Peanut Butter Wolf
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| Peanut Butter Wolf | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Chris Manak | |
| Born | 1970 | |
| Genre(s) | Hip hop | |
| Occupation(s) | DJ, Hip hop producer | |
| Years active | 1986–present | |
| Label(s) | Hollywood Basic, Stones Throw | |
Chris Manak, aka Peanut Butter Wolf, is a DJ and Hip Hop producer originally from San Jose, California who has been active since 1986 when he produced a song by Lyrical Prophecy called "You Can't Swing This". In 1990 he began to work with Charizma, an emcee, and both of them were soon signed to Hollywood Basic, a division of Disney. Although they recorded a full album of material, it would not be released for many years - in 1993 the group left the label due to lack of artistic freedom, their only release being a cassette demo of their single "Red Light, Green Light", and in the same year Charizma was tragically killed.
Saddened and without an emcee to work with, Peanut Butter Wolf continued working. He put out a song ("The Chronicles") on the now legendary Return of The DJ compilation and a collection of beats for DJ's ('Peanut Butter Breaks'). Return of the DJ is known as the first all-DJ album, which helped to start the careers of turntablist artists such as Q-Bert, Cut Chemist, DJ Z-Trip, and others.
In 1996, Peanut Butter Wolf formed the Stones Throw Records and its first single was Charizma & Peanut Butter Wolf's "My World Premiere."
Peanut Butter Wolf released his own solo album on Stones Throw, My Vinyl Weighs a Ton, in 1999. Since then has nearly given up producing to focus on DJing and executive producing projects for his label, most notably by Madlib, whose group Lootpack he signed in 1998 after hearing their demo on a college radio station.
As Stones Throw Records raised its visibility in the 2000's with noted hip hop released by Madlib's Quasimoto, Yesterdays New Quintet, Jaylib and Madvillain, it as also expanded to include funk and hip hop re-issues, and experimental jazz and electronic music. In 2006 Peanut Butter Wolf served as presenter for Stones Throw & Adult Swim's Chrome Children CD/DVD.
