"Columns from the Board"
Kareem Benson aka "Respect My Fresh" is a board member of Keep It Oldskool. We will be posting columns from board members starting today
THE FORGOTTEN KING OF THE BEATS
By Kareem "Respect My Fresh" Benson
Rewind back to the mid 80’s you’d be hard pressed not to find an urban teenager that wasn’t entrenched in the signature “Guitar Riffed Bass Drum High Hat” driven sound that was pioneered by Rick Rubin, after all this was the infancy era of the powerhouse label that was Def Jam Recordings. Around this time a Jamaican born in store DJ by the name of Kurtis Mantronix had begun to make a name for himself with his Roland series 808 & 909, soon he would be in production with the likes of T La Rock and fellow Jamaican Just-Ice producing his debut album “Back to the old School” but it was the commercial success of Mantronix The Album that put the world on notice forming a duo with MC Tee an almost tailor made lyrical acrobat for Mantronix electronic style the album spawned Club/Dance hits as well as top chart Rap singles. “Fresh is the word” was a dance club success as well as “Ladies” and “Baseline” while “Needle to the Groove” and “Hard core Hip Hop” made their marks amongst the Hip Hop crowds.
Fresh Is The Word 1985
Baseline 1985
The sophomore project “Music Madness” had stand out tracks such as “Who is it” and “Scream” but by the time his third album “In Full Effect” dropped It seemed most fans had grown weary of the signature Mantronix sound this was the dawn of a new Era in Hip Hop groups like De La Soul and Jungle Brothers had burst onto the scene and NWA was all the rage with inner city youth with their anti-Police message. So it was time for Kurtis to reinvent himself and that’s just what he did, his work on Joyce Sims’ “(You Are) My All and All” a Club smash in the UK as well as the States skyrocketed the talented beat conductor back into mega stardom and another single from the same album “Gotta have your love” written by Kurtis himself as well as Bryce Wilson of Groove Theory fame solidified the legendary producer for following years to come his signature hi-hat triplet sound has been credited for birthing “Trap Music” not sure how true that is but I know I will always credit Kurtis Khaleel Mantronix for being one of the Pioneer producers in Hip Hop
Joyce Sims "(You Are) My All and All" 1988
Mantronix Feat Wondress "Gotta Have Your Love" 1989
Here are some more of Mantronix's best tracks:
Just Ice "Col Getting Dumb" 1986
Just Ice "Lyric Licking" 1987
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