies" and "Basslines," became large street hits as easily and even crossed over to get together the low gear wave of hip-hop chartmakers in Britain.
By that clip, Mantronik had also begun working on A&R at Sleeping Bag, where he signed EPMD, produced KRS-One's first-class honours degree credit ("Success Is the Word" by 12:41), and helmed former intense tracks by Tricky Tee, Just-Ice, and T la Rock. The sec Mantronix LP, Music Madness, continued to keep the couple fresh in the clubs. The increasing popularity of hip-hop gave Mantronix a chance at a major-label contract, and by 1987 the duet had signed with Capitol. In Full Effect emerged the following year, and depicted Mantronik jettisoning many his more hard-core inclinations in favor of a optical fusion of dance and R&B, an early precursor to hip-house. The production sashay "Do You Like...Mantronik?" proved that Mantronik's ear for canny beat generation remained, however. And Mantronix's success in England prompted several of the first sampladelic hits, like "Pump Up the Volume" by M/A/R/R/S and "Theme from S'Express" by S'Express.
Soon afterwards In Full Effect, MC Tee left to join the Air Force. Mantronik replaced him with Bryce Luvah (the cousin of LL Cool J) and DJ Dee (Mantronik's possess cousin-german). With 1990's This Should Move Ya, Mantronik made the move from hip-hop into more straight-ahead mansion. With singer Wondress in tow, a pair of Mantronix singles stormed the British Top 20, including the Top Five "Got to Have Your Love." He still used the rappers, simply continued to work in dance with 1991's The Incredible Sound Machine. As a group entity, Mantronix disappeared at that point. Mantronik began producing other acts of the Apostles -- largely female vocalists or freestyle acts of the Apostles -- and later exited medicine completely. He returned in the mid-'90s as a breakbeat elder national leader, recording as Kurtis Mantronik and providing remixes for EPMD, Future Sound of London, and Doctor Octagon. A Mantronix various and several album reissues began filtering out in 1999, and Mantronik began recording a new group album later that year.
Richie Hawtin
