Mantronix was an influential 1980s hip hop and electro funk music group founded by DJ Kurtis Mantronik (Kurtis el Khaleel), & rapper MC Tee (Touré Embden).
Mantronix underwent several genre (and line-up) changes during its 7 year existence (1984–1991), from old school hip hop to electro funk to house music, but the group is primarily remembered for its original, heavily synthesized blend of old school hip-hop and electro funk. In 1984, while working as the in-store DJ for Downtown Records in Manhattan, Kurtis Mantronik, a Jamaican-Canadian émigré, met MC Tee, a Haitian-born, Flatbush, Brooklyn-based rapper. The duo soon made a demo, "Fresh Is The Word," and eventually signed with William Socolov's Sleeping Bag Records. Mantronix's second album, Music Madness, was released in 1986. While MC Tee's rhyming style on the album continued in the traditional b-boy fashion of the times, Mantronik's club-oriented production and mixing in Music Madness tended to attract more electronic dance music and electro funk aficionados than hip-hop fans. During this period, while Mantronix was signed to Sleeping Bag Records, Mantronik was employed by the label in their A&R Department, while also producing other artists and groups, including Just-Ice, T La Rock, Nocera, and Joyce Sims. Mantronix's final release, with vocalist Jade Trini replacing D.J. D, was The Incredible Sound Machine in 1991. Grammy-nominated neo soul singer/songwriter Angie Stone co-wrote seven of the eleven tracks that appeared on The Incredible Sound Machine. The Incredible Sound Machine, which tended to favor R&B, new jack swing, and dance music over hip hop, was considered both a critical and commercial disappointment. Shortly after a European tour and promotion related to the release of The Incredible Sound Machine, the group disbanded, and Mantronik left the music industry altogether for seven years. Kurtis Mantronik resurfaced in Europe in the late 1990s, producing house and techno music artists, and remains an active force in pop-oriented electronic music to this day.
Albums
* 1985 - Mantronix: The Album
* 1986 - Music Madness
* 1988 - In Full Effect
* 1990 - This Should Move Ya
* 1991 - The Incredible Sound Machine
Compilation albums
* 1990 - The Best of Mantronix 1986-1988
* 1999 - The Best of Mantronix 1985-1999
* 2002 - That's My Beat
* 2004 - Remixed & Rare
* 2005 - The Ultra Selection
Posts
0 comments