Kurtis Mantronik

Music Madness 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.

A&R career with Sleeping Bag Records 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. During this time he remixed "Vertigo (Do The Demolition)" for Duran Duran, which was released on its 1987 US album Master Mixes.

The origins of trap music's beats have been traced back to the work of Kurtis Mantronik during this era. The earliest song to be identified as an early form of trap music is Mantronik's single "Bass Machine" (1986), featuring rap vocals by T La Rock. Mantronik's backing track for the song featured key trap elements, including Roland TR-808 bass, hi-hats, triplet snares and pitching down. Mantronik's work, particularly "Bass Machine" (1986), was also pivotal to the development of Southern hip hop's Miami bass genre. In Full Effect marked the last Mantronix album with emcee MC Tee, who left the group to enlist in the United States Air Force.

Mantronik's 1988 track "King of the Beats" was one of the first songs to sample the Amen break. "King of the Beats" itself became one of the most sampled songs in music history, having been sampled more than 200 times, rivaling that of "Amen, Brother" itself.

This Should Move Ya Following the departure of MC Tee, emcee Bryce "Luvah" Wilson and Mantronik's cousin DJD 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.

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. 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. which favored R&B, new jack swing, and dance music over hip hop. It was considered both a critical and commercial disappointment.

AllMusic critic John Bush noted:

Journey to Utopia Mantronik was most recently signed to London-based record label Street DNA, a sister label of the StreetSounds label, which released his newest studio album, Journey to Utopia, in late 2014.

The somewhat reclusive Mantronik opened Facebook, Twitter, and SoundCloud pages in connection with the promotion of the album.

Remixing and production career Since 1998, Mantronik has produced and remixed tracks for pop, electronic dance 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). Mantronik reformed the group Mantronix and made Bronx, New York rapper Bruse Wane a member of the group. "Era of the AI" and "When the Doves Fly". The songs were jointly released by Mantronik and Bruse Wane, under Mantronik's Mantronix classics label, and Bruse Wane's Wane Enterprises label. Mantronik produced, directed and edited three music videos for all three releases, which all appear on his official Mantronix YouTube channel. The music videos have garnered over one million views combined.

Discography Solo albums Album informationI Sing the Body Electro Released: September 1, 1998 RIAA certification: N/A Singles: "Push Yer Hands Up", "Mad", "King of the Beat (v3.0)", "Bass Machine Re-tuned"Journey to Utopia Released: November 28, 2014 RIAA certification: N/A

Solo EPs/singles Album informationTrickStyle EP Released: March 14, 2000 RIAA certification: N/AHow Did You Know Released: June 16, 2003 Chart position: No. 16 UK Singles Chart RIAA certification: N/A

Mantronix albums (1985–1991) Album informationThe Album Released: 1985 Chart position: No. 47 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums RIAA certification: N/A Singles: "Fresh Is the Word", "Bassline", "Needle to the Groove", "Ladies"Music Madness Released: 1986 Chart position: No. 27 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums RIAA certification: N/A Singles: "Who Is It?", "Scream", "We Control the Dice"In Full Effect Released: 1988 Chart position: No. 18 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums RIAA certification: N/A Singles: "Simple Simon", "Join Me, Please...", "Do You Like...Mantronik?"This Should Move Ya Released: 1990 Chart position: No. 61 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums RIAA certification: Gold Singles: "Got to Have Your Love", "Take Your Time (featuring Wondress)", "King of the Beats"The Incredible Sound Machine Released: 1991 RIAA certification: N/A Singles: "Step to Me", "If You Could Read My Mind"