COURTESY OF STONES THROW RECORDS
Maze headliner
is amazingPeanut Butter Wolf is
more than just a DJ
Unintended compliments are often the most sincere. That's how veteran club deejay and record producer Peanut Butter Wolf took it when another deejay commented favorably about a record by a new singer named Chris Manak.
What the guy didn't know was that Wolf, in fact, is Chris Manak.
Peanut Butter Wolf
Where: The Maze, Waikiki Trade Center
When: 10 p.m. tomorrow
Admission: $5, 21 and over; $10, 18-20
Call: 591-3500 or 921-5800
"I just starting singing and I go by my real name (as a singer), so when I put out a record with my singing on it, he didn't know it was me. It's flattering when they say something like that," Wolf explained when he called from Los Angeles a few short hours after it was officially announced Monday afternoon that he'd be headlining the final night of G-Spot's Juicy party at the Maze on Saturday.
Wolf plans to spin for around two hours this weekend; don't expect to see him in the house before midnight at the earliest. And he'll be representing almost 20 years of hands-on experience when he takes control of the sound system.
The story of Peanut Butter Wolf began in San Jose, Calif., a place that is probably still better known as the title of a Dionne Warwick song than as an oasis of hip-hop, but young Chris Manak got into music and deejaying early nonetheless. Manak was 9 when his parents began giving him a weekly allowance. He spent it -- and most of his lunch money as well -- on records, amassed an impressive collection for a pre-teen, and persuaded his parents to give him a mixer when he turned 13.
"I've been deejaying ever since, so in October, it'll be 20 years," he said.
Wolf started off developing his skills as a "bedroom DJ," making mix tapes for friends. Then he acquired a second turntable, and later began experimenting with a drum machine. At 16, he decided that he would have his own record label when he grew up. For a while, he planned to skip college, but changed his mind and got a degree in business marketing. He started working clubs almost as soon as he was old enough to get into them.
CHRIS MANAK had become his better-known alter ego by the time he released his first hometown recording in 1979 (the name was inspired by a girlfriend's comment that her youngest brother lived in fear of a "peanut butter wolf monster"). Wolf hooked up with Charles Hicks, aka Charizma, shortly afterwards and they enjoyed a productive partnership that ended with Hicks' death in 1993.
Wolf took a break from music to get himself together. On returning to the business, he discovered that he enjoyed promoting music as much as producing it, and decided it was time to start his own record label. Stones Throw Records was launched with the posthumous release of Charizma's "My World Premiere" in 1996.
Wolf said he approaches the business from the perspective of an artist rather than a bean-counting "suit," and described Stones Throw as being more about making good music than chasing fads or pumping out disposable product.
"With Stones Throw," he said, "we started out with hip-hop, but we've been doing a lot of reissues of the old funk music that hip-hop samples from. One of the artists I work with, Madlib, is a hip-hop artist that has really gotten into jazz music, so he's put out a jazz album and a remix album for Blue Note that I executive-produced as well."
Wolf also records as a DJ/mixer for other labels. He accepted an invitation from Ultimate Dilemma to participate in that label's "Badmeaninggood" series of artist-showcase albums. Rather than pick the usual classic tracks, Wolf drew on material stretching from Grandmaster Flash to Iron Butterfly to Joe Jackson to Prince Far I. Wolf explained that the purpose of the 18-song mix was to encourage listeners to appreciate the similarities between the music of different styles and eras, and possibly share something that hadn't been heard before.
And yes, among the selections was one of his collaborations with Charizma in the early 1990s.
"Everybody talks about remixing now, and they don't realize that's been going on for almost 30 years. ... People think I'm a new-school deejay 'cause I've only recently been getting my success over the past few years, but for me, it's been a long road."
As for the boy who dreaded the original "peanut butter wolf monster," Wolf guesses he must be "about 18" by now.
"Charizma passed away 10 years ago December, so I figured it would be a good tribute (to him) to release an album (I made) with him. I was working on the liner notes yesterday and remembered the kid who made up the name Peanut Butter Wolf in the liner notes. ... His older sister says he's doing good."
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