Peanut Butter Wolf

Peanut Butter Wolf ranked among the authentic skills within the late-1990s resurgence of classic hip-hop. He started spinning records while still a teenager and demonstrated early enterprise by peddling cassettes of his mixes to classmates at his San Jose, California high school. His first appearance on vinyl arrived in 1989 with the single “You Can't Swing This,” released on All Good Vinyl alongside the fluid rapper Lyrical Prophecy. Before the year closed he had formed a partnership with MC Charizma; the pair quickly developed a strong rapport, sharpening their live sets at block parties and concerts that also featured the Pharcyde, House of Pain, and Nas. A recording contract with Hollywood Basic materialized for the duo in 1992, yet Charizma was shot and killed shortly afterward.

Deprived of his vocalist, Peanut Butter Wolf turned exclusively to instrumental releases, beginning with the collection Peanut Butter Breaks on Heyday Records. Additional tracks surfaced on the Bomb label, notably within the well-regarded Return of the DJ compilation, and on Om Records. Although MCs had dominated hip-hop since the mid-1980s, select DJ crews began surfacing in underground dance circles toward the end of the decade, among them DJ Shadow, the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, and the X Men, whose name later changed to the X-Ecutioners for legal reasons. Peanut Butter Wolf entered this circle as well, issuing material for dance imprints such as 2 Kool on the Lunar Props EP and Ninja Tune via a remix of the Herbaliser, while also supplying production for longtime artist Kool Keith.

Founding the Stones Throw label enabled him to finish earlier recordings made with MC Charizma and to introduce material from the Bay Area crew Fanatik. His debut production album, My Vinyl Weighs a Ton, appeared in 1999. Two strong anthologies followed in 2002: The Best of Peanut Butter Wolf and the Stones Throw seven-inch collection Jukebox 45's. Badmeaninggood, Vol. 3 came out in 2003; the next year he assembled the CD/DVD overview Stones Throw 101 spotlighting artists on his roster. His energies thereafter concentrated on developing Stones Throw, although occasional DJ performances continued in Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United States. Peanut Butter Wolf also performs as a member of the Los Angeles hip-hop orchestra Breakestra. Marking the label’s tenth anniversary, Chrome Children appeared in 2006 through a partnership with Adult Swim, followed by Stones Throw: Ten Years in early 2007.