King Britt

King Britt (born 1968) is an American record producer, composer, performer, educator, and DJ and record producer from Philadelphia. Britt is known for his eclectic mix of electronic, house, disco, techno, rave, experimental music, and other genres across his projects. He is also a Professor in Computer Music at University of California San Diego, with a research focus of Afrofuturism in music and the pioneering role of people of color in electronic music.

King Britt was the original DJ for Digable Planets and toured with the group 1992-1994. He has released music as leader of the project Sylk 130 and as Fhloston Paradigm, Scuba, and The Nova Dream Sequence. As a composer and producer, Britt has collaborated with artists including De La Soul, Madlib, Kathy Sledge, and director Michael Mann. He has remixed for musicians Tori Amos, Miles Davis, Saul Williams, Meredith Monk, Solange, Calvin Harris, and Dua Lipa.

Britt is a 1986 graduate of Central High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1987, he started working at Tower Records, as a buyer for the singles/import section. His extensive knowledge of dance music made him an in demand buyer in the company. He went on to make many connections in the music community, bringing in records and new labels from all over the world. King attended Temple University.

In 1990, King Britt began his first DJ residency at the Silk City in Philadelphia and the now defunct Revival. In collaboration with music partner Josh Wink, King also produced his first commercial release "Tribal Confusion" on dance label Strictly Rhythm. Their musical partnership continued until 2001.

In 1992, he toured with started touring worldwide for the group Digable Planets for the Digable Planets World Tour. He toured again with the band 1993-1994 two years with including a three-month opening slot with Sade. Britt also performed at the 1993 Grammy Awards with Digable Planets, the year Digable Planets won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.

In 1994, Britt and Josh Wink started the label Ovum Recordings. Their first release was a collaboration between King and spoken word artist Ursula Rucker, called "Supernatural". The song became a staple tune in the US rave scene and is revered as a classic in many countries. Ovum Recordings is still in operation but King resigned from his position in 2001. Ovum signed with Sony in 1996 as part of a deal through Philadelphia label, Ruffhouse Records. Ovum established was the first label in Sony’s Electronic Music Division. Britt and Wink served as CEOs of Ovum, and Ovum released 6 albums and numerous single releases under Sony, including the Josh Wink album, Hear Here. Ovum departed from Sony in 2002.

In early 1998, under Sylk130, King released the neo soul album When the Funk Hits the Fan on Ovum/Columbia Records. This album went to sell over 500,000 copies worldwide and was scheduled to be re-released in 2012 as part of a box set collection for Sylk130. In a favorable review of the 1998 album When the Funk Hits the Fan, Billboard compared his sound to Soul II Soul and De La Soul.

In 2001, Britt released Sylk130 Re-Member's Only, which features Alison Moyet, Martin Fry from ABC, Kathy Sledge, Grover Washington Jr, De La Soul and others. It was his last album for Ovum Recordings and Columbia Records as he began to pursue doing more production work.