Wednesday 4 February 2009

Mantronix - Got To Have Your Love 1989

Capitol Records 12CL 559


This is a request that was to hand. Not my idea of Soul, although Wondress does add a touch of soul to this Kurtis Mantronik production. Neither does it fit my category of good quality rap so I may not actually have got around to posting this?

Mantronix were a unique hip-hop group that used keyboards and samples rather than DJ's and breakbeats long before it became the norm. Founded by Kurtis el Khaleel, a.k.a. Kurtis Mantronik (note the 'k'), who was born in Jamaica and ended up in New York in the late 1970s. He used a Roland TR-606 drum machine and a Roland TB-303 bass machine, and took the stage name Mantronik. he was DJing at Manhattan's Downtown Records when he met Haitian-born Touré Embden, a.k.a. MC Tee. They signed with Sleeping Bag Records and took over New York's streets and clubs during 1985.

Soon after their third album, MC Tee left to join the Air Force. Mantronik replaced him with Bryce 'Luvah' Wilson (a cousin of LL Cool J) and DJ Dee (Mantronik's own cousin). With 1990's This Should Move Ya, Mantronik made the move from hip-hop into more straight-ahead dance music. Vocalist Wondress Hutchinson was now onboard and a pair of singles stormed the British Top 20. Got to Have Your Love, which reached #5, was released before the album came out and Take Your Time did not feature on the album.

Got to Have Your Love has a compulsive punchy bassline and typical staccatto beats. What is less charicteristic of Mantronix is the sweeping melodic keyboards chords over the hook. Produced by Mantronix with Kenny Ortiz, the song was writtten by Mantronik/Bryce Luvah/JDA-it-D (God knows, best not to ask?). Personally, I much prefer the Album Version which didn't make it onto 12". It places all the rap at the end of the song leaving Wondress to weave her magic before breaking the song down into a wicked Mantronix jam let down only by a fade at the end. Here then is the full 8 mins plus Club Version with Bonus Beats which is backed with a Full Vocal Luv Dub and the Hard To Get Rap which removes Wondress and seems totally pointless.


  • Club with Bonus Beats
  • Hard To Get Rap
  • Luv Dub
The Download Link is here: Download
Filename: Mantronix.rar Filesize: 51.81 MB



3 comments:

  1. Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have this one yet, but is an unbelievable track and must to have it!

    Thank you and keep up your class.
    Greets from Spain and good summer everybody.

    ReplyDelete

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