Mantronix was an influential 1980s hip hop and electro funk music group from New York City. The band was formed by DJKurtis Mantronik (Kurtis el Khaleel) and rapperMC Tee (Touré Embden). The group is primarily remembered for its pioneering blend of old school hip hop, electronic, and club music. They underwent several genre and line-up changes during its seven-year existence between 1984 and 1991, and released five albums beginning with their 1985 debut The Album.
Mantronix's efforts on The Album and its effect on early hip hop and electronic music is perhaps best summed up by music critic Omar Willey's observation in 2000:
Featuring "Fresh Is the Word" and the new tracks "Bassline" and "Electro Mega-Mix," Mantronix defined the new sound of electro-funk. Mantronik used a polyrhythmic style, similar to West African log drumming, but instead of acoustic drums, the rhythm would be carried by the combination of electronic drums, synthesizer, vocoder and/or synthesized voice over a bass line completely played on the synth. No samples of James Brown here. This was truly electronic music: spare, funky and immensely danceable, an homage and simultaneous extension of old-school hip hop's electronic template that had started with "Planet Rock" in 1982. The feeling of Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, Kraftwerk and Neu all combined in Mantronik's music. It was a neat tie between old-school and new jack, and Mantronix had the field to themselves.[4]
The influence of The Album is seen among other artists through the sampling of "Needle to the Groove" by Beck in the single "Where It's At" from the 1996 album, Odelay ("we've got two turntables and a microphone..."), as well as, "Fresh Is The Word" by the Beastie Boys in the single "Jimmy James" from the 1992 album, Check Your Head ("for all the Blacks, Puerto Ricans, and the White people too...") The Beastie Boys later sampled "Bassline" for the song "3 the Hard Way" on their 2004 album To the 5 Boroughs.[citation needed]
Music Madness
Mantronix's second album, Music Madness, was released in 1986.[3] 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 hardcore hip-hop fans.[5] During this period, while Mantronix was signed to Sleeping Bag Records, Mantronik was employed by the label in their A&R Department,[3] while also producing other artists and groups, including Just-Ice, T La Rock, Nocera, and Joyce Sims.
In Full Effect
A concert ticket from a 1987 Mantronix performance in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Mantronix signed with Capitol Records in 1987, in what was one of the first 7-figure deals for a hip-hop group, and released In Full Effect in 1988,[3] which, according to the liner notes, was the first album to be mastered from DAT instead of reel-to-reel tape. The album continued in and expanded on the hip-hop/electro funk/dance music vein of its predecessor, eventually reaching No. 18 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, Mantronix's highest showing for an album.[6]In Full Effect marked the last Mantronix album with rapper MC Tee, who left the group to enlist in the United States Air Force.
Mantronix's 1988 track "King of the Beats" was one of the first songs to sample the Amen break.
Later era: 1989–1991
This Should Move Ya
Following the departure of MC Tee, rapper Bryce "Luvah" Wilson and Mantronik's cousin, D.J. D., joined the group.[3] Mantronik met Wilson, a fellow Sleeping Bag Records label mate, while doing production work for Wilson's aborted solo project.[7]
In a 1991 interview, Kurtis Mantronik commented on the commercial success of "Got to Have Your Love":
When I did "Got To Have Your Love", I did it for a reason. I did it because I wanted to get a song on the radio.[7]
The Incredible Sound Machine
Mantronix's final release, with vocalist Jade Trini replacing D.J. D, was The Incredible Sound Machine in 1991.[9]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.[9]
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.[1]
Mantronik Returns To Doing Hip-Hop Production - In 2023 Kurtis Mantronik reformed his group Mantronix.[10][11]He produced and jointly released three Hip-Hop songs that featured Bronx New York Hip Hop Rapper Bruse Wane. The songs Money Talks,[12] Era Of The AI, [13]and When The Doves Fly [14]were jointly released by Mantronik under his Mantronix Classics Label; And Bruse Wane's Wane Enterprises Label. Mantronik produced directed and edited three music videos for all three songs. They appear on his Mantronix Official YouTube channel. He also began doing production work for Bronx rapper Just-Ice.
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