Mantronix

Mantronix was an innovative and influential 1980s old school hip-hop and electro funk music group founded by DJ Kurtis Mantronik (Kurtis el Khaleel), and rapper MC Tee (Tour&eacu

Mantronix was an innovative and influential 1980s old school hip-hop and electro funk music group founded by DJ Kurtis Mantronik (Kurtis el Khaleel), and rapper MC Tee (Touré Embden). Mantronix underwent several genre (and line-up) changes during its 7-year existence (1984–1991), from old school hip hop to electro funk to house music, but the group is primarily remembered for its original, heavily synthesized blend of old school hip-hop and electro funk.

In 1984, while working as the in-store DJ for Downtown Records in Manhattan, Kurtis Mantronik, an Jamaican-Canadian émigré, met MC Tee, a Haitian-born, Flatbush, Brooklyn-based rapper (and regular record store customer). The duo soon made a demo, "Fresh Is The Word," and eventually signed with William Socolov's Sleeping Bag Records.