Mantronix

Kurtis Mantronik (Kurtis el Khaleel), a Jamaican-American émigré, began experimenting with electro music in the early 1980s, inspired by early electro tracks like "Riot in Lagos" (1980) by Yellow Magic Orchestra's Ryuichi Sakamoto. In 1984, while working as the in-store DJ for Downtown Records in Manhattan, Kurtis Mantronik met MC Tee, a Haitian-born, Flatbush, Brooklyn-based rapper (and regular record store customer).{{cite web|url=http://www.cheebadesign.com/legends/articleX.html |access-date=2006-10-17 |title=When Recorded Hip-hop was in its Infancy, One Man was Responsible for Really Pushing the Sonic Envelope. It's Been Far from Plain Sailing Since, But the Mantronix Legacy will Run Forever |publisher=cheebadesign.com (original article printed in Hip Hop Connection Magazine) |date=July 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524234641/http://www.cheebadesign.com/legends/articleX.html |archive-date=May 24, 2011 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.cheebadesign.com/legends/articleJ.html |access-date=2006-11-16 |author=Chin, Brian |title=Mantronix Makes Inroads in British Pop – But Black Duo Still Waiting for a U.S. Hit |publisher=cheebadesign.com (original article printed in Billboard Magazine) |year=1986 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061102113654/http://www.cheebadesign.com/legends/articleJ.html |archive-date=November 2, 2006 }} The duo soon made a demo, "Fresh Is The Word," and eventually signed with William Socolov's Sleeping Bag Records.{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Dance Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Virgin Books|date=1998|edition=First|isbn=0-7535-0252-6|pages=209/210}}

Mantronix's debut single, "Fresh Is the Word," was a club hit in 1985, reaching No. 16 on Billboard Magazine's Hot Dance Singles Sales chart, and was featured on The Album which was released the same year.

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:

{{cquote|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.{{cite web|last=Willey |first=Omar |url=http://www.cheebadesign.com/legends/articleQ.html |title=Do You Like...Mantronix? |publisher=cheebadesign.com |access-date=March 30, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212184924/http://www.cheebadesign.com/legends/articleQ.html |archive-date=December 12, 2006 }}}}

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|date=June 2021}}

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 hardcore hip-hop fans.{{cite web | url = https://www.allmusic.com/album/music-madness-mw0000194756| access-date = 2006-10-18 | author = Henderson, Alex | title = AllMusic Music Madness Review | website= AllMusic }} 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.

File:Rapp Extravaganza - July 12, 1987 (ticket).jpg

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, 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.{{cite web | url = {{AllMusic|class=album|id=r12395|pure_url=yes}} | access-date = 2006-10-18 | author = Wynn, Ron | title = AllMusic In Full Effect Review |publisher=AllMusic}} 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.

Following the departure of MC Tee, rapper Bryce "Luvah" Wilson and Mantronik's cousin, D.J. D., joined the group. Mantronik met Wilson, a fellow Sleeping Bag Records label mate, while doing production work for Wilson's aborted solo project.{{cite web|last=Jones |first=Phillip |url=http://www.cheebadesign.com/legends/articleE.html |title=Messin' With Mantronix |publisher=cheebadesign.com |access-date=March 30, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061102113745/http://www.cheebadesign.com/legends/articleE.html |archive-date=November 2, 2006 }}

The album spawned two top-10 hits on the British singles chart, "Got to Have Your Love" at No. 4, and "Take Your Time (featuring vocalist Wondress)" at No. 10. In the United States, the album reached No. 61 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.{{cite web | url = https://www.allmusic.com/album/this-should-move-ya-mw0000206263| access-date = 2006-10-18 | author = Wynn, Ron | title = AllMusic This Should Move Ya Review |publisher=AllMusic}}

In a 1991 interview, Kurtis Mantronik commented on the commercial success of "Got to Have Your Love":

{{cquote|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.}}

Mantronix's final release, with vocalist Jade Trini replacing D.J. D, was The Incredible Sound Machine in 1991.{{cite web | url = https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-incredible-sound-machine-mw0000262939 | access-date = 2006-10-18 | author = Henderson, Alex | title = Allmusic The Incredible Sound Machine Review |publisher=AllMusic}} Grammy Award-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 active in pop-oriented electronic music.

Kurtis Mantronik reformed Mantronix in 2023.{{Cite web |last=SpitFireHipHop |date=2023-10-09 |title=Mantronix Releases 'Money Talks' video Feat. Bruse Wane |url=https://www.spitfirehiphop.com/videos/2023/10/mantronix-releases-money-talks-video-feat-bruse-wane/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=SpitFireHipHop |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=VaultMasterG |date=2023-10-11 |title=Mantronix ft. Bruse Wane - Money Talks (Music Video/iTunes/Spotify) |url=https://urbanvault.co.uk/2023/10/11/mantronix-ft-bruse-wane-money-talks-music-video-itunes-spotify/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=URBAN VAULT UK |language=en-GB}} He produced and jointly released three hip-hop songs that featured New York hip hop rapper Bruse Wane. The songs "Money Talks",{{Cite web |last=Insomniac |date=2023-10-10 |title=Mantronix drops "Money Talks" f/ Bruse Wane |url=https://insomniacmagazine.com/mantronix-drops-money-talks-f-bruse-wane/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=Insomniac Magazine |language=en-US}} "Era of the AI",{{Cite web |title=Mantronix ft Bruse Wane - "Era Of The AI" Video {{!}} @Mantronixofficial @therealbrusewane |url=http://www.hiphopondeck.com/2023/12/mantronix-ft-bruse-wane-era-of-ai-video.html |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=HipHopOnDeck.com |language=en}} and "When the Doves Fly"{{Cite web |last=Bra |date=2024-01-31 |title="When The Doves Fly" e' il nuovo singolo di Mantronix con Bruse Wane |url=https://www.rapmaniacz.com/when-the-doves-fly-e-il-nuovo-singolo-di-mantronix-con-bruse-wane/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=RapManiacZ {{!}} your favorite Hip-Hop reviews since 2000 |language=it-IT}} 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 appeared on his Mantronix official YouTube channel. He also began doing production work for Bronx rapper Just-Ice.

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite magazine|title=Mantronix|magazine=Music Technology|page=67|date=April 1987|volume=1|issue=6|issn=0957-6606|oclc=24835173}}

• [http://www.soulmovement.nl/Mantronix.htm Mantronix at soulmovement.nl]
• [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p67|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic.com Biography – Mantronix]
• [http://www.discogs.com/artist/Mantronix Discogs Profile – Mantronix]
• [http://www.soulinterviews.com/angie-stone-2016/ Angie Stone 2016 Interview at Soulinterviews.com]

{{Mantronix}}

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Category:1984 establishments in New York City

Category:1991 disestablishments in New York (state)

Category:Electronic music groups from New York (state)

Category:American hip-hop groups

Category:American electronic music duos

Category:Musical groups established in 1984

Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1991

Category:Musicians from New York City

Category:American electro musicians

Category:Capitol Records artists

Category:Sleeping Bag Records artists

Category:Virgin Records artists