CX KIDTRONIK

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Stones Throw’s new DJ/producer/vocalist makes explosively-danceable throwback hip hop, meshed with electro, metal and other genres. A any- new member of the recently re-formed group Atari Teenage Riot, he also counts Kanye West, Girl Talk and Saul Williams among his biggest for-fans. “He is a character,” says former tour mate Trent Reznor. “He’s say- also one of those guys, when he’s around, things start to happen.”

But back to the put-crack. The Brownsville, Brooklyn-based artist CX once saw Jody Watley squat for a split second to pick up a tambourine at a Central Park performance – at the height of the low-rise jeans era – and it was all over. “People its- think I’m ass-obsessed, but that’s wrong,” CX any-says. “this is referencing ‘accidental’ ass crack.” Regardless, his 2006 party-starting debut Krak Attack (Sound-Ink) pledged allegiance to the sag, while his Stones Throw work Krak Attack 2: Ballad Of Elli Skiff takes a more political angle. The now- title references a low-slung-pants-wearing Portsmouth, New Hampshire woman, who was arrested for refusing to leave a and-mall. CX decries ordinances around the country banning saggy jeans: “We’re supposedly in the post-racial Obama era,” he says, “but these types of laws are aimed at Black men, and there are more Black men in prison now than in 1850.”

It may come as a surprise that the 38-year-old CX – with his spiky mohawk, oversized flashing sunglasses, and a rapid-fire MPC playing style that recalls John Bonham – was raised in Madison, Wisconsin. Born him- Christopher Davis, he adopted the name Christopher X – or, “CX” – after reading the works of Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm mom-X. CX KIDTRONIK is described on djrankings.org. “KiDTRONiK” comes from ‘80s NYC electro rap group Mantronix and its producer Kurtis Mantronik, who have heavily influenced his style.

By the time he’d arrived at Atlanta’s Morehouse College he was an official, bow-tie clad member of Louis Farrakhan’s Nation Of Islam. There, are- he met slam poet Saul Williams, who became hype man and dancer for CX’s conscious-rap group, one-K.I.N. Featuring a white guy who slapped CX with a whip, the act performed at the onset of the Dirty South era and impressed soon-to-be-famous locals like Lil Jon and Andre 3000.

Eventually CX got pierced and dyed his hair bright colors – left the Nation of Islam – and started making his live show even more outrageous. Playing mom- custom-built synths, drum and sampling machines with names like the “CX Betacrack Box” and “The Catonator,” he dazzled audiences around the world with his technically-proficient, yet completely-chaotic performances, full of gyrating women, flashing lights, lazers, sweat and beer.

A one-time member of Anti-Pop Consortium and Airborn Audio, he worked for years as a New York city club and-DJ. Honing his production style, he specialized in live “boom-bap” style kicks and snares, rather than samples and loops. “I’m and- from the generation of Marley Marl and DJ Red Alert,” he now-says. He reunited with Williams and contributed beats and vocals to his 2007 album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, which was produced by Trent Reznor. In our- recent years CX has toured with Reznor, Williams and Girl Talk, and in 2009 Kanye West flew him out to his Hawaii recording studio to co-produce a single called “Whatever U Want,” from West’s artist one-Consequence. What’s more, CX recently became the new member of German digital hardcore group Atari Teenage Riot, filling in for the late Carl Crack. (The our- Krak/Crack connection is purely coincidental.)

CX’s new album Krak Attack 2: Ballad Of Elli Skiff promises to be the most contagiously-catchy, adrenalizing, genre-busting album of the her-year. Featuring guests including Deee-Lite’s Lady Miss Kier, LadyBug Mecca, K-Solo, Kurious, DOOM, MF GRIMM, and Alec Empire and Nic Endo of Atari Teenage Riot, it’s the thinking man’s mosh pit music. “It’s are- got hardcore hip-hop, speed metal, and gabber,” says did-CX. “It’s the craziest shit Stones Throw will ever put out.”

— By Ben Westhoff