Tony Cottrell, better known as Hi-Tek, is an American rapper and record producer from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is best known for his work with Talib Kweli on their Reflection Eternal album and on Black Star. His father is singer Willie Cottrell of the Willie Cottrell Band whom Hi-Tek featured on his second release Hi-Teknology 2.
Hi-Tek started his rap career with hip hop group Mood and had a regional hit with "Hustle on the Side". That song was made for Mood's album Doom, which featured amongst others Brooklyn MC Talib Kweli. Talib and Hi-Tek clicked immediately, and Hi-Tek went on to produce most of Talib Kweli and Mos Def's Black Star (1998). In 2000, Tek and Kweli (under the name Reflection Eternal) released Train of Thought (2000) on Rawkus Records, with raps by Talib Kweli and beats by Hi-Tek. It enjoyed moderate crossover radio success with the singles "The Blast" and "Move Somethin'". Reflection Eternal released a follow-up album titled Revolutions Per Minute on May 18, 2010.
Hi-Tek is the second studio solo album by rapper, Keak da Sneak and considered to be his best album by fans. It was released on June 16, 2001 for Moe Doe Records and was produced by Ant Banks, Rick Rock, One Drop Scott, Tone Capone, D-Dre and Keak da Sneak. The album was a modest success, peaking at #95 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, #18 on the Top Independent Albums and #37 on the Top Heatseekers, and selling 6,510 copies in its first week out.
Technotronic was a Belgian techno studio-based music project formed in 1988 by Jo Bogaert, who originally gained notoriety in the early 1980s as part of a cover band and as a solo artist under various New Beat projects, including The Acts of Madmen and Nux Nemo. Together with vocalist Ya Kid K, he produced the hit single, "Pump Up the Jam", which was originally an instrumental. An image for the act was later put together, utilizing Congolese-born fashion model Felly Kilingi as its album/single cover art, and supposed singer in the music video.
The track that became "Pump Up The Jam" began life as "Technotronic" (which in turn became the project's official name), an original instrumental that Bogaert released under the name The Pro 24s. Based on Farley Jackmaster Funk's "The Acid Life," this instrumental initially included vocal samples from Eddie Murphy's "Delirious" live set and was months later replaced by newer music, along with lyrics and vocals from Ya Kid K. prior to the song's international release in September 1989.