INTERVIEW FROM DOTMUSIC

The King Of The Beats Kurtis Mantronik has returned to the UK this summer to stun clubbers with a variety of DJ sets around the country. The hip hop legend was responsible for mid-eighties anthems such as 'Who Is It?' and 'Bassline' and even predicted the rise of new jack swing when he remixed tracks like the Joyce Simms' classic 'Come Into My Life' Kurtis took some time out to speak to dotmusic about his trip to the UK, his forthcoming single and album, the current two-step revolution and being one of the biggest dance influences of the last decade. Samples of his music have featured rather prominently in tracks by Snap, Redman and Beck.

"What kind of response have you been getting from the UK crowds"?

"Fantastic and I'm not just saying that. What I've observed every time I've been here is that with other DJs they become very self-indulgent – they're either into their own stuff or just the records they like. . . I tend to mix it up quite a lot. I play party records. I don't sit there and show you how I can scratch for an hour. I get everybody dancing and that is my main goal.

"What have you been up to since last year's 'Music For The Dusted'?

"I've been working on a Mantronix album and it's more of a pop and R&B record. I have to do that to enable me to do other things. But the remixes will take care of the really hi-energy stuff, the real pumping stuff. There are one or two tracks that are electro-ish and that's what I've been working on recently. It won't come out until next year, but the single will. We're preparing a whole new Mantronix campaign to re-enlighten everyone on who Mantronix were and what they did.

"Do you feel like you're moving in a new direction with this album"?

For me it is hard to say that because I've always done a little hip hop, a little pop and I've done crazy beats over the years. So I don't necessarily think it's a new direction, I've just updated the sound a little bit to be more contemporary. You'll get a taster of it with the single. We're not sure how it'll go out but we're looking at two-step remixes right now. In the old days I used to do all my own remixes but it's time now to chill out and back off a little bit and bring some other people in.

"What do you think of the two-step revolution that is going on at the moment?"

It's relatively new to me. It sounds cool. There are different variations of two-step that I'm still trying to get familiar with. I do understand it and it reminds me of the old Teddy Riley new jack swing kinda beat, but with a house club flavour to it.

"How do you feel about the 'King Of The Beats' label and influencing so many artists over the last decade?"

It's a nice honour and that people understand what that title means exactly. When I started out the objective was not to come out and make records like everybody else. I tried to do something a little bit different and it was hard work. The masses didn't run and except it, there were cliques of people here and there and then I guess, over the years, my music attracted more and more people. "It's nice except when I hear my samples in other people's records. . . Even though I did my own stuff and didn't have to hire musicians, I still had to pay for a recording studio and I still had to put sweat into it and spent nights up working making sure it was cool. It's just about the compensation – you take my stuff and you don't want to pay me for it, that's not cool – that's just outright stealing!"

You can catch Kurtis Mantronik at Reckless in Stoke-On-Trent (July 28th), Bed in Sheffield (August 4th), The Scala in London (5th), The Met Bar in London (9th), Bar Rumba in London (11th), Castlefields Mardi Gras (12th) and The Bomb in Nottingham (12th). His single, 'Come To Me', is out in September through PIAS. This will be followed by his long-player, 'F-King Dynamite', in Spring 2001.