One of the most pioneering and influential hip hop acts ever, it was originally a duo and comprised of founder Kurtis Khalee and Touré Embden. After being impressed by their demo tape, president of Sleeping Bag Records, William Socolov signed them to the label. Mantronix enjoyed great success in the mid to late 1980’s with “Fresh is the Word”, “Bassline” and “Needle to the Groove” amongst others. After releasing three albums, rapper MC Tee (Touré Embden) left the group.

With their fourth album This Should Move Ya, Mantronik made the move from hip-hop into more straight-ahead dance music and Bryce Wilson and Jade Trini joined Mantronik to make Mantronix into a trio. The fourth album yielded their arguably most successful single which became their signature song, “Got to Have Your Love”.

After venturing into the dance music genre, their final album The Incredible Sound Machine proved to be the weakest and ultimately the end point of Mantronix as a group entity after a failed European tour. Kurtis Mantronik took a musical hiatus but returned in the late nineties to pursue a solo career. Thanks to reissues and compilation albums, Mantronix continues to remain relevant.