Peanut Butter Wolf, J Rocc, Egyptian Lover, Mndsgn
and a host of locals
Friday, September 16, 2016
Legendary LA hip hop label Stones Throw has been around for 20 years. A lot has changed in that time in the hip hop world. In 1996, hip hop was more popular than ever, rappers were unique, lyrical and had a message. DJs were turntablists, Producers were technicians, the beats were tight and had that old school flavour, and no one had even heard of fucking auto-tune. Hip hop was all over the charts, and it was about to take over the news… due to the tragic murder of a 26 year old rapper by the name of Tupac Shakur.
A young Peanut Butter Wolf started Stones Throw Records in this turbulent time, as a means for him to release an album he produced with his friend and rapper Charizma – another great talent sadly taken too soon by street violence. The label grew to notoriety, building a solid roster and a reputation for quality underground releases. And to celebrate two decades of the finest, realest hip hop on the street, Stones Throw were touring with some of their biggest names. Massive shouts out to {MOVE} & HAL who pulled together to bring the boys out, and took over the Rosemount to put on the best hip hop party of the year! The main room was fully decked out – pumping sound, visuals, decorations – a real block party vibe.
Psychedelic sampler beatsmith MNDSGN (pronounced “mind design”) played early on. His sample-based compositions and vocals supplied some smooth, chilled, warm-up vibes for the main room. He departed with a few heartfelt words, “Thanks Perth, you’ve been beautiful. Stick around, we got Egyptian Lover, J Rocc and Peanut Butter Wolf coming up!” Each name drew progressively louder cheers.
There was a bit of a late lineup tweak with Egyptian Lover’s set being brought forward to allow J Rocc to go up alongside PBW, and it made more sense to the flow that way. A pioneering electro wizard, known as ‘The King of the 808’, Egyptian Lover really built the vibe. The big man brought a whole bunch of swag onstage and got the party rocking with some phat and chunky old school electro-funk, striking poses and generally being awesome, picking up and playing his 808 for all to see.
Dropping the classic, seminal electro track, Planet Rock by Soul Sonic Force, he was getting funky onstage. “Yeah! Back to 1984! “C’mon y’all Say eight oh motherfucking eight!” With a back catalogue that ranges back to the 80s, the veteran dropped some of his own tracks, getting on the mic to bust out some of his dirty raps. Everyone was having a great time, getting down to the music, and there was no aggro or bullshit bravado at all.
As founder of the World Famous Beat Junkies’ turntablist collective, J Rocc is another old school, hip hop legend, who’s no slouch behind the decks either! A brilliant DJ of pure pedigree who’s worked with some real hip hop royalty – his set tonight could only be described as Straight Up Dope! A tightly mixed set of classics, cut together with precision.
With visual accompaniment he charged through some huge tunes and some of the label’s biggest releases, like Accordion off Madvillainy, the brilliant collab album between MF Doom and Madlib.
Mashing that up into The Beastie Boys Intergalactic, which got a big rewind, and then KRS-One’s Sound of da Police and even some Wu-Tang, for those who liked it raw. Picking it up with some heavy dub vibes, Dead Prez and beat-juggling Mobb Deep’s Shook Ones Pt. II, J Rocc put on a clinic. It was going off up in here!
Sadly for the other two areas hosting some great local talent, most people chose to stick with the main party. This meant a rare set from the talented Mei Saraswati didn’t pull much of a crowd. And out in the cool courtyard, Rok Riley and Diger Rokwell were spinning beats to sparse numbers, providing a respite for some, and a soundtrack for the smokers.
Pretty soon J Rocc got on the mic “Y’all ready for Peanut Butter Wolf?” Chris Manak aka Peanut Butter Wolf, is just an awesome party DJ who straight up delivers the goods. Being a 20 year tour, it was like a greatest hits mix up session, real classics, crowdpleasing stuff, but not mixed in a cheesy way. The tunes were complimented by a VJ show locked in with the mix, displayed on the big screen behind him.
All killer and no filler, the Wolf cut through a swathe of classic jams including MF Doom, ODB, J Dilla, Big L, Lauryn Hill and even a little mini-mix Tribe tribute for Phife Dawg, mashing up Scenario with Buggin’ Out. He took things into disco territory so everyone could get their groove on, before slamming it down hard at the end.
Suddenly he appeared to stop and walk off, pretty soon returning, laughing “You know I’m just fucking with you right? I got time for one more… OK I got a request for Charizma, so I gotta do two more now.” And we got to witness a really cool, archival video clip of a young PBW sitting alongside his late, great partner in crime Charizma, as he busted out some killer rhymes acapella.
There was a real awesome party vibe in the room all night. This is real hip hop, and you don’t stop – and hopefully Stones Throw don’t stop any time soon either. The world need more realness and quality like this. Word.
ALFRED GORMAN
