The four New Yorkers who comprised the hip-hop group, Ultramagnetic MCs (Moe Love: Maurice Smith, Ced Gee: Cedric Miller, TR Love: Trevor Randolph, and Kool Keith: Keith Thorton) met circa 1984.

Two years together as a group, recording demos, the group received a record deal in 1986 from Next Plateau, a mostly dance and disco imprint. After recording several 12-inch singles: Ego-Trippin’/Funky Potion (1986), Traveling At The Speed of Thought/M.C.’s Ultra (Part II) (1987), Mentally Mad/Funky (1987), Watch Me Now/Feelin’ It (1988), Ease Back/Kool Keith Housing Things (1988). the group released its first album on Next Plateau, Critical Beatdown (1988).

The album is widely considered a classic. It featured some of the most innovative production ever done in hip-hop at the time courtesy of Ced-Gee and the legendary Paul C., who produced Give The Drummer Some (NOTE: Ced-Gee was not only the man behind a very good chunk of Ultra’s best material, but he also played a very big role in the production of BDP’s Criminal Minded, creating most of the drum programming for the album).

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