Producer and Stones Throw Records founder Peanut Butter Wolf has discussed the documentary that was made about his label and the elusive Madlib in a recent interview.
Speaking exclusively to HipHopdx, Wolf whose real name is Chris Manak, explained how the record company came about from the death of his best friend and musical collaborator Charizma. The duo performed together in the early 90’s as both were attempting to get a break in the music industry, but unfortunately the rapper lost his life at just 20 years old, ending their dream together.
After a break, Wolf returned to the music scene with designs on making a new record company, which he subsequently did and released his and Charizma’s track My World Premiere as the first single off his newly formed label.
Now there is a documentary that covers the history of his label titled Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton: This Is Stones Throw Records. Founded in 1996, Stones Throw Records has since grown to be a massively respected and successful label, which has overseen the release of such masterpieces as J Dilla’s Donuts and MF Doom and Madlib’s Madvillainy.
Talking about the famed producer Madlib, Wolf admitted that when he heard his music it made him want to focus all his attention on helping him and similar talents in the industry. “For me, when I met Madlib it was like am I going to keep concentrating on my own music or am I going to concentrate on this person who I believe makes better music than I do?”
“I always liked what I did. I feel I was better than other people, but also felt that Madlib was better than me,” he continued.
The notoriously camera shy producer proved hard to find though when it came to his contribution to the documentary. “Rob Broadway and Jeff Braiver did the Stones Throw documentary. Madlib would always say, ‘Yeah, I’m down,’ but he’d never coordinate a time and a place where we can do it. When he actually did it in the end, I was really surprised.”
Watch the trailer for the amazing documentary below:
The DVD and accompanying CD can be purchased from their site here.