The Wolf Gang

Stones Throw Records Label Special

Stones Throw Records isn't just a behemoth of independent hip hop labels – it's a blueprint for how to run things right. Contributing to the musical conversation has been on the mind of Peanut Butter Wolf (in the picture above) since he first heard Marvin Gaye on TV, and throughout college he was itching to release records. He put his first record out with the help of his dad, on a local label. They only pressed 500 copies, never mastered it, cut and pasted the artwork, and didn't even know you could sell them to a distributor. They gave most of the copies away to their friends and family and local radio stations, and sold some to the local stores. After all that, they still had about half of the records leftover. But their goal was to make a record and they reached it.

Later that year, PBW met Charles Hicks aka Charizma. They signed to L.A. label Hollywood Basics, but Walt Disney's shareholders had other plans for their artistic endeavours. Charizma and Peanut Butter Wolf got out of the deal just before the hip hop division of the label was closed. But two months later, at the end of 1993, Charizma passed away.

In many ways Stones Throw embodies this personal triumph over adversity. Hurdles are there to be leapt over, but when the drive is fuelled with such personal motivation, the obstacles take on a whole new perspective. Wolf's Stones Throw is less about distribution strategies and profit margins, and more about family values and community spirit.

In that respect, the Stones Throw family that has sprung up around the Griffin Park Boulevard in L.A. is unlike any other. Easily the most recognisable name throughout the extensive catalogue is Madlib and his many monikers – the prolific producer has set the tone for the label's open-eared output for over a decade, first with Lootpack, and later with Jaylib, Madvillian, Yesterdays New Quintet, Beat Konducta, DJ Rels, and everyone's favourite helium-voiced alien Quasimoto. But while the Lootpack and Quasimoto LPs helped Stones Throw get worldwide recognition, PBW has never been one to rest on his laurels, and is always ready to take the sound of the label in new directions.

While the likes of Guilty Simpson and the The Heliocentrics , as well as Academy alumni Aloe Blacc, Oh No, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Dudley Perkins are more than enough artists to brighten any music lover's day, the Stones Throw sound keeps changing. Catholic psych disco ruler James Pants, electro boogie wonderboy DâM-FunK, and SAR Records-era soul balladeer Mayer Hawthorne, are all new signings that revel in the kind of artistic freedom that Stones Throw allows them.

Don't forget the imagery – panoramic photographs from Brian Cross and suitably awkward artwork from Jeff Jank and Parra have characterised the Stones Throw output as much as anything else. Defiantly individual, often humorous, and always bringing it – setting the blueprint is only ever a stones throw away.

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