| Kurtis Mantronik | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Kurtis el Khaleel |
| Born | September 4, 1965 |
| Origin | Jamaica |
| Genres | Electro funk Hip-hop House Big beat Latin freestyle |
| Instruments | Turntable Synthesizer Keyboard Drum machine Macintosh MIDI keyboard Sequencer |
| Years active | 1984–1991 1998–present |
| Labels | Sleeping Bag Records (Mantronix) Capitol/EMIRecords (Mantronix) Oxygen Music Works Southern Fried Records Eye Industries |
| Associated acts | Mantronix T La Rock Just-Ice Maria Nocera Joyce Sims EPMD |
| Notable instruments | |
| Drum Machine Synthesizer Sequencer MIDI keyboard Macintosh |
|
Kurtis el Khaleel (Arabic: خليل) (b. September 4, 1965, Jamaica), known by the stage name Kurtis Mantronik, is an American hip-hop, electro funk, and dance music artist, DJ, remixer, and producer. Mantronik was the former leader, DJ, and keyboardist of the influential 1980s hip hop and electro-funk group Mantronix. Currently, Mantronik lives in Britain, where he has produced and remixed house and techno music tracks by artists such as Junior Senior, Kylie Minogue, Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, Michael Gray, Victoria Beckham, Liberty X, and Mim.[1]
Contents |
Mantronik was born in Jamaica to a Syrian father and a Jamaican mother.[2] He emigrated to Canada with his family at age 7, before eventually settling in New York City in 1980 at age 15.[2] It was around this time that his interest in electro music began when he heard "Riot in Lagos" (1980) by Yellow Magic Orchestra's Ryuichi Sakamoto on the radio, inspiring him to experiment with electro music a few years later.[1]
While working as the in-store DJ for Downtown Records in Manhattan, Mantronik met Haitian-born, Brooklyn-based emcee MC Tee (né Touré Embden) in 1984.[1] The duo soon made a demo, and eventually signed with William Socolov's Sleeping Bag Records.
Mantronix's debut single, "Fresh Is The Word," was a club hit in 1985, reaching #16 on Billboard Magazine's Hot Dance Singles Sales chart, and was featured on The Album, which was released the same year. His efforts on The Album and his impact 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 '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, [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! [were] all combined in Mantronik's music. It was a neat tie between old-school and new jack, and Mantronix had the field to [itself].[3] | ” |
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.[4]
From 1984 to 1986, during the same period Mantronix as a group was signed to Sleeping Bag Records, Mantronik was also individually employed by the label in its A&R Department, where he signed hip-hop group EPMD to its first recording contract with sister label Fresh Records. In addition to being an A&R representative for the label, Mantronik also produced recordings for other Sleeping Bag and Fresh Records associated artists and groups, including emcees KRS-One, Just-Ice, and T La Rock; freestyle vocalist Nocera; and R&B singer-songwriter Joyce Sims.
Mantronix signed with Capitol/EMI Records in 1987, and released In Full Effect in 1988, which continued in and expanded on the hip-hop/electro funk/dance music vein of its predecessor, eventually reaching #18 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, Mantronix's highest showing for an album.[5] In Full Effect marked the last Mantronix album with emcee MC Tee, who left the group to enlist in the United States Air Force.
Following the departure of MC Tee, emcee Bryce "Luvah" Wilson and Mantronik's cousin D.J. D joined Mantronix for 1990's This Should Move Ya. Mantronik met Wilson, a fellow Sleeping Bag Records label mate, while doing production for Wilson's aborted solo project.[6]
The album spawned two top-10 hits on the British singles chart, "Got to Have Your Love" at #4, and "Take Your Time (featuring vocalist Wondress)" at #10. In the United States, the album reached #61 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.[7] In a 1991 interview, 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.[6] | ” |
Mantronix's final release, with vocalist Jade Trini replacing D.J. D, was The Incredible Sound Machine in 1991.[8] The Incredible Sound Machine, which favored R&B, new jack swing, and dance music over hip hop, was considered both a critical and commercial disappointment.[8]
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 dropped out of the music industry after the breakup of Mantronix in 1991. According to a July, 2002 interview with Hip Hop Connection magazine:
| “ | I dropped out of the scene from 1991 to about '98. I stopped making music because I was burned out. I had to deal with some legal issues and it all took its toll on me. I started doing all this stuff when I was 17—I was working for the label (Sleeping Bag Records) day-in-day-out and I had no time for myself. Sometimes I'd stay in the studio for two or three days and sleep on the studio floor because I didn't want to lose the settings on the console ... [B]y the time we'd come out of that place we were green! I began to resent it and eventually started backing off from a lot of stuff. Then new jack started coming in and house started to take over.[1] | ” |
Mantronik moved from New York and resurfaced in Britain in the late 1990s, producing his first solo album, the well-received I Sing the Body Electro (which featured female MC Traylude), in 1998.[9]
Allmusic critic John Bush noted:
| “ | I Sing the Body Electro is that rare exception to the rule that influential artists should never attempt a ten-years-later comeback trying the same style their current inheritors have made commercial. Mantronik's production methods are completely up to date (and then some), resulting in an album that perfectly balances old-school sampladelic hip-hop with the breakbeat-energized dance music of the late '90s.[9] | ” |
Since 1998, Mantronik has produced and remixed tracks for pop, house-music, and techno-music artists and groups such as Kylie Minogue, Junior Senior, Fatboy Slim, the Chemical Brothers, Victoria Beckham, Michael Gray, Liberty X (which, in 2002, covered Mantronix's "Got to Have Your Love" from Mantronix's 1990 This Should Move Ya album), and Mim (the featured vocalist on Mantronik's 2003 EP release How Did You Know).[1] He was enlisted for two remixes of the title track of the Shirley Bassey remix album Diamonds Are Forever in 2000.
In addition to record production, Mantronik produced music for the Dance Dance Revolution and TrickStyle video game series.
Mantronik was most recently signed to London-based record label and artist management company Eye Industries, and remains active in pop-oriented electronic music.
| Album information |
|---|
I Sing the Body Electro
|
| Album information |
|---|
TrickStyle EP
|
How Did You Know
|
| Album information |
|---|
Mantronix: The Album
|
Music Madness
|
In Full Effect
|
This Should Move Ya
|
The Incredible Sound Machine
|
|
||||||||||||||