Peanut Butter Wolf Presents: Stones Throw Ten Years (2-disc set)
Stones Throw Records (released 1/23/07)
Rap/Hip-hop/Soul
SoCal-based Stones Throw Records has been rocking my socks since the late ’90s, when I picked up Peanut Butter Wolf’s My Vinyl Weighs a Ton, which acted as a gateway to many more of the imprint’s artists. If you’ve ever heard anything involving Madlib (Lootpack, Quasimoto, Jaylib, Madvillain, Yesterday’s New Quintet and Sound Directions), chances are it’s on Stones Throw, and if you watch Adult Swim, chances are you’ve heard something from the label on one of the bumpers that the network uses between commercials.
Unfortunately, in a world that is obsessed with mediocrity—where artists like the Ying Yang Twins and T.I. make wads of money for sucking at life—Stones Throw and the like don’t get even a fraction of the recognition that they deserve (e.g., J Dilla’s Donuts was snubbed by all of the major awards). Most of these artists would never even consider throwing a Kanye West shit fit or whipping their cocks around like Sean Combs. These artists are exactly that… artists. They love what they do and are happy being part of the Stones Throw family, which seems as tight-knit as it is musically gifted. And it shows.
While Peanut Butter Wolf was the one to compile the tracklisting (as he is the CEO of the label), it should probably be called “Madlib” Presents: Stones Throw Ten Years, as Madlib produces, rhymes on, or plays some sort of role in almost half the songs on the 25-track set. Jaylib’s “The Red” kicks off the set with a nice collabo between J Dilla, Madlib and his satirical Alvin-and-the-Chipmunks-esque alter-ego Quasimoto. Other classics making appearances are Peanut Butter Wolf’s “In Your Area”, with Planet Asia of Cali Agents, “Whenimondamic” by Lootpack and Quasimoto’s “Low Class Conspiracy” (a good track but certainly not the best off of The Unseen). MF Doom/Madlib project Madvillain makes two appearances—the first of which, “America’s Most Blunted”, features one of Madlib’s trademark samplings of dialogue from blaxploition-era films as a backdrop to the beats.
More Madlib goodness appears in the later half of the set, with “Sunrays”, by Yesterday’s New Quintet, Madlib’s all-instrumental acid jazz project. Fans of Adult Swim would certainly recognize “Julani”, “Papa” and “Uno Esta” from network bumpers, and while I like all of those more than “Sunrays”, perhaps they were all omitted from the set by Madlib in order to expose listeners to a less familiar track. Showing that Stones Throw can be versatile, Gary Wilson and Dudley Perkins provide some throwback-style soul that would make Bobby Womack proud, while Mr. Magic goes old-school hip-hop with “Coast to Coast”.
All in all, this is a solid sample of what Stones Throw has been up to for the past ten years. Madlib and PB Wolf have been making a strong effort to keep hip-hop afloat in a sea of crunk and hyphy wastewater, and for that they need to be applauded. Die-hard fans of the label will probably not find anything new here except for the second disc, which is a J Rocc megamix of the tracks found on disc one. But for the rest of you, buy this album to find out why Madlib rules, or to further realize why it is so, and also why Nas is wrong in proclaiming hip-hop to be dead.
Rating (as a compilation):
