Peanut Butter Wolf (San Jose, CA) – “Styles Crews Flows Beats” [My Vinyl Weighs a Ton – 1999]
Chris Manak, better known by his stage name Peanut Butter Wolf, is an American DJ and producer from San Jose, California. He is the founder of Stones Throw Records.
Manak took the name Peanut Butter Wolf in the late-80s when he realized that a girlfriend’s youngest brother feared the “peanut butter wolf monster” more than death itself. He has been active since 1989 when he produced a song by Lyrical Prophecy called “You Can’t Swing This” on a label called PMR Records run by Kim Collett, who DJed with him at the local radio station (KSJS). Peanut Butter Wolf persuaded his father to contribute $500 to get the record released, making him a part owner in the label. Later that year, he met Charles Hicks, a.k.a. Charizma. They became close friends and formed a group. After shopping their demo tape to a few labels, they decided to sign with Hollywood BASIC, a division of Disney’sHollywood Records.
Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf eventually left the label right before it closed its hip hop division. Charizma died in December 1993. Eventually Peanut Butter Wolf began making beats and DJing again. “It was a way for me to deal with the pain of losing both my music partner and my best friend” said Wolf. He then decided the album he and Charizma made together had to be heard. While Peanut Butter Wolf was passing out tapes, Dave Paul from the Bomb Hip Hop Magazine put out an album featuring the best hip hop artists of the Bay Area. It featured (among others) Blackalicious, Mystic Journeymen, DJ Qbert, and Charizma.
The next two years brought several compilations: Return of the DJ, instrumental beats Peanut Butter Breaks, and production work for Kool Keith. Peanut Butter Wolf also released an EP called “Step On Our Egos” for Southpaw Records. Still, he wanted to release the Charizma songs, making their dream a reality.
After recording for many labels, Peanut Butter Wolf realized he was having as much fun promoting the records as recording the songs. He became confident that he could succeed in running a label, and convinced distributor Nu Gruv Alliancethat he could do it. In 1996 Peanut Butter Wolf founded Stones Throw Records, making his first release “My World Premier” by “Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf”. Lately, Peanut Butter Wolf has moved away from producing to help promote up and coming artists on his Stones Throw label and to travel the world as a DJ/VJ.
He has overseen the releases of Lootpack’s Soundpieces, Quasimoto’s The Unseen, Breakestra’s Live Mix, Yesterdays New Quintet’s Angles Without Edges, Madlib’s Shades of Blue, and Jaylib’s Champion Sound.
- “Sit Down Shut Up” (C. Manak) – 0:15
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- “In Your Area” (C. Manak/J. Green) – 2:25
- Featuring Planet Asia
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- Contains a sample of “Butterfly Bleu” performed by Iron Butterfly
- “Styles, Crew, Flows, Beats” (C. Manak/A. Jimenez/J. Brown/O. Jackson) – 5:50
- Featuring Lootpack and Quasimoto
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf and Madlib
- “Casio” (C. Manak/C. Oroc) – 3:50
- Featuring DJ Babu
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- Contains a sample of “The Beat Goes On (#2)” performed by Vanilla Fudge
- “Barter” (C. Manak) – 0:21
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- “Hold Up” (C. Manak/K. Brewer) – 3:45
- Featuring Rasco
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- “The Everliving” (C. Manak/D. Herd) – 0:42
- Featuring Zest
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- “Rock Unorthodox” (C. Manak/Pablo) – 2:58
- Featuring Pablo
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- Contains a sample of “Gramophone Man” performed by Spirit
- “Top Illin” (C. Manak) – 0:22
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- “Necromancin” (C. Manak/D. Whalen) – 2:05
- Featuring Dave Dub
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- “Keep On Rockin It” (C. Manak/C. Hicks) – 4:31
- Featuring Charizma
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- “T Shirts” (C. Manak) – 0:29
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- “Breaks ‘Em Down” (C. Manak/Kazi) – 3:59″
- Featuring Kazi
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- Contains a sample of “Lothlorien” performed by Bo Hansson
- “Tale of Five Cities” (C. Manak) – 8:50
- Featuring A-Trak, Cut Chemist, DJ Hands, DJ Quest, DJ Total Eclipse, DJ Z-Trip, J-Rocc, Kid Koala, Rhettmatic, Rob Swift, Shortkut
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- Contains a sample of “UFO” performed by ESG, “Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll” performed by Vaughn Mason & Crew, “Seven Minutes of Funk” performed by Tyrone Thomas & The Whole Darn Family, “Aunt Charlotte” performed by David Axelrod, “Memory Lane” performed byOscar Brown Jr., “(Funky) 4 Corners” performed by Jerry O, “Love of a Woman” performed by Lighthouse, “Possession” performed by Iron Butterfly, “Long Red” performed by Mountain, “I Just Want To Celebrate” performed by Rare Earth, “Change le Beat” performed by B-Side &Fab Five Freddy, “Stoop Rap” performed by DJ Grand Wizard Theodore, “Soul L-O-V-E-R” performed by Mutt & Jeffo
- “Mr. Dibbs” (C. Manak) – 0:22
- “Definition of Ill” (C. Manak/J. Green) – 3:20
- Featuring Planet Asia
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- “Theme from a Peanut Butter Wolf” (C. Manak) – 0:59
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- “Run the Line” (C. Manak/K. Brewer) – 5:18
- Featuring Rasco
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- Contains a sample of “Summer in the City” performed by Quincy Jones
- “Phonies” (C. Manak/K. Griego) – 3:15
- Featuring DJ Design
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf, DJ Design
- “Ten Minutes Left” (C. Manak/J. Carlson) – 3:15
- Featuring Capt. Funkaho
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- Contains a sample of “Detroit” performed by Paul Humphrey & the Cool-Aid Chemists
- “Mobbin” (C. Manak/J. Medina) – 3:09
- Featuring Persevere, Vin Roc
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- Contains a sample of “Light My Fire” performed by Shirley Bassey
- “Competition Gets None” (C. Manak/E. Acknowledge) – 4:14
- Featuring Grand The Vis, Shortkut
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- “Interruptions” (C. Manak) – 3:30
- Featuring Zest
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
- “Hawaii 5000” (C. Manak) – 0:18
- Produced by Peanut Butter Wolf
