QLS Classic: Peanut Butter Wolf

Indie record label founder, Producer and DJ, Peanut Butter Wolf, talks growing up in the Bay Area and how Stones Throw Records became the authoritative underground hip hop label it is today.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. This classic
episode was produced by the team at Pandora.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
What Up It's on pay Bill.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
On this week's QLs classic, Peanut Butter Wolf talks about
launching the legendary stone Throw Records and released albums by
Dave Dilla, Mad Villain, and Madlick, among many others. He
also talks about his own career as an artist in
DJ This is episode number one twenty seven The Quest
Love Supreme and originally aired on March twentieth, twenty nineteen.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
Soaprima Sun South Supremo Roll call Suprema Sun Sun Supremo,
Roll call Suprema Sun s Subpremo.

Speaker 5 (00:47):
Ro called Suprema Sun Su Suprema roll Ca.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
Can I have a peanut butter? Can I have a
peanut butter? Can I have a peanut butter? Oh?

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Can I have a peanut utter?

Speaker 5 (01:00):
Supremama Supremo Role My name is Fante.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, damn damn Mario. Yeah, you gotta say what's up?

Speaker 6 (01:13):
Yeah to the homiepot Lario.

Speaker 5 (01:17):
Supremo, roll call, Suprema Su Supremo.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Roll called.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
My name is Sugar. Yeah, I get around.

Speaker 7 (01:27):
Yeah, we're Western Recorders.

Speaker 5 (01:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:29):
Where they made pet sounds.

Speaker 5 (01:30):
Wow, Supremo, Supremo, role called Supremo Suprema roll called.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Bills a DJ, yeah, RECONSI devour.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Yeah, it ain't no way in hell. Yeah, I'm spending
for twelve hours.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
Supreme Supremo, roll call Supremo Supremo roll call.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:57):
And Peanut but Yeah the hip hop.

Speaker 5 (02:01):
Yeah the roll come Supprima, Supprimo, roll Suprema up PREMI
my name.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Is Peanut Butter. Yeah, and I don't wrap.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
If I knew I had to do this. Yeah, that's
not Supremo.

Speaker 5 (02:22):
Roll come Suprema son something Supremo roll Calm Suprema Son Supremo,
roll cal Suprema.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Son Supremo roll. Wait, I got it, Steve. You just
bodied me with that information. Studio three, it's open. We're
going to look at it in a minute when we're done.

Speaker 6 (02:44):
Can we just stop the episode now and go.

Speaker 7 (02:47):
I've already went in so we can wait. Okay, Yeah,
he's already posed this picture on the gram really. Yeah,
he's on the Grammar.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
So there's always a chat with Sugar episodes.

Speaker 7 (02:57):
At work already. They already got it, they got it early.

Speaker 8 (03:00):
Check the shirt, baby, check the shirt.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
That's amazing, ladies and gentlemen. Uh. This is another episode
of Quest Love Supreme Road Trip Edition. Yes, we are
live at East West Studios formerly known as United.

Speaker 9 (03:15):
For I'm sorry, formerly as Western Recorders. Uh that's when
they did Pet Sounds And we're in Sinatra's room where
it did My Way in New York, New York. And yeah,
something stupid.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
And I got it that. Yeah, the vibe of the place.

Speaker 9 (03:30):
Sinatra built this place basically, I mean, somebody else designed it,
but he paid for it.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
So this was this was his h Yeah, this was
his spot.

Speaker 9 (03:38):
And the other spot too that we were at United,
Both of those were his spots.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
Did he pick the coaches out there? Because they seem
really sinatrash?

Speaker 9 (03:46):
All the studios here are basically as they were back
in the day, but everything in.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
The hallway that seemed like, Yeah, I thought it was
going to be an intervention talk.

Speaker 10 (03:57):
For a mir or you know, I thought I was
setting them up.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
That's the real Yeah, Like, I mean, we're here to
tell you that you can only have seven jobs. Bro.

Speaker 9 (04:05):
That the Pet Sounds room now looks just like it
is like it does in all the pictures and documentaries
it's incredible.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Wow.

Speaker 7 (04:12):
Well different console, but but you know you.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Had to keep that intact.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (04:16):
His podium is right in there where he I think
where he conducted from and Sinatra's Yes, Sinatra's podium, that
is podium.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (04:23):
Oh I thought you praying over there.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Oh no, I was on.

Speaker 7 (04:26):
I was taking with my wife. I was taking, you know,
but I don't want to step up there. I didn't
want to up.

Speaker 6 (04:33):
He wasn't lamping on that. But that podium non podium.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, our special guest today and our
shall I say, our road trip California edition of course
love supreme.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Frank tradition.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yes, a man just as smooth as, for instance, Albert Sinatra,
I will say, you know, initially his entrance into our
world was under the guise of indie hip hop. But
when all the smoke clears, I should say that probably

(05:10):
Stone's Thrower is probably one of the most unique UH
boutique creative labels UH in existence, going beyond the boundaries
of what underground hip hop was or the stigma of
the title underground hip hop. I mean, just a lot
of my favorite artists that I listened to UH on

(05:31):
the Daily are on this label. I mean from passing
president future.

Speaker 7 (05:37):
Brother wanted to signist stone throw, Yes for.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
Real, that was dream dude.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Please listen to my style like he was chuggy first
time I heard that.

Speaker 7 (05:47):
Oh yeah, and all the years we've known, Yeah dude,
like that was like man, we wanted to but.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah, put out the issue.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
Let's name of ladies and gentlemen from Profit to Tuxedo
to see Dan archives too, of course. Uh my personal
Goo Jay Dilla, uh Kareem Riggins, d J Harrison.

Speaker 6 (06:15):
I forgot even freaking Breachestra.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, break That's kind of how I met you, Yeahestra man.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
I forgot break Breakstra Gary Wilson, Gary Wilson's uh Georgie
and Montre.

Speaker 6 (06:28):
Steve Arrington.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
He releases Yeah, yesterday's new twet. Twet go on the
question of supreme cricketure. Yeah, uh uh loop pack man,
next worries, how do you pronounce next? No worries. I

(06:49):
always see that when this man's name, let's just go
down to rock Percy p Guilty Simpson. Uh. Profit is
So it's so many artists that I just you know, yeah,

(07:13):
succeed the project. Yeah, I'm just saying that when I
need to escape from the the madness that is modern
music today, I looked at Stone Strow to see who's next,
and the proprietor of Stone Store was here with us.
Please welcome to couestlof Supreme Christopher Hilario Hilario Man aka

(07:35):
Peanut Butter. What's up?

Speaker 2 (07:42):
Then a few words? One word answers? How many are
you going to? I learned that. I learned that from
two days ago. This bass player that I'm oh, you've
been interested in working with? Yeah, I met him for
the first time. It's like it's all like texting up
until that point, and texting was all paragraphs and then talking.
It's like one word answers.

Speaker 6 (08:03):
Can I tell you that it is easier to text
than it is to talk?

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Is that for me?

Speaker 2 (08:09):
No, that's how it's become.

Speaker 11 (08:10):
I mean absolutely, it's on the phone anymore, really, and
you can edit yourself for texting unless it's.

Speaker 8 (08:17):
Your past and you got to text somebody before you
talk on the phone. Do you mind if I call you?

Speaker 1 (08:23):
You're the queen of that, Like I'll be texting you
and you'll just like slit smart liquor bool your way
the Kool aid Man.

Speaker 6 (08:34):
Yeah, and I'm like, no, I got to think about
what I'm saying and whatnot.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Anyway, So what's up man? Also a fellow, well, you
know for me to mention ask Vaughn as I've done
in past episodes with with Fellow, ask me and Me
and uh Me and Wolf were kind of part of
this the secret Society of hip Hop Luminaries that. Yeah,

(09:02):
we kind of start off all uh earnest in our
appreciation of hip hop and in the name of collaboration.
But now it's like it's it's who can out emog
each other, Yeah, emoji each other.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
It's mainly it's mainly Premiere Alchemist.

Speaker 7 (09:23):
Like.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Is it no dude when I tell you, yeah, I
think that.

Speaker 1 (09:28):
The Premiere Like I'm dreading the day if Premiere has
an untimely demise and it's up for up to me
to write something like notable about his career, like his
achievements in his emoji game. Yeah, it's it's far beyond

(09:50):
any beat he's ever made in his life.

Speaker 6 (09:53):
An Alchemist is damn near.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Like a.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Just Alchemist is the sticker king and.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
I want to buy his artwork. Really, we're just it's
it's the silliest brotherhood I've ever like.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
But I never knew Premiere had that many, like cartoon voices,
like I don't know why he's not doing cartoons seriously
and hip hop.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
I'm literally one second I'm working on an animated series
right now that I'm like, wait second away from approach
and just have him be all of them.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
If all the other characters.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
If unpaid, Bill we're here, I tell him to hire
one system.

Speaker 8 (10:27):
The way he does voice memos on your group text?

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Is that what it's It's beyond great Premiere's talent for
the cartoon voices. Wow, you I mean like three four
in the morning is some next ship. So yeah, Wolf
is part of the the the Askbaughn Brotherhood of.

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yes, and I have a lot of friends who are
like wishing they were part of it, like other like
musician you know, DJ is hip hop. If I could
fit more now now it's cool, I like, we can't
let t rock maybe our chear rocks quiet anyway, So no,
we just sit there like rating.

Speaker 6 (11:06):
I never explained the Diplo why we had to kick
him out the chat because.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
We Diplo left and then he came back and then well.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
I kicked him out because it's almost like the trade,
like we traded Diplo for uh who joined this late?
Like buck Wild? It was someone in that jam.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Oh no, that was a different one.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
People in this group.

Speaker 6 (11:26):
You can only have twenty five people in.

Speaker 8 (11:30):
The chat, So I guess nobody has a droid because
y'all are cool.

Speaker 6 (11:34):
Well, Jeff, just because.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
You don't neither, what's that you don't respect any me.

Speaker 7 (11:43):
That said that green having a green box. Somebody take
somebody with a dray. If you get in a group chat,
I got a joy and they fuck up the whole chat.

Speaker 8 (11:49):
Yeah, because they got to have a separate conversation because
they can't get they got a difference.

Speaker 2 (11:53):
You know, I'm showing my age. I don't even know
what that is.

Speaker 10 (11:56):
You got an iPhone?

Speaker 2 (11:57):
I got an iPhone?

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah, you blue box?

Speaker 7 (11:59):
If some one would have would a droid text you?

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Which is why Jeff had to drop out, because Jess
Jeff left iPhone to go to back to. I didn't
even know that he betrayed us. So there goes the
invite to It was.

Speaker 2 (12:12):
BlackBerry for so many years. How many blackberriers there's back in.

Speaker 6 (12:15):
The I'm at a comedian last night.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
Who he purposely uh got a BlackBerry so that he
could stop his writer's block. He's he had to turn
it and yeah, he's been working on his book for
now four years and he blames his A D D H.

Speaker 6 (12:38):
Attention to his iPhone.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
So in order to wean himself off of entertainment, Uh,
he's gotten rid of his iPhone and won't only do BlackBerry,
which takes away his gifts and his memes and you
know the time that he wastes.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Your guy, Jack White, Right, I was hearing the thing
that he said that he doesn't have a phone or something.

Speaker 6 (12:59):
Yeah, but you know eccentric people Kanye don't have one.

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Can I do that?

Speaker 6 (13:04):
Guys like, can I give her my phone?

Speaker 1 (13:05):
I don't know. You could know. You've got too many jobs.

Speaker 10 (13:08):
And you like texting, you don't like talking.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
So what you're gonna do disappear anyway. So how you
doing today? Great water? What'd you do today? You know what?
So I visit I'm gonna start backwards because I visited
Stone's through headquarters and I was genuinely surprised at how

(13:34):
professional the atmosphere was. Really, Like the only thing missing
if you if you're a fan of It's always sunny
in Philadelphia. Kind of like the music that that like
that that sunny happy music that they always use as
as background music on that show. That's the atmosphere I

(13:56):
felt I was in when I was walking pet Like,
I was like, yo, you guys have like staff and
it's like mad men.

Speaker 2 (14:02):
I love coming to work right now. Yeah, things are
really good.

Speaker 6 (14:05):
I miss it.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
I want to walk through there again to come back.
So how long have you guys been in that uh,
that building?

Speaker 2 (14:15):
I'm just yeah, yeah, fifteen years. It's like it started
kind of we just had one room and then as
we kind of expanded, we grabbed another another another, and yeah,
so just a little, yeah, just gradual thing.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
It's kind of well, that whole neighborhood is a vibe
because even your next door.

Speaker 2 (14:30):
Years with uh yeah, Adrian Young and Shahied they are
studio Well's I think it's Adrian's but maybe yeah, Adrian
part I mean is like, yeah, it's called Highland Park,
so it's pretty close to downtown.

Speaker 9 (14:44):
You guys got studios in that complex or is it office?

Speaker 2 (14:47):
We have a studio on ours and then yeah, Adrian's
is next door.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
Wow, yeah, it's it's official. Man, Like every.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
We're opening a record bar, that's yeah.

Speaker 8 (14:58):
So we are, yach like the big Are you the
biggest indie hip hop situation or indie situation right now?

Speaker 10 (15:05):
It's because it sounds huge.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
I mean yeah, I mean we're not like like as
big as Kendra Lamar's label or any of that, but.

Speaker 7 (15:12):
Like, like, y'all are probably the longest last thing I'd say, yeah, you.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
Guys would probably neck with Jack White situation with the
third Man, Third Man, I think because even his label,
his operation in Nashville is sort of similar where yeah,
you know, I think it's more about it's less about
the artists and more about the the label. So what
what what do you What year do you consider the

(15:36):
actual first stones Throw release?

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Yeah, well, with the name stones Throw was in ninety six.
I actually I did.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
I was.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
I started a label in nineteen ninety and put out
like one twelve inch single that flopped, and then at
that point I was like, I don't want to do
the label thing, and I started working with an MC
Charisma and then yeah, yeah he passed away, and then
I went back to the label thing. I just you know,
didn't want to be an artist anymore at that point, really.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
How do you well what discouraged you from continuing.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
The artist thing? Yeah, losing my friend.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
I didn't.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
I didn't want to be on stage with someone else's
you know. It was just not really it didn't feel right.

Speaker 7 (16:21):
So were you rhyming with DJing?

Speaker 2 (16:22):
No, it was DJ did not hear that? Yeah, I
did not hear my wrap? No, yeah, no, I DJ'ed
and I made all the music back then. I used
the in Sonic EPs, which is like a big Rember workstation.

Speaker 7 (16:37):
And because you end up putting that record out right,
you end up putting the well.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
I put out Christmas record after he passed. Yeah, he
passed in ninety three. And then we were signed to
Hollywood Basics at the time, which was the Disney Diney. Yeah,
but it was what it was funking Client though, So
fucking client, like, do you know funk Cline or did
you know who he was?

Speaker 1 (16:55):
I knew I've heard of Dave funking Client, But what
was it like? Because also Pharaoh and.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
I mean our checks had Mickey Mouse on them, so
that seriously they really did we save one? I probably
have one?

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (17:06):
Yeah, I remember, I said everything they had.

Speaker 6 (17:08):
It was Organized liferss Group. Lifers's Group was for a
Disney label.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
And they made they made a Lifress Group soap on
a rope and then I don't somehow it got like
it got canned. So then they had all the soap
and so they made it an organized Confusion soap on
a rope and that didn't make sense.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
So that was the promo.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
That was the promo for sure, stress you're telling me
I have THEE on a rope still go ahead? Sorry,
And for our listeners out. The Lifers Group was a
group of X cons that formed No No, no, no,
no no they were they were in general the niggas
was locked up.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yeah they were.

Speaker 6 (17:47):
They could still be in jail for all we know.

Speaker 7 (17:50):
Group Life Yeah wait, how did they they recorded in jail?
They recorded a jail. I guess they was in the
room or whatever.

Speaker 8 (17:58):
Did that first?

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Well recorded in jail?

Speaker 11 (18:00):
Yeah we forgot about Shine Shine Yeah No, Life was
group had an actual studio.

Speaker 7 (18:05):
I guess they recorded in jail.

Speaker 11 (18:07):
And yeah, yeah, yikes, so they had they had There
was a video for Lifers Group too, wasn't I.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Can't remember their video in jail, but that's how DJ
Shadow got it started. He did a remix for them,
and his manager was my manager, so that was kind
of the connection. That's why we both ended up on
Hollywood Basic Basic Actually, so Charisma is a rapper I
worked with, and the guy money Bee from Digital Underground
was always playing our tape and he told that labeled

(18:38):
Becafusion was refusion, So that was his side project, was Rofusion.
So that was my first time traveling out of the country.
Was we went to Germany and you know, we were
kids and just it was incredible.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Who else was on that tour?

Speaker 2 (18:49):
It was me, well, me and Chrisma, this rapper heih S,
this West Coast rapper was kind of part of DJ
Quick's crew, and then.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
FUSI yeah, exactly, yeah, I see what for the for
those that don't know and actually for me, like what
for you coming into hip hop? Like what was the
the experiences the I mean, did you have, like from
New York perspective, I know that most people have a

(19:20):
park jam and that sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
But yeah, were you going on roller skatings? I was
living in San Jose. There was no hip hop scene
really there. I mean the breaked, the breakdancing, I guess
a little bit. You were born there, right, No, I
moved there when I was six years old though, so
damn near born there? And how many years did you
till I was twenty five? So first twenty years? Can
you explain something to me? Yes, San Jose.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Has a very very unique homeless situation that I've never
seen in any other city in the United States. Not
because the amount of volume of people that are homeless,
m hm, but it's almost like.

Speaker 6 (20:02):
Usually whatever whenever venue that we've ever.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Played in San Jose, it's like it's it's college professors
and this kind I didn't even.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Notice that drop out. Oh my god, it's but I
don't I haven't been to Sands that often, like lately.
I mean i've been there. I've been gone since ninety five,
I guess, but I go to visit family.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
But I just know I needed someone to explain to me,
like why is this whole dropout of society? Well started
as a professional dropout of society kind.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
Of right, But I mean, yeah, I don't know. I
was gonna just say that, like the cost of living
there just skyrocketed after you know, the Internet boom and
stuff like all the I mean the guy that went
to high school with me started Yahoo and he was
like a billionaire so, and he was like one year
older than me, and I was like in his early twenties.
I think when he started it.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
Were you nice to him in high school?

Speaker 2 (20:56):
He was a one year older than me? But yeah,
my my stepmom actually worked for him and she said, oh,
I asked him about you here, remember you? But you
know I wasn't really Yeah, I didn't know.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
I'm like that, Okay, So what were your hip hop
experience experiences early? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (21:12):
I mean I remember going to Chuck E Cheese and
they would have break dance contests and stuff there, but
it was all you know, it was more like breaking
in the quad pop locking. I mean we had the
pop locking more on the on the West Coast.

Speaker 5 (21:24):
You know.

Speaker 6 (21:24):
I love hearing a Chuck E Cheese story that didn't
end in violence. The Martin Luther King.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
I mean, I just remember walking there as a fifteen
year old and then walking home and I ended up
not getting home till four in the morning. I thought
I was gonna get my ass beat, but like I
snuck in and my parents didn't hear me. But I
mean Egyptian Lover was the early show that I went to,
like that was eighty five. I went to the Fresh
Fest stuff like that. But you know, I guess I
learned about hip hop. I was into like funking soul

(21:53):
and then like I didn't know like the elements or anything,
but like Rappers Light when that came out, like even
like double Dutch Bus, Like to me, I thought that
was hip hop. As a kid, I didn't know the
difference really, like they were just both wrapping over a
disco trap. And then kind of learned a little later.

Speaker 1 (22:10):
So it wasn't like older cousins or an uncle that
sort of trickled down the information to you, Like who
mentors I'm the older uncle?

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Oh, I mean yeah. My parents. My dad was into Sinatra,
you know, rest in peace to Sinatra and my father,
but my mom was into show tombs. But my my
my mom's dad was a jazz bass player. He was
an upright bassist and he played. Actually Duke Ellington would

(22:38):
come to his dad's restaurant and then he let my
grandpa play piano and my grandpa was nine years old
and then he just fell in love with jazz after
that and played with Dizzy Gillespie. And a lot of
you know, a lot of the greats, but he always struggled.
My mom had seven brothers and they were always dirt poor,
and so my mom didn't really want me going in

(22:59):
the music industry because you know, my grandpa never made
money and music it was more like a hobby.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
So but yet you wound up in the same then, yeah,
predicament kind of.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
I mean, I mean, honestly, like when me and Charisma
got signed, when we got signed to the major label,
I was still in college and my mom was like,
you got to you gotta finish school, and you know,
I was like, no, I don't, I don't care.

Speaker 1 (23:23):
You know, where did you go to college.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
I was in San Jose State and I ended up
getting my degree in marketing. And my label is like
it helps, I know, experience. Yeah, I don't really run
my label in a marketing sense so much, I think,
or it's like the anti marketing label. But so you're
the herb output of maybe A and M operation where
you just yeah, I don't know his story.

Speaker 6 (23:47):
What was well, you know, Moss, Jerry Moss.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
He was the business guy.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm real passionate about
the creative. I get into arguments with the guys at
the label sometimes about that, but yeah, no, I mean
I leave the business to them more. And you know,
it's the checks and balances I have, like people all
like working and so it's I don't know, I feel
like my team, I'm really I trust them and stuff.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
So were you?

Speaker 7 (24:13):
I was, so how many operation? How big is the
stones operation?

Speaker 4 (24:17):
That?

Speaker 11 (24:17):
Like?

Speaker 1 (24:17):
Who are the people?

Speaker 2 (24:19):
There's like ten, there's like ten to twelve people like
in our office. Yeah, we have some interns and then
we have like a small operation in Europe and then
Japan and.

Speaker 7 (24:29):
So you handle the music, and then how many other
people you have kind of handling the business?

Speaker 1 (24:33):
I guess.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
I mean there's like three or four kind of like
doing different aspects of marketing. And then yeah, just traditional
like you know in our director and GM.

Speaker 7 (24:44):
So with y'all stuff like in terms of signing artists
or putting records out? Is it just you find something
you like it, and it's like, yo, that's where I'm pickheaded.
I'm like, I like this, and you guys, if you
don't like it, I'm sorry. I mean it's you know,
I'm not like a dictator about it. But like they yeah,
they're they're pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
But I mean, honestly, like it's it makes it's so
much better when the staff likes it too, because they're
working in it, you know. I mean if they're not
really if their heart's not into it, then they're not
going to work it as hard.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
So from my experiences working at a major label, that
is very true.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Yeah, and that's why I like the people that I hired.
They're really into the same music that I'm into, you know,
not necessarily good or bad music, but the same music.

Speaker 11 (25:21):
Because promoting Nelly albums, it's wearing on your soul. What
kind of alum Nelly? He used to work for Universal
back in the day, So like that question, you worked Nelly?
Did you work the Ali Heavy Starts album?

Speaker 1 (25:35):
Or were you out there? I was?

Speaker 7 (25:36):
I was out I was out by he was out
by Heavy Starts.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
Okay, so starting starting the label, yeah one, Why did
you feel it was necessary to.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Start your I mean I never wanted to be a
label guy, like, especially when the four thousand and eighty rule,
you know, like a company people shady. I'm like, I
didn't want to be on that side of it.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
But that's why I joined the music business, so I
could not be shady.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Right, I mean that was the thing. Like actually the
first several years of Stone Strow, I didn't have contracts
with any of the artists, and I had a an
attorney that was like, are you crazy, Like you know,
you got to protect yourself, and I'm like, oh, I'm
all on her system. You know. I know if I
treat my artists right, they're going to stay with me.
And when that backfire, yeah yeah, now I think, I mean,

(26:29):
you know that it's going to backfire with or without
a contract if you can only take an artist to
a certain level. And you know, people, it's the tendency
I think is that the grass is greener, you know,
Like so.

Speaker 6 (26:42):
I don't think so though, No, the grass is never green.

Speaker 2 (26:47):
You're saying, you don't think people think that way. But
I know I've had I have artists leaves and sow
for major labels and then yeah, and then they come back,
yeah yeah, yeah, all right yeah and they come back.
But well, I mean I've always been the artist, I
mean the music fan that kind of jumps around and
like I'm always trying to discover the next thing. So
for me, like my homie that I grew up with.
We like he would buy all ten art ten albums

(27:10):
by the same artist, and I was always looking for
something new. And there's not right or wrong in either one.
I mean, I guess maybe more right as being loyal
to that artist and buying all ten albums, But I
was always jumping around. So when an artist leaves Stone's Throw,
it's still I mean, I kind of understand, you know,
why they're doing that, and I'm still busy, like trying

(27:31):
to find the next thing.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
So well, Yeah, as I say at the top, I
think in your specific case, I feel like Stone's Throw,
the legacy is almost the star of the operation, as
opposed to you know, if you have a particular franchise
artist that shines for a while or whatever. But I

(27:53):
feel like, like for me, I'm at the I'm at
the rate now where if it's a new artist on
stones Throw, I trust it because you know, the.

Speaker 7 (28:02):
Logo carrier weight more so than the artists.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
Yeah, and you and I have similar tastes of music,
so you know, I feel good like showing you my
music or the music I'm involved in, and I feel
like you generally.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
Will like it and stuff. But so but in the beginning,
did you in ninety six did you imagine that twenty
years later it would wind up into the operation.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
That never had a twenty year plan. And I don't
know if I would have thought it would have been
bigger or smaller or if.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yeah, So when it first started, was it the it
was out the trunk, in the in the kitchen we started.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
We started like really in the DJ community and the
turntable is community specifically, like in the Bay Area in
the mid to late nineties, there was a big turntableism
thing happening with Cubert and Scratch Pickles. Yeah, the whole
scratch Pickles. One of the guys de styles that was
in Cubert's group. He was dating my sister when I

(28:56):
was the older brother that was a little like upset.
They were like twelve or thirteen or something, and so
he was asking me how to teach him how to
scratch and I'm like no, And then now he likes
scratched like circles. Oh yeah, oh yeah, I'll tell you
in five And I could never I could never like
go where he goes with it. But you know, he
really stuck with that, and I kind of jumped around
and did different things. But back to what I was

(29:20):
trying to say was in the late nineties, it was
really like a lot of turntables and going on in
the area. That's something that we had to edge over
a lot of other areas. And Hubert was putting his
records out. We put out this record called super Duct
Breaks and that really it was in all the all
the DJs would use it in their battles and you
would look at.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
All the noise that was always cut number three.

Speaker 7 (29:47):
Straight up.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
Yeah. But okay, So what I was going to say, like, well,
go ahead, No, no, I'm like trying to lead the
interview now, no, no, But like I just remember like
DJs would watch the other DJs and it would say
stones throw on the on the record, like really big,
and that was just something that the design guy like

(30:08):
came up with and I didn't really think about it,
but people would watch these DJs and they would see
the stones throw really big and they go, what is
stoneses throw?

Speaker 1 (30:15):
You know?

Speaker 2 (30:15):
We so we really like we put out the charisma
thing that had never come out, and the DJs were
all using that and really me being part of that
DJ scene like that was my Rolodex was only like
battle DJs and beat junkies stuff like that. So I'd
send them all the records and they would all support it.
And you know, at that time, it was like a
vinyl only label. It was before there was iTunes or

(30:38):
any streaming or any of that.

Speaker 1 (30:39):
So back then, when you're starting a label, how many
records would you have to push in order to justify
staying in business and not losing money? And because I
still feel like it's a very specific small community you
have to cater to. Yeah, and if you're you know,

(31:00):
handing me two copies and the next act that's in
town two copies too, you know.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
Yeah, it was all doubles. But I mean that's why
we sold so many units too, Like you're selling two
copies of every record, and then like the records the
pressing plant we used, they would like wear out really quickly.
And I didn't even realize that. Like Hubert's records were
at RTI and those ones you can scratch and scratch
and it never gets messed up. And we were using
Raymo and you scratch it like three times and you

(31:27):
ruin the record. So they had to keep coming back
and buying it over and over again like apples.

Speaker 6 (31:42):
That's smart, keep them coming back, all right, I gotta
remember that one.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
So what was what was the first sold one hundred
thousand of the super Breaks or something something crazy like that.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
You know, So then to your first official musical release.
First of all, what right? What means you decide to
to jump just from battle Break material to yeah? I mean,
I guess. So.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
I was working at a distributor at the time too,
and they were doing mostly house music, and I came
to the guy and I said, I want to start
a hip hop division here. And the company was called TRC.
And the guy's like, okay, name ten hip hop releases
that you like right now, and I totally froze up.
I'm like really bad in interviews, and I named like three,
and he's like, you're going to start a hip hop division.

(32:30):
I can name ten and I don't even like hip hop.
So I was like, all right, I didn't get this job.
And you know, I wrote a nice thing afterwards like
I still think I'm the guy and blah blah blah,
and he hired me, and like, through that job, I
really like taught me like everything I wanted to know
about the music industry. And Stone's Throw started out as
an extension at TRC. But TRC the problem with that was,

(32:53):
like I was taking all these labels in and selling
thousands of units, but they weren't paying, like the guys
you know at the head of the distributor, We're not
paying the labels. So it was kind of turnishing my
image or my relationship with guys that I knew. So
I kind of jumped out of there and I started
Stump Store at that time, so you.

Speaker 1 (33:12):
Were almost part of industry rule forty yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
Was becoming the forty eight. And then they went under
and they went into porn and then I don't know
what they do now, but damn.

Speaker 6 (33:23):
So what was the first album official album release on
Stone Star.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
I think, well, hmmm, it was this thing called Fanatic
Beats and it was just like a breakbeat record, just
instrumental hip hop, but I mean like more yeah yeahs
or with Volte rappers Vocalus on top. Like I think
Rascoe was one of the early ones and was the
Cala the cal Asian, but Kelly Agents are two guys

(33:50):
Rascal and Planet Asia and then Asia I did an
artist album called My Vinyl Ways a ton in like
ninety seven around like the early days of Stamps Throw
and I had Planet Asia on two tracks on that
and that was kind of like what started like his stuff,
and then I remember he was Onre's Well the Dray
thing happened later, but he was on he was on

(34:13):
Sway and they had him battle against Eminem and that
that was like Eminem's first time on the radio and
he blew up and then Asia kind of got notice
from that too.

Speaker 1 (34:23):
Yeah, so for at least my perception of what underground
hip hop was at the time, What were your feelings
of being sort of pegged with every because there was
such an uprising, especially with fat beats developing in the
York and LA and Braucus and everything. So and how

(34:44):
were you able to get elbow room just to in
such a crowded space.

Speaker 2 (34:50):
Well, I mean the early days, like we didn't get
much play on New York radio. I know Premiere did,
he played.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
Not even with stretching Barbido.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Well, Barbido, yeah, they did. They supported some of our stuff,
but I remember like the Quasi model they didn't support
and I was like all upset about it, but really, yeah,
probably did eventually, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
Well, I mean there was a period, especially when Stretch
Armstrong left the show. I try to keep up with Bobido, like,
you know, because I was one of those listeners that
would listen to the show and you know, whenever he
played and he would mention who you know, I go
out and buy it, and then I go to Fat Beats,
especially back then, like because Rich Medina had his own

(35:35):
Fat Beats division and Philly and Rich would just give
me like seven hundred dollars worth of underground hip hop
that I wouldn't even open, like it was just too overwhelming.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Are you still sitting on those records?

Speaker 1 (35:48):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (35:48):
Hell yeah, I'm still sitting on it.

Speaker 1 (35:49):
Like I know that any underground and the release between
ninety six in two thousand and two, like I just
took him because I just go to Rich mcden and
be like, all right, give me what I need. Okay,
you need two of these and six of these and
two of these and which is how I ran? Is
it a Lupac thing? Right?

Speaker 2 (36:10):
I was gonna say maybe Lupac was the first thing
that like probably stretching Barbido and you know, okay.

Speaker 7 (36:15):
And how did you meet those guys? How did the
Loupac connection.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
How did it?

Speaker 2 (36:20):
Well, I was listening to college radio and they were
playing a Lupac song. So Lupac the label was funded
by Madlib's dad, and yeah, Madlub's dad was a soul
singer in the sixties. That makes really like good, like
sweet soul stuff. I have a story about that too.
But well, I mean, I just I was just thinking

(36:43):
as I was talking about it. Like I remember I
was in a record store with Madlib in the UK
and it was like just a lot out. They were
playing a lot of old soul and you know, we
were buying records. We were in there for maybe three
or four hours, and then Madlib's dad's song comes on
and mad Lib's like, Hey, that's my dad, Like he
told the good store guy. Like mad Lib is, he'll
never brag about anything that he does, you know, he's

(37:05):
always like really low key, but because it was his dad,
he's like, that's my dad. And the guy's all you're
Otis Jackson's son. I can't believe this. I'm meeting Otis
Jackson's son. And it was cool to hear mad live,
you know, as a son rather than.

Speaker 1 (37:18):
Like this guy.

Speaker 7 (37:19):
Yeah, I want my dad's reckless.

Speaker 2 (37:23):
But yeah, so his his dad put out the first
twelve inch and they didn't have any distribution, and I
heard it on the radio and I called the radio
DJ and I was like, what is this? I want
this for the distributorship, and so I got the number.
I called what ended up being Madlive's dad, and you know,
he was super sweet, super cool dude, and I told

(37:46):
him about my label and stuff too, and they I
was up in the Bay Area at the time, and
they drove up to the Bay to meet with me,
and you know, that's that's kind of just how it started.

Speaker 6 (37:56):
I guess was it Northern Solar? Like what kind of
music was he?

Speaker 2 (38:00):
It was kind of Northern soul, I guess.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
Yeah. Okay, So with the Lupac project, which is I'll say,
like the first time, I mean, even though, yeah, even
though that was why I started to ye, yeah, even
though I'm I'm borderline certain that I have been collecting
from all those fat beat trips. But my my Lupac story,

(38:26):
you know, for all of my like Dyla is god
folklore I've ever had. Yeah, I still crack up at
the seven days where I finally saw him as a
human being. Yeah, and you know, it was a two
a m. Call and I thought, okay, either I let

(38:46):
somebody a producer won't name right now.

Speaker 6 (38:52):
Get his BT tape.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
Oh, I know who you're talking about exactly. And he
was just like yo man, and I'm like thinking, like
for him to yo Mammy. I was like, yo, I'm
in trouble and he's like, yo man, I talked to
you yo man, Tylla this other guy la and I thought, oh, man,
I fucked up? Who did I did? He read an
Okay player post story. I was just like, he'said, dog Man,

(39:17):
fucked up. Man. He's like I met my match man.
It's just fucking with me. And I was like what
He's like dog Man loot pack And I was like who,
It's like loot pac Man. You gotta get it. So
the next day I went to Fat Beats and got
like four copies of it.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Wow and.

Speaker 6 (39:42):
D okay, d Angelo what I'm trying to figure out
what song were we working on?

Speaker 1 (39:51):
This is like the end.

Speaker 6 (39:53):
It's like it wasn't ninety eight.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Yeah, so this was I know, the good portion of
ninety eight was just waiting for Lauren to come up
with whatever songs she was gonna not do not do it.
It's not clear.

Speaker 6 (40:11):
And we sat there.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
I said, yo, man, this My quote was yo, this
album is Dyla's kryptonite, Like this is fucking him up.
He's just fuck up in the game. And the thing
was we didn't get it at the time, like it
was just a language. We sat and listened to it
twice and resting, he was like, well, this isn't you know,
because we were like deep in the Dila funk by then,

(40:36):
we're we just don't get And when I ad, I said, so,
what elements are in this that's really fucking with you?
And he's like, Yo, he's speaking my language, Like whoever's
Matt lib is speaking my language right now. It's how
I'm saying, like, so, are there is there intricate stuff
that us mere mortals can't see that. He's absolutely he's
like he's doing stuff in this, in the in this

(40:58):
twelve hundred that yeah, it was I would think to
do yeah, and yeah, the fact he was the limitations
of the twelve hundred yea.

Speaker 7 (41:05):
Yeah, it's like with ten second ten and a half
crazy yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (41:10):
So I mean it took me a while to get
to it. But then because I wanted to the thing.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
Once I was like, damn, if I can't see what
he sees, then I'm so below on yeah the level.
So I just kept listening record and kept listening, and
then I just became a genuine fan of Matt and anything.

Speaker 6 (41:26):
And then you started sending me.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
Well, one of one of the artists that I was
working with at the time, one of the other rappers,
like he didn't understand it either, and he's all, you're
signing this, He's signing these sucker m season like he's
like he was like, all really like more on the
you know, the lyricism stuff, but like they were just
more like creating a Yeah, it was a feel. It
was a feeling.

Speaker 7 (41:48):
The first time we came to when a Little Brother
first came to LA, we did like an in store
at Stacks in Crito's that used to I don't even
think the story is there was a vinyl story.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Yeah I remember still.

Speaker 7 (42:00):
Yes, it was out there and uh oh no and
wild Shot and they showed us love and that was
that was my first time meeting him. And I was like, yo, man,
that sound pieces like that was it fucked us up too? Yeah,
we were And that was one of the records when
we were making it listening that we listened to and
it was like, yeah, like this is this is it?

Speaker 2 (42:19):
Well, I was going through the demos recently, like the
demo versions were all just recorded, you know, the way
Madlib wanted it, And then we went into like a
bigger studio and they like they've multi tracked everything and
mixed it different. And mad Lib is like just kind
of the nicest guy, Like he won't speak up for
what he wants sometimes, so you never really know what
he wants. And at least he was back then. And

(42:42):
so the engineer that did Luke Pack, he mixed it
a lot differently than the way Madlub's demo sounded. And
mad Lib cannot listen to the Luke Pac album. He
hates it because because of the sound sonically of it,
like everything's too perfect and clean for him.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
Yeah, so like that.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
Cleaned for the twelve hundred maybe, but but after that,
like everything was. He would never give people multi tracks.
So you know, I was trying to get madly beats
to like nas and Q Tip and you know, people
of the time and whatever. It couldn't it couldn't happen
because he wouldn't. He couldn't multi track it. And I
remember a de la like you know when they did
the shopping bags, like they wrote to it after I

(43:26):
gave them the just the two track of it, and
then they're like, all right, we need the multese and
like there are no multise and and so they were
like upset with me. Like I was kind of caught
in the middle because you know, it was a miscommunication
where they assumed that I was going to give a
multese on it.

Speaker 7 (43:40):
Yeah. Every time I've ever done something madly, it's the same. Yeah,
and you just know, like whatever it is, which I
fuck with because it's like, I mean that works, it works,
I mean redo it.

Speaker 2 (43:51):
So that's how that's how Mad Villain was recreated or
was created, it was not recreated. That's how you know
Jalab like pretty much all the quasi model all this stuff.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
So describe him as an artist, like what was it
that you saw in him that really resonated and screened?

Speaker 2 (44:11):
What I saw the most is that I just found
myself going back to his music and listening to it
over and over, like I had choices of what I
could listen to or either whether it's mad Lib or
something that's out on a label, or you know, someone
else's demo that I'm working with, and I just on
my personal time, I was always listening to his stuff
and he had so much of it too, And you know,
I think that's why we eventually like were like, well,

(44:35):
who else do you want to work with besides your
immediate crew, because you just have so much music. There's
so many albums that we can you know, help you
bring to fruition because he was always like shy, not
really you know, he was like in Luke Pac, like
wild Child was the really outgoing one, like you know,
he would go to shows and go to the artists, Hey,
I'm wild Child. You know this is blah blah blah,

(44:57):
and mad Lib was always just in the background. And
so you know, when Madlum told me he wanted to
work with Doom and Dila, then that was our job
to you know, find those two guys and make it happen.

Speaker 1 (45:08):
So how did you find Doom and bring him to
the fold?

Speaker 2 (45:12):
What was the right Yeah, well Doom, I mean yeah,
and all we showed that that was Doom the imposter.
Well there's a whole other version of the album. I
don't know if you ever heard it. But originally Doom
wrapped the whole album in like a hype tone and yeah,
and then that version leaked, and I don't know if

(45:33):
Doom just felt like since it leaked he was going
to redo the whole album or if I don't know,
but for whatever reason, he like went back and did
the whole album in a laid back way. And you know,
the initial response was like, oh, I liked him better hype,
Why did he do it? He ruined it? But then
for the people who never heard the hype version, they

(45:53):
really responded to it.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
Yeah, I remember that.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
But that album JLB Quas and several other albums were
all done at the same time using one hundred and
fifty beats that Madlib had put on three CDs. It
was like fifty beats per CD and it was all
like thirty second snippets and stuff.

Speaker 6 (46:15):
What was his work process like to do it? Because
his beats are intricate.

Speaker 7 (46:19):
Not.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
And they're all done me so quickly. And he used
to live with another producer, you know, and that other
producer would spend so much time on a track and
Madlib would hear through the walls the same song over
and over again, and he would get so like frustrated
and like you know, like sick of hearing the same song,
and so mad libs he just everything is like ten

(46:42):
twenty minutes and then onto the next track, onto the
next track.

Speaker 11 (46:44):
You know.

Speaker 7 (46:45):
So when he brought you Quasimoto, like, yeah, what do you.

Speaker 1 (46:50):
Do with that?

Speaker 2 (46:51):
Well Quasimoto, Yeah, that was like on the back and
that wild Child gave me like a loop pack tape,
you know, and then Quasimoto happened to be on the back.
And then I asked mad Lib about Quasimotive and he's like, oh,
you weren't supposed to hear that, like he was embarrassed
or like. And then I was like, no, I want
to do that, like I love that, like.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
You know, Unseen still one of my favorite.

Speaker 7 (47:10):
No, that's the one. Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
And that was that was the cassette. And the engineer
didn't want to mix it because he didn't want his
name on it.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
You know.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
It's like like I'll lose business if, you know, if
I put my name on this as the engineer. And
there's all that hiss and everything.

Speaker 7 (47:23):
But so what was he what would he what were
they tracking on?

Speaker 2 (47:26):
Like what would they was it there was a task
three D eight like cassette A track, a track, cassette
and a lot of it. Yeah, and then some of
it then he bought a digital board. Some of it
was on a digital board.

Speaker 7 (47:39):
But that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
So all that stuff was if it's on cassette, Like
what do you consider the master tapes? Like this is
just sitting in the master bedroom.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
Yeah, I don't know where those are anymore. He's I mean,
he's got listen, So can.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
You explain to our listeners how Dyla and and MATTLB
eventually began to collaborate, Like was it just that Dyla
stuff was just out there in the first of all?

Speaker 6 (48:13):
Like how does how well I met?

Speaker 2 (48:16):
I met Dyla through how Shoes. I put out my
own record called Peanut Butter Breaks in nineteen ninety four,
and it was a break beat album of all my instrumentals,
and how Shoes worked at a record store and my
number was on the record, so he called it was
my pager, and you know, I hit him back and
he was buying copies of my record for the record
store and he was like, Hey, this guy JD, Like

(48:36):
he likes your record and he makes beats too, and
you know this is before ut. Yeah, it was like
ninety four ninety five, and then when Lupac came out,
JD or Not, JD Shoes was still at that record store, like, yo,
lou Pac, you know my guy JD.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
JD.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
Everything was and he would play full JD songs over
the phone for me and I was like, Okay, that's cool,
but you know, you can't really hear you can only
hear so much of Yeah. But then he one day
while I was still at the distributor, Shoes was like,
I'm sitting on all these unreleased JD remixes because the
major labels asked him to do remixes and then they

(49:16):
never accept them. So you know, it was like Q
Tip was his manager, hooking them up with a lot
of stuff, and so he was like me and j
D want to do a vinyl of this, and we
just want to do a thousand copies and yeah, so
I pressed it. It was green Blue, Yeah, the green one.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
I was about to ask I might have a couple left,
but like if I do, yeah, So what what all
was on it?

Speaker 7 (49:40):
What were the remixes?

Speaker 1 (49:42):
Well?

Speaker 12 (49:42):
There was was there, There was yeah, the angelofect effects,
the master Ace remix, which master the remix sitting on Chroma.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
I never heard that. Yeah, but that that that it's
weird because now he has there's four remixes that WU
are But that one that's on that green vinyl was
that different one from the Sergio Mendez No, no, no,
that's I have a sample.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
Honestly, I like the remixes on that album, but I
didn't none of it really stood out to me other
than the D'Angelo that was me and those Dreaming Eyes.

Speaker 7 (50:30):
That was the one that really went over our question.
I had so how of the all these years, our
question the thing we always wondered, Like when we were
making a Little Brother record, it was like how did
they avoid lawsuits?

Speaker 2 (50:43):
Like just in general, I mean like yeah, yeah, we
always just paid like yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:51):
Which okay, so.

Speaker 8 (50:54):
There.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
Yeah. I gets so frustrated because the version of the
Red that one we're stuck with now. Yeah, because to me,
I don't know that feel. I feel like if Dyla
uses your ship, it brings you holding, like because there's
no artists that Dyla hasn't sampled that I haven't myself

(51:17):
went out purchased their whole history. Yeah, And I was like,
this feels like a red tape situation where just lawyers
are battling, like, how did you guys lose the fight
in on the red Yeah?

Speaker 2 (51:29):
The original Yeah, I mean they so the artist Chris Williamson,
she just she didn't like the lyrical content and that's
kind of basically what it was about.

Speaker 6 (51:41):
And oh, you said the full version to her.

Speaker 2 (51:46):
No, no, it was already out. The record was out.
We didn't we didn't clear it ahead of time. Damn No,
the record was out.

Speaker 6 (51:52):
And she she was like, that's probably the only thing.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
So that had to come off vocal version. But she
was okay with us still, like controlling the master on
the instrumental version, sending it to TV shows and movies
all that. No, no one took it, but I mean
I would I would say she was cool overall. I mean,
you know, compared to like how people can be.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
I guess about that was somebody that was just like that.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
We don't, my god, I just don't want to say
because because there's probably other samples by them that are
in our catalog that I don't even know about her,
you know, I mean a lot of the art, Yeah,
like a lot of the artists that I work with,
I'll tell you, like, when we turned the.

Speaker 7 (52:38):
I just meant it one particular was more right than Yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
I think overall, I think who's the least cool or
the people who never made it?

Speaker 1 (52:49):
Older?

Speaker 2 (52:49):
Yeah, older, the artists who never made it, Like an
artist like Stevie Wonder for example. Okay, like we did
a mad lib, does Stevie Wonders say? And we we
did it as promo only then in Japan, and somebody
bootlegged it on vinyl and they were like selling for
a hundred dollars. And when we saw that, We're like,
we might as well put this out and stuff, and
we did. And then I met Stevie Wonder. The first
time I met him, I was telling him about, you know,

(53:12):
my artist mad Live did a whole album or stuff,
and he was just like, that's so cool, all love
blah blah blah.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
You know. Actually I did a I did a oh yeah,
I did a tribute album to Well we called our
sad lib because we didn't want to.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
Yeah, yeah did you and.

Speaker 11 (53:33):
James we did at way you got a bad Girl girl, Yeah,
you got a bad girl?

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Or no, uh, little girl blue and and visions and
uh yeah, I wanted to be the first meta tribute
to a tribute album.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
That's funny, and we never got to got to put
it out, but yeah, I remember hearing about that, so
so that never came went anywhere.

Speaker 1 (53:57):
I just I just spent it at my DJ game.

Speaker 11 (54:00):
But you guys were playing over the actual Stevie records, right, yeah,
well once we you know, well, what.

Speaker 2 (54:04):
Mad Live did a lot of times was he would
take a whole song and he would filter everything out
so it was just the bassline and you can hear
a little bit, just kind of like the large professal thing.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
Hey, your version of the Meaning of Love is one
of the versions. Oh wait, so was that under your
uh your numb diplom floor.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
Hilaria, that's just Chris Mannic.

Speaker 6 (54:24):
What made you want to do it?

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Just hearing his song? I mean I just love that song, yeah,
the original and then when he heard I mean when
I heard yeah mad Lib's version, I just just mess
around to see if I could do it, okay, yeah,
being a hip hop dj ott.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
All right, there's one loop.

Speaker 6 (54:46):
So before.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
During the Things Fall Apart period, we had like three
or four Dill options to work on before we chose
what what you guys would know is dynamite. But I
was fighting for Dylan had chopped up Steve Kuhon's the
Meaning of Love and he would only loop I know

(55:09):
not when, I know not why, And.

Speaker 9 (55:14):
Like he's done like a hundred beats that, Like I've
never wanted that shit to die.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Like I still have the MP three disc that he
gave me, and I've tried so many times to figure
out ways to you know, is that the.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
Only song Steve Kuon sang on because no, no, for
the entire album, I don't have the album.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
Yeah, Actually, okay, so when I first got my studio,
I'll say, like, uh, when did we start? Like was
it like two thousand and six, Philly? We were working
on game there like two thousand and five. Yeah, so
like all the all the Steve Coon beats I mean
actually just wound up being released by.

Speaker 6 (55:57):
Paul Barman's new album.

Speaker 1 (55:59):
So like a lot of my early throwaway demos somehow,
like you know, twelve years later wind.

Speaker 6 (56:06):
Up born Paul Borman's record.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
But I got to hear that. Yeah, So yeah, but
your your version you should is that the only official
release you've done? Oh?

Speaker 2 (56:17):
What's singing on it.

Speaker 1 (56:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:18):
I did a version of Get Thy Baryons that was
really That one was not good though.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
I remember that. Yeah, Tonaman, just get that?

Speaker 2 (56:24):
Barry Yeah, well yeah is it?

Speaker 1 (56:29):
Is it seven inch?

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Or there was a seven inch yet?

Speaker 1 (56:32):
Okay? I did.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
I did a cover of Bruce Hack also, that one
I liked a little better.

Speaker 6 (56:36):
Okay, can I get that?

Speaker 2 (56:38):
Do you know Bruce Hack?

Speaker 6 (56:41):
No, I'm stop trying to deflect.

Speaker 2 (56:43):
Can I get these they get Thy Bearings?

Speaker 7 (56:46):
No?

Speaker 2 (56:46):
Yeah, you can't get that?

Speaker 1 (56:49):
Was it ever sold?

Speaker 2 (56:50):
Or there was a seven inch of that one?

Speaker 1 (56:52):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (56:53):
So but you know, the music arrangement on it was
like kind of off key with within itself, and I
couldn't figure out how to sing it. And I was like,
I promised these guys I would do it, and then yeah,
it was a mess. I like, I like off key singing.
I mean that, you know, I think like Steve Cohon like,
it wasn't necessarily off key, but it sounded so personal
on that song on the original, and so that's what

(57:14):
made me like want to try to re sing you
know something similar to you have.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
The entire album that that UH was released on is
a classic record. So that, Yeah, got it, You've yet
to hear it? No, I never Yeah, like that's the
least I know that Ron Card is playing based on that,
which explains the more and Mad Live filtered it on right.

Speaker 6 (57:38):
And so he's got Steve Cooon he's what a.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
Jazz he's aye kind of looks like Larry David.

Speaker 1 (57:44):
Yeah, he's like Gary Wilson, Like Gary Wilson wasn't on punishment,
so like I imagine Gary Wilson spent just a lot
of time in his bedroom.

Speaker 6 (57:54):
But yeah, Steve Coohon was like kind of lounge.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
E Yeah, lounge singer exactly.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
Yeah, singer on the Fender Roads and he just somehow
must have had the right monetary situation going on that
all these heavy weights like Harvey Mason's on drums, Ron
Carter is on bass like his his band was. But
the entire album is nothing but like the Meaning of

(58:20):
Love is almost like sloppy. Yeah, the Meaning of Love.
I think it is one of the least samplable songs,
which once I got the record and I realized, like, oh,
how come Dylan always chooses the one that you're going
to least pay attention to.

Speaker 6 (58:34):
Because the other other which what did he use it for?

Speaker 7 (58:37):
What did he use it for?

Speaker 1 (58:39):
It was just a beat that didn't you know, Oh
it wasn't on Like it didn't make it didn't make anything.
But I'm still every roots album. I'm just like all
right now now now is the time. No more I
know not why songs to me, I'm not gonna make it. Yeah.
So wait, speaking of which, I want to know the process,

(58:59):
what was relationship with the brakester Cats, because even way before,
way before the Dad Kings, like Chestra was yeah, trying
to go there or like raw sixty sound and first
of all, like where did they record?

Speaker 2 (59:13):
Were kind of early on it, but I was in
the Bay at that time at that time, so I
didn't really I don't know their history before I got
involved really, but so you just heard it in. But
Miles was like a major major hip hop fan and
he was more like wild Child in the way that
he would go up to artists and like you know,
introduce himself and stuff. And the song Ring Ring Ring
is actually about him because he gave De La Soul

(59:35):
his demo.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
Oh wow, that's what.

Speaker 2 (59:43):
But I guess, yeah, he was really persistent and then
Prince Paul, he asked Prince Paul for Prince Paul's number,
and then Prince Paul gave him. Well, they make up
a reference in the song where they say Piles and
Piles and the Miles because Miles, Wow, what these you learn?

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
Wait a bite?

Speaker 6 (01:00:07):
Did you ever tell pastas and as one?

Speaker 2 (01:00:10):
I think I've I've asked pass about it. Yeah, I
mean Prince Paul told me the story and then Paus
confirmed it. Yeah damn.

Speaker 6 (01:00:16):
But the King she's from Philly. The woman at the
top about that, yeah, yeah, yeah King, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00:25):
Okay, he still has the same number, but they Yeah,
so I guess he asked Prince Paul for Prince Paul's number,
and then Prince Paul gave him one of the other
guy's number as a joke to you know, mess with
the guys and the crew. And then Miles kept calling
the other guy and then they were like upset with
Paul or you know, like so turn into this thing.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
That's the Miles. Wow.

Speaker 11 (01:00:45):
This is like when I found out who old Man
Johnson was in Raspberry Ray. I know, I'm like old
Jesse Jesse Johnson.

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
Damn. All right.

Speaker 7 (01:00:56):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
So we put out that forty five and everyone was
really into it, and that's what I remember. That's how
you reached out to me, Like that was my first
time really talking to you. Was because this break a
store forty five and you're like, how did they get
the sound hit to sound like that? And I remember,
like I was still in the bay at the time,
and you called me to go record shopping with you
and we went to Groove Merchant that was like in
the late nineties.

Speaker 7 (01:01:18):
Yeah, I remember, I don't want that off hip hop side.

Speaker 1 (01:01:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:01:22):
Yeah, I ran the funk out of this shit, man.

Speaker 1 (01:01:24):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:24):
I came with that bonus bone the B side. I
asked for it to start with the drums. We did
an edit just so would purposely start with the drum
break for the DJs, and I talked Miles into doing that.

Speaker 6 (01:01:33):
But yeah, they're talking to me to doing it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
Well, not really not even talk, just I proposed the
idea and he was like, oh yeah, that's a good idea.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Oh okay, So yeah side note that box of records.
I purchased that Groove Merchant. Yeah still that Groove Merchant.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Since the nineties.

Speaker 11 (01:01:51):
Wow, dog, I just like that box in answerdam why
And the thing was the thing is I keep visiting
Groove Merchant and they're like, so, quest, what do you
want us to do about the twelve boxes downstairs?

Speaker 1 (01:02:03):
Ah, damn, I forgot. I forgot.

Speaker 6 (01:02:04):
Okay, I'll take these ring these up, pay for them.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
You don't want to give them an address?

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
And I just and then once I leave, it's just
like I forgot. I don't I think with me the process,
the process of buying records, of buying them in the hunt,
it's probably experienced because even then and there's a hundred
boxes that I'm not opened in.

Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
My My girl like teases me all the time about that.
She's like, it would be one thing if you listen
to your records, like you don't listen to them, you're
always buying more.

Speaker 6 (01:02:34):
Wait, I have that problem too.

Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
You're doing something.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
Then now I'm doing something with them. But this is
the thing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
The thing that you're doing is actually how Boss Bill
got here. At first, I felt like a man, I'm
such a fraud, Like I'm actually paying someone to listen
to my records for me.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
Wait, what are you doing? Well, yeah, what are you
talking about them? But that was about as I'm doing
a Vinyl barye.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
But the thing was when you showed me the office. Yeah,
I saw like five smurfs at like with all this
vine only.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
There's guys going through it and just cleaning it and
putting it in categories. And yeah, we made a discogs
page for it. So so at the stunt Store headquarters,
I'm opening a bar with seven thousand of my records
in it from my personal collection. And basically the concept
is DJs who come to the bar, they have to
use the records that are there. You're not allowed to

(01:03:26):
bring your own records. No computers, oh shit were Yeah,
so fucked that.

Speaker 7 (01:03:32):
No.

Speaker 11 (01:03:32):
I used to DJ at a record store in Brooklyn,
Brooklyn years ago, and I would only play the records
that were in.

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
Store because it made the record store thing exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:03:39):
It made sense.

Speaker 11 (01:03:39):
It's a challenge too, Yeah, that was always a fun thing.
I get there like a half not early start going
through the RAAC scene.

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
What I could play?

Speaker 2 (01:03:46):
Yeah, I love that. Yeah, so people have to come
a little earlier, so maybe you want DJ there, but no.

Speaker 1 (01:03:51):
Okay, no, it's sort of like the Mighty Half Hall.
Like my fear is that that will be my last
scene in Mobile the Blues with den Joe Washington. Yeah, that.

Speaker 7 (01:04:05):
I can't quite hit that note.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
That is my fear. Like I tried practicing on real
wax and it was almost like I was five years old.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
Again, you haven't played with real wax and one I'm
scared too, Like, I don't really have to mix in
this bar. It's like fifty capacity. It's more just a
listening experience and it's got like really good wa speakers
and David well, yeah, mix it, that's the vibe. Let
the songs play out.

Speaker 1 (01:04:32):
Honestly.

Speaker 7 (01:04:33):
Laryly Vaughan was kind of like that too, Like his
mixes wasn't really yeah mixes it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:37):
Yes, yeah. For me.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
I used to everything had to be like mix on
beat and then and then I started learning mixing on
key and on beat and then and now I'm like, yeah,
I like switching it around. I don't. I don't even
mix on beat all the time anymore. I'm just like, Okay,
I've been playing one hundred and two beats permitted for
too long, so I'm going to go into one hundred
and twenty five and just totally break it, you know,

(01:04:59):
change it up. But I notice with Serrato when DJ
is they want to keep it like, yeah, the party
moving the whole time, but then you end up the
same tempo like for two hours or you know.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
I just like to start slowly. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
Usually, yeah, people, that's true. That's that's what people the
gig I did yesterday.

Speaker 1 (01:05:18):
Usually with those type of specialty gigs in which it's
not a dance gig, it's more like I spent it
at a taco spot yep, next door next door to
the studio. It's like a small I didn't know. It's
an alleyway that can fit maybe one hundred people, but

(01:05:41):
they basically just go outside to eat their tacos, and
so I just show up sort of ambush the party.
And I figured, Okay, I'm gonna do my greatest challenge.
I'm gonna see if I can stay in D minor
for the entire four hours. So what's the song in
D minor? Half of James Brown's catalogs and I need

(01:06:03):
to get down? D uh? Any any song in this
key uptown funk, any jamm by Michael Jackson, anything anything
in the k d uh? So, Yeah, I thought I
could go through it because it's a slow torture thing

(01:06:23):
I want to see, like well, it kill like like
Chinese water torture, like some slow process of killing them.
I got a good two and a half hours in
and then finally I gave up. And then I had
to figure out what songs in the key of DVAC
goes to another key in a bridge, And then I
finally figured out mighty mighty uh in the bridge.

Speaker 6 (01:06:45):
Goes to to E flat and then mighty mighty.

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
Once I was in E flat, then I was in
Stevie wonder Lance, and then I did a whole bunch
of flats.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
But yeah, it was but you used the key function
on just like I live by that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:01):
Yeah, do you do Camelot?

Speaker 2 (01:07:03):
That's not always right, it isn't I do Camelot.

Speaker 6 (01:07:07):
But then I got correct camelota instead.

Speaker 1 (01:07:11):
Of like A minor or B minor. It'll give you
a numbers.

Speaker 11 (01:07:14):
It's so it's easy to figure out which songs have
like a complimentary key, because if it's like three A,
you can do anything that's three or three A three B.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
You can go two A or you can go four A.

Speaker 7 (01:07:26):
Okay, gotcha.

Speaker 1 (01:07:27):
But the problem with that is that if you let
the computer decide what the key is, it can throw
it off. So take a song like uh, take a
song like the Jackson's Different kind of Lady on Going Places, Right,

(01:07:47):
But because the intro is a guitar, it's gonna take
those first five notes and think that the entire songs
in that key, when actually they go to a whole
nother key. So it's yeah, I still have to clean up.
I'm sorry we found them. It's just a rabbit hole. No, no,
I just I feel like, uh, I feel like I'll

(01:08:12):
be like cool Hirk because cool Herk even DJ is
like that.

Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
Now, Like why don't people like him? Why don't people
book cool CRUSH's so lame to me, like people aren't
pooking him. Well, I don't know. I never get to
see him in La.

Speaker 6 (01:08:28):
Oh okay, I mean I've been to a few.

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
I went to one thing in La that he was
at and it was poorly promoted and yeah, there was
really not that many people there.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
Like Coolhirk is coming to a party, I DJ, but
I've never like ship. Well, I'll be the change I
want to see then, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
Rich Picnic, Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:08:51):
From your mouth to years.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
No, actually we do. We do like a kind of
a small like festival thing in La. We We're gonna
do it again next year. And I'd like to have
him at it. So what was Hegan's role in the label?
Was he the business in or was yeah he was
the GM. Yeah, he handled all of the business.

Speaker 1 (01:09:13):
Okay, So what was the not the modus operandi, but
what was at least a mission statement for Stone story
to be as far as like what our identity is
at least back then, what was it like we had
to find the the elitist, elite mcs and we're just
going to represent Mmm. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
I think maybe at that time it was so Mad
Lib centric. I was really focused on his career a lot.
Or yeah, maybe that's not Yeah, how did you there's
just so yeah, there's so many albums that could have
come out with him, you know.

Speaker 7 (01:09:53):
Yeah, because that's my question was like how because I
mean his output was crazy, Yeah, you know as an
indie label, how do you stagger?

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
Y'all? Was like the indie no limits, Like how do you.

Speaker 7 (01:10:03):
Decide like the backpack limits? So like with so much
product coming, you know, how do you get all that
product in just such a tight kind of pipeline?

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
Well, Mad Villain and Jalb they were done at the
same time, and we wanted to stagger them. You know,
we didn't want to put two albums out at the
same time. But yeah, that was always a problem.

Speaker 1 (01:10:22):
Do you guys register with R I A as a label?

Speaker 6 (01:10:25):
Do you have to register with r.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
I don't even know what's all right?

Speaker 7 (01:10:36):
Icy all happens?

Speaker 2 (01:10:40):
Yeah, I think, how do we register to be like
considered for Grammys that we've never been None of our
artists have ever been considered.

Speaker 7 (01:10:47):
Remember, yeah, well no, that's nervous, but like, all right,
the Recording Industry Associated America, that's who gives you the certification.

Speaker 2 (01:10:56):
But he was asking about the ground and that's just
become a member. Why I asked, So now you just
asked Jimmy jam Yeah, oh yeah, I could ask him.

Speaker 1 (01:11:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:11:08):
Why is he back the president again?

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
Well?

Speaker 6 (01:11:10):
No, I mean, but he's sort of the involved.

Speaker 1 (01:11:12):
I feel like he's definitely the Ronald McDonald of the
I feel like they used him disorder. He's the mascot
whenever we bitch or have a problem, everyone just goes.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
Remember the Grammys, they had Dame Funk as the poster
of the Grammys, Like the posters are all over the place.
But he's never been nominated, but they wanted his face
for it. You know, it's like, yeah, it's.

Speaker 7 (01:11:36):
Well, give me a nomination, Mayor Hawthorne, Mayor Hawthorn.

Speaker 1 (01:11:42):
So how was it?

Speaker 7 (01:11:43):
How did you.

Speaker 2 (01:11:46):
So, Mayor Hawthorn.

Speaker 8 (01:11:49):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (01:11:49):
This girl know well that is in this group fits
in the tantorms. She she was at do over and
I was d Jaye and she brought the demo of
Mayer and it was basically, yeah, just like two songs. Well,
it was confusing because there were some re edits that
he did as a DJ as DJ haircut, and then

(01:12:10):
there were some songs that were also that were full
songs that he made, you know, from scratch. And so
when I first heard it, I thought it was re edit.
It's like the just ain't gonna work out.

Speaker 1 (01:12:21):
I thought that.

Speaker 2 (01:12:22):
Yeah. I was like, oh, that's probably a re edit
of an old funk song or something. And then when
I found out that he was a singer on it,
I was like, oh, we got you know, I want
to work with you. Yeah, let's let's do this. And yeah,
I don't know that was it?

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
We all did it? Does it? Because he did?

Speaker 7 (01:12:39):
It was the first two albums those were those were
the Stone Store, right, the first one, the.

Speaker 2 (01:12:43):
First album was Stone's Throw and verse Yeah, yeah, what Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:12:50):
The strange arrangement was stone stone Throw. The second how
do you do that?

Speaker 1 (01:12:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:12:56):
Yeah that was that was a Stone's Throw.

Speaker 6 (01:12:59):
So we shit, I never knew. I thought all of
his output were stones.

Speaker 2 (01:13:02):
No, we worked we worked something out with Universal and yeah,
they took care of us, and they took care of
his career, you know, for a while.

Speaker 7 (01:13:10):
And then yeah, and so now the tuxedo stuff is
that you guys, are you doing that? Then?

Speaker 2 (01:13:15):
He yeah, then he came to us with the tuxedo Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:13:19):
Yeah, how have you handled has it been have you
received pressure, I guess to sell out so to speak?
Like has it been majors wanting to buy you guys
or absorb you into they system?

Speaker 2 (01:13:31):
We kind of we kind of peacefully coexist majors, don't.
They don't mess with us at all. Really, I mean
sometimes like with No Worries, like you know, and we
put out I discovered Anderson Pack at a nightclub that
was like you know, fifty people or something, and put
out the No Worries thing and then dre heard that

(01:13:54):
and he signed them, you know, to for his solo
material and stuff. So Anderson's kind of on both labels.
I guess, yeah, it gets to do underground stuff with us,
and you know, but I yeah, I don't think.

Speaker 8 (01:14:08):
Damn, how do you even determine which is what? That's
an interesting partnership though, because you say he does underground stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:14:12):
With y'all, but like, yeah, I mean yeah, I mean
I guess there's different levels of underground too, right, Yeah,
so it's not necessarily but the yeah, the thing that
we have with him is specifically him and knowledge, and
it's kind of a little more soulful musically, I guess,
But I mean, well, yeah, even his own personal the
Anderson Pack stuff is all over the place too, like yeah,

(01:14:35):
stuff with Kate Tronada and then he has trap beats,
and you.

Speaker 1 (01:14:38):
Know, I would think that, you know, at least in
the case of Raucus, like Wendy Gold seems just like, yeah,
let's just purchase walks and then with Walkers you at
least get in the house an r R and you
can operate in your own. So no label, no major
labels ever came to you just said.

Speaker 2 (01:14:56):
Yeah, you know, actually MCA back when they had first
signed JD, I think around yeah, yeah, they came to
us back then, and it wasn't really like that interesting
to me. Racus actually came to to me like in
those early days as well, and flew me out and
winding me and stuff. But then I was like, I

(01:15:17):
don't know if I want to be numbered. You know,
it's the second priority to them.

Speaker 1 (01:15:20):
And do you find it necessary to quote take it
to the next level or for you? Is there a
joy in being sort of like the the.

Speaker 2 (01:15:32):
Under the nice I don't con see you on the
dog though, Yeah, I mean I just just like I'm just.

Speaker 1 (01:15:40):
Without without getting to the business end of it. Is
there a way to really make a good living in
the shallow end of the pool?

Speaker 7 (01:15:50):
It? Man got a new mad book right now?

Speaker 2 (01:15:55):
I have like two careers. I have the DJ thing
that I still you know, draw money from in the
knife stone throw so and which which is good? Because
I would get bored if I was just doing one.
I mean, you do like several things, you know, you
know how that goes well?

Speaker 1 (01:16:11):
Yeah, because you know it ain't nothing going on but
the mortgage mortgage. I think you can do it. I
think as possible to do it. You just have to.

Speaker 7 (01:16:18):
You have to set your standard of living in a
way that allows you to do it like you can't you.

Speaker 8 (01:16:23):
Mean being an artist, are actually being an owner of it?

Speaker 1 (01:16:25):
I mean I think both.

Speaker 7 (01:16:27):
I think pretty much most artists now are kind of
running their own show, and I think there's not too
many stone throws that are really giving you a chance.

Speaker 1 (01:16:36):
To do that.

Speaker 7 (01:16:37):
So pretty much now everybody's just kind of it's the
wild wild West.

Speaker 1 (01:16:40):
Everybodys kind of running their own shop. So say, like
an artist, like she's doing an archives and who she's
an artist on stewing s throw Okay, so same, she
gets lucky enough to get good placement, yes, or you know,
Gray's Anatomy or Insecure And then you know, usually in
that situation, uh all the streaming services including Pandora, uh

(01:17:02):
you know, they start seeing uh light and their shows
are different the population, you know, the popularity glows and
every grows and glow. Well, what I'm saying is damn question.
Well not even a major label coming and swoop them up.

(01:17:22):
But for you, is that an idea situation like.

Speaker 2 (01:17:26):
Oh yeah, no, we always like shop our artists to
you know, the TV shows and Secure and all that, okay,
and yeah, they do have success on it I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:17:36):
But I mean, can it ever be a situation which
an artist gets so popular that it almost goes I
know that people don't physically, they don't buy.

Speaker 2 (01:17:46):
As yeah, they're not going to buy more vinyl necessarily,
but yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:17:50):
It is it ever problematic for you? Do you ever
envision like a date where just like, okay, well.

Speaker 2 (01:17:57):
Is it ever a problem if an artist does well? Yes,
thank you?

Speaker 1 (01:18:02):
It's bad for your brand.

Speaker 6 (01:18:03):
If an artist does well.

Speaker 2 (01:18:04):
The brand okay, I was thinking even more.

Speaker 7 (01:18:07):
I don't like how back in how like First Groove,
how they say like if you have a.

Speaker 2 (01:18:10):
Hit record that the only thing that's bad for the
brand for me is if I put out something that's
whack and you know, the whack is just whack to me.

Speaker 1 (01:18:19):
I guess.

Speaker 2 (01:18:21):
Wu Tang Clan went platinum, Tribe went platinum, you know,
making music that I love and the roots I think, yeah, yeah,
there you go the roots.

Speaker 7 (01:18:32):
Is Matt Villain still the biggest selling record in y'all?

Speaker 2 (01:18:37):
I don't even know. Yeah, maybe Donuts or Mad Villain,
I don't know.

Speaker 6 (01:18:41):
So you seriously don't register.

Speaker 1 (01:18:43):
What are I to know if your stuff is going
golden platinum or any of those things.

Speaker 2 (01:18:49):
That's a question for Laguire, I can call them.

Speaker 1 (01:18:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:18:56):
I mean, I know I'm sounding like an irresponsible business
business right now, but it's like, yeah, just the creative
I do, and yeah, the business my guys do, and
I trust them kind of.

Speaker 1 (01:19:10):
So where you are now?

Speaker 2 (01:19:12):
So now I trust them a lot. I'm saying like
kind of like that's their role and that's kind of
my role.

Speaker 1 (01:19:16):
So where you stand now with the label, which I
actually love the direction that it's going in because you know,
like I love electro funking, was it hard stepping away
from the kind of the dusty, dirty, dingy sample base
reputation that you guys once had and now like I
feel like the DMX drum machine is the new calling

(01:19:40):
card and synthesizers and yet like the sound.

Speaker 2 (01:19:43):
Of boogie and then we have some of that for sure.
But yeah, I mean, if you listen to the like
maybe five or six of the new artists are, they're
all different and that's kind of what makes it hard
for our identity. But I think we reach like eclectic
people who understand that they're not only listening to one thing,

(01:20:04):
like for example, Tyler the creator stone Throw found but
not because of the hip hop, Like he found out
about our hip hop later, Like he liked us because
of James Pants and John T and Chrome Canyon and
you know, Mild High Club. He's going in the studio
with my High Club today.

Speaker 7 (01:20:22):
So man, what's the word on Jerry Paper?

Speaker 2 (01:20:26):
Jerry Paper is my man, that's that's the sound.

Speaker 7 (01:20:29):
That's the joint, that's my fucking record. Yeah yeah, how
did where did you find him?

Speaker 1 (01:20:34):
Met?

Speaker 2 (01:20:35):
Like he found us, He found us through Mild High Club.
And what was weird to me when I found out
was his older brother is a DJ that I DJed
with many times. We've shared a magazine to cover together,
this guy, DJ Spider, But he's more in the kind
of Hollywood kind of like the Vegas scene. You know

(01:20:57):
that you see the Vegas billboards and yeah, Jerry Papers
like totally different from that.

Speaker 7 (01:21:02):
But you know, okay, god, yeah, I love I love
that record.

Speaker 2 (01:21:06):
Dope well bad bad, not good. Did the music on
that with him? So yeah, yeah, but that that's kind
of the Gary Wilson vibe, like kind of like kind
of lounge vocals. I think, you know, he explained to.

Speaker 1 (01:21:19):
Me how you found Gary Wilson, Like from Gary.

Speaker 2 (01:21:23):
Wilson, I know, I know. I found out about him
through this guy who worked at Other Music, and he
was like, I, you know, I know what you're in.
Do I think you're going to really love this? And
usually when people say that their way off. But with Gary,
that was like, you know that? Like I basically went
in and bought like every copy. Like I found out
there was a warehouse in Philly that was sitting on

(01:21:45):
the red version of You Think You Really Know Me?
And I bought as many as I could afford at
the time and gave him out to all my friends.

Speaker 1 (01:21:51):
Our Spottle on South Street, Steve, Philadelphia Record Exchange.

Speaker 2 (01:21:54):
Yeah, yeah, does that still exist now?

Speaker 1 (01:21:56):
That's gone? Yeah?

Speaker 9 (01:21:57):
And other music's gone too.

Speaker 2 (01:22:00):
It's gone. They're doing a documentary on them right now.

Speaker 1 (01:22:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:22:03):
Do you sorry for cutting in?

Speaker 9 (01:22:05):
Do you have like a jazz division at Stone's Throw
or or do you put out any like besides?

Speaker 2 (01:22:12):
But we don't have a division. I mean Keefer's stuff
is kind of you know jazz.

Speaker 1 (01:22:16):
I guess Keefer.

Speaker 2 (01:22:20):
Keeper Sorry, Keeper is in Mind Design's band, and you're
gonna go Mind Design, But I know, I know mind
She did archives. Now, a lot of these guys yeah,
they're just getting their start. But Keeper he's a piano player,
and I mean most of it's like he's well, one
man band style, but then he has a band for live.

(01:22:42):
But he started in mind Designs group. It was another
younger artist. But yeah, most of our roster these days
are like in the early early twenties.

Speaker 7 (01:22:50):
Man, one big question I think we haven't asked, how
did you get your name?

Speaker 1 (01:22:55):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:22:55):
Oh, Man, such a boring story. Stone s or peanut,
but both stories are born No peanut butter Wolf. Yeah,
it's just I never tell it well, so I don't
want to tell it.

Speaker 9 (01:23:12):
Oh does it have anything to do with peanut, butter
or wolf?

Speaker 2 (01:23:16):
I always have a different Yeah, different story for us.

Speaker 7 (01:23:19):
What's today's story?

Speaker 2 (01:23:20):
Today's story? So my girlfriend at the time, we were
like nineteen or something, and her brother was like six
years old, and we were playing candy Land with him
and we turned the lights off and started scaring him,
and he said, turn the lights back on. The peanut
butter Wolve's gonna get me.

Speaker 1 (01:23:38):
And we were like.

Speaker 8 (01:23:41):
What.

Speaker 2 (01:23:43):
And this kid was super eccentric and he made a
whole book about a wolf that was killing chickens and
the farmer went and cast a spell on the wolf
and turned him into a giant glob of peanut butter.
So I still have the book that the kid made,
like wow. And I then I started a punk group

(01:24:04):
with my friends and it was everything was all freestyled
and I just say punk out of because it was
just like, you can't really say what kind of mean is.
I don't know what it was, but we were always
singing about this peanut butter Wolf in the band and
I was showing charisma and he was like, that should
be your DJ name, and we were always trying to
be weird. And you know, this was like early nineties
when everyone was because my name before that was Chris

(01:24:27):
Cutt and that was like just old school, just simple
and rock ski. Yeah, so Peanut Butter Wolf was a
lot more eccentric, but I didn't think about it when
I was nineteen that like when I was forty eight,
I would have to still be called peanut Butter Wolf.

Speaker 1 (01:24:41):
Yo. Man, I think what should come next is children's records,
Like you gotta grow your own crops because like a
lot of fans of Stones Throw, you know, they have kids.

Speaker 2 (01:24:54):
I love Black did a children's record, like right when
we first signed him, and I wanted to do something
with that. I didn't know. I didn't know the industry,
so but we're sitting on that.

Speaker 7 (01:25:03):
Yeah, I forgot Yeah he Stones Yeah, yeah the first.

Speaker 2 (01:25:09):
Yeah, so his first album with Stone so I was
really kind of like future soul like Giles Peterson, you know,
like and then and then Mayor Hawthorne did well with
the retro sound and all was like I can do that,
and Allo like did I need a dollar?

Speaker 1 (01:25:24):
You know?

Speaker 2 (01:25:24):
He went in with the band and yeah, that did
really well for him.

Speaker 1 (01:25:27):
Ye.

Speaker 8 (01:25:28):
I placed in a lot of like commercials and stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:25:30):
Yeah, it was a theme for yeah America.

Speaker 2 (01:25:33):
But he was really huge in Europe, like he was,
you know, playing festivals like really good time slots for
like I don't know, fifty thousand people or something. And
then in the US he still was kind of unknown
because his money offers were so good in Europe. He's like,
I don't really need to like do US shows or
he Yeah, he just didn't have the demand here.

Speaker 8 (01:25:53):
He'd only stone throw artists to head to the White House.

Speaker 2 (01:25:57):
Uh, Snoop, I don't know, there's there's there there's yeah,
maybe though, I mean Snoop did a Snoop did one
record stones throw Artist, But where did that name come from?
The stone Snoop Dogg. Stone's throw was my mom was

(01:26:18):
my I was asking my mom how to get somewhere
and she's like, oh, that's just a Stone's throw away.
And I was with Charisma at the time when she
said that, and we were kind of making fun of
her and you know, doing the mom joke thing. And
when I came up with doing a label to put
out Christmas music, I was like, I need the name
to have some some like inner thing, like an inside

(01:26:38):
joke between me and Christmas.

Speaker 1 (01:26:39):
So that was it. Wow. So how many projects do
you think you can personally handle at least are you
capable of handling.

Speaker 2 (01:26:52):
The label at a time. I mean, I have the
infrastructure to probably do an album every other month or something,
you know, But I mean there's yeah, it really depends
if it's an artist where they really are gonna promote
themselves as well, and that you know, they they wanted
to do well and they need more attention from us

(01:27:13):
than those ones. It kind of works out because we
really like maybe do like four albums a year of
like artists that are really get behind their own stuff
and it's not a passion projector is.

Speaker 1 (01:27:27):
It harder for in this era to deal with streaming
and distribution and.

Speaker 2 (01:27:34):
Yeah, and I think that's why the Yeah, the label's bigger.
We have people for each one of those things now.
But yeah, I don't have to deal with that stuff
so much.

Speaker 1 (01:27:44):
What are your projections for the future, Like where do
you want to see the label go? And well, wait,
you guys have offices and yeah, world, so.

Speaker 2 (01:27:55):
Yeah, it's it's just really like I just want to
keep having the ability to find stuff that I like.

Speaker 1 (01:28:02):
And how do you approach stuff that you like? Are
you always on YouTube looking for like how does work
get to you.

Speaker 2 (01:28:08):
About I do the YouTube thing and sound cloud?

Speaker 6 (01:28:12):
Or are people just now coming to you like yo,
check the ship or check out my.

Speaker 2 (01:28:15):
Home Now there's a lot of that too, and even
just going to shows. I mean, I'm kind of on
the front lines as a DJ still, but like, yeah,
people slide into my d ms with their music or
go down indeed, yeah they'll tag me like oh the
Peanut butter Wolf listen.

Speaker 1 (01:28:30):
To this, but you actually listen to it? Well, well no, but.

Speaker 2 (01:28:37):
Yeah there is stuff like yeah, I mean I yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:28:40):
Stuff reached the finish line like a guy like DJ Harrison.
I knew because of Yale and Fante, but like, how
is it? God?

Speaker 2 (01:28:47):
I don't remember how I found him. But yeah, everyone,
every artist has its own story. I think it's different.

Speaker 7 (01:28:55):
What's going on with mad Live because I noticed that
they did when him and Freddie did the Pinata album. Yeah,
they did themselves. He still work with you, Like, what's
y'all's relationship now?

Speaker 2 (01:29:05):
Yeah, well Mad Live. I mean it's kind of a
long story, but basically, I know I need to put
money on my meter. By the way, where are we at?

Speaker 10 (01:29:17):
Give me some money, some red bottoms my credit card?

Speaker 2 (01:29:29):
Well, mad yes, with mad Live like Egon, and you know,
he used to run my label and things weren't creatively
working out between Egon and I, and I had to
let Egon go, and he basically took Mad Live with him.
So he gave Madlib his own deal, his own label,
and so mad Live stuff theoretically comes out on that.
You know, he still does some stuff for us. He

(01:29:52):
he did something well when we did our movie, he
did the he scored the movie and did the soundtrack
for that, and so you know, it's still like a
loving relationship, but you know, Egne's more involved in that.

Speaker 6 (01:30:05):
Yeah, I'm sorry, I had Oh yeah, I thought I
was about to sneeze.

Speaker 1 (01:30:14):
Continue to continue about to sneeze.

Speaker 2 (01:30:16):
Do you do you look at the sun to sneeze
or no? Yeah, oh the light? You just look because
I read the ten percent of humans can do that?

Speaker 1 (01:30:24):
Or no, I just I you know, I hold my
nose and pray that doesn't spray on any of you guys.
So future wise, what do you.

Speaker 9 (01:30:37):
It sounds like you said every everybody's mostly in their
early twenties, so it sounds like you're set up for
a minute a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:30:44):
Yeah, not future wise, I just meant like the artists
that you know you have your eyes on and that
sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (01:30:50):
Yeah, I mean there are people that I have my
eyes on. What about I think I'll mention them until
I signed the.

Speaker 1 (01:30:57):
Until you sign them, okay?

Speaker 2 (01:30:58):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (01:30:59):
As far as like, also you bringing back a lot
of our old favorites, like you working with Steve Arrington
and right?

Speaker 6 (01:31:05):
And is profit?

Speaker 2 (01:31:07):
Is he old or new profit? So profit is?

Speaker 6 (01:31:11):
I feel like he's an old soul that I just
yeah know.

Speaker 2 (01:31:13):
He's like I think he's maybe in his sixties. He
did an album in nineteen eighty four that I discovered
in the early two thousands, and I guess like in
the early eighties that was like when I was buying
the most records, well, when I started really buying a
lot of records, and I didn't know about that one
until the two thousands. But when I heard it, I

(01:31:33):
really was into it. And on the record it just
said profit. It didn't. He didn't have his real name,
so I had no way to get a hold of him,
and I would always talk about him in interviews and
then he got a hold of me.

Speaker 1 (01:31:44):
Is he from the Bay Area?

Speaker 2 (01:31:45):
He's from the Bay Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:31:47):
Was it a black and white album?

Speaker 1 (01:31:48):
It is? Yeah, dog Yeah, Okay have you heard that? Well,
my last trip to.

Speaker 2 (01:31:55):
The record store groove Merchant because he always had copies
of it.

Speaker 1 (01:31:59):
Dog. I think that's the most ever paid for a
record of an artist I'd never heard of in my life.

Speaker 2 (01:32:04):
How much it was just one of those artists that's
worth it. Yeah, they actually bought one, a groove Merchant
for six dollars. Like that's when I found it, like
in the early two thousand. I'm like, he must have
like miss priced a few.

Speaker 1 (01:32:15):
More zeros than that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Like I was like,
I don't know, the guy's like a mere trust me,
like I know, like how much you want historical?

Speaker 2 (01:32:22):
Like yeah, it's like print sounded like just it's synth funk,
but like it's really out there.

Speaker 6 (01:32:28):
Yeah that's profit okay, Yeah, you resigned them.

Speaker 2 (01:32:31):
So we did an album with him and my design
like this year.

Speaker 11 (01:32:35):
All right, well you know we think you wait, I
have one that's a good Yeah. Have we heard the
last of Hilario?

Speaker 1 (01:32:43):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:32:43):
I think so. I don't know. I haven't seen him
in a while. We fell out, you fell homie, man,
we have the picture what they do may Little John
and Diplo yep.

Speaker 6 (01:33:05):
Wait and it sounds like a premise to a good joke.

Speaker 8 (01:33:08):
It was.

Speaker 2 (01:33:08):
It was Little John yeah and and yeah. So Diplo
hit me up and he's like, hey, I'm coming to
your stone Store party and I'm going to bring Little John.
You know, I want to introduce some deal.

Speaker 1 (01:33:18):
And I'm like, oh cool.

Speaker 2 (01:33:20):
But I didn't tell him that that I wasn't there,
that it was Filario. So it was yeah hard yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:33:28):
Wait, actually, speaking of the one one one last, last, last,
last question.

Speaker 2 (01:33:31):
And I have one follow up off, okay, I have
one as long as we end with profit, like we
can keep going and then back to profit and then
that's the end.

Speaker 1 (01:33:39):
No, for your DJ gigs, you using video technology, yeah,
to spend How long does it take you to find
pristine prime copies?

Speaker 2 (01:33:53):
I don't. I don't go for well, I mean, I
at least the ones I've seen you spend there. You're right,
You're right, there is a lot of it that is is.
But some of it I'll swap the audio out and
some of it I'll leave as is.

Speaker 1 (01:34:04):
That's what I was going to ask, like, do you
because one of those Michael Jackson gigs you did?

Speaker 6 (01:34:09):
I was like, whoa happy find such a clean copy
of this?

Speaker 5 (01:34:11):
Right?

Speaker 1 (01:34:12):
Yeah? That was like some so you'll just that designated
day to I added pristine audio on top of the
video clip.

Speaker 2 (01:34:20):
I mean, one of the guys I work with like
helps me with that because I don't. I wouldn't even
I don't know technology anymore.

Speaker 1 (01:34:26):
I see. Okay.

Speaker 11 (01:34:28):
My last question has to do with the twelve hour
DJ set. Yes, would you ever do that again?

Speaker 1 (01:34:33):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:34:34):
But I think if I did it again, maybe I
would like put more effort into like planning it ahead
of time. Like the whole thing with it was it
was just an idea, Like it was December twelfth, twenty twelve,
I want to do something for twelve, twelve twelve, and
I was like, I'll do twelve hours of djay and
and then I had all this other stuff going on
and I didn't really plan it, and then my dream,

(01:34:55):
what's that doing a twelve hour set?

Speaker 1 (01:34:57):
Hell? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:34:58):
And this was where was the it at my vinyl bar?
So where we Where was this? I just did in
my bedroom and but it was it was for boiler room.

Speaker 1 (01:35:13):
On this but.

Speaker 2 (01:35:16):
Yes you can, it's fine, It's fine, So it's for
boiler room. And I was kind of bored after the
first few hours. And then I was like, I asked
all my friends to like pick records out of out
of my room, and then they were just picking the
things they were familiar with, and that was like what
I realized, like I should have probably just done it
all on my own, because I wanted to share stuff
that people didn't know, and it turned into something else.

Speaker 7 (01:35:38):
But it was fun though, Yeah, you played a record
I bought you. I can see the cover. It was
a peanut butter Wolf and it was just like a
DJ thing you did, but you had a record on it. Uh,
let love be your magic carpet.

Speaker 1 (01:35:49):
Oh, I love that one. I love that.

Speaker 2 (01:35:50):
Yeah, that's a great song.

Speaker 1 (01:35:52):
It was so dope.

Speaker 2 (01:35:53):
Michael White. Michael White, Yeah that was what was Yeah, yeah, yeah,
well okay, profit profit Yeah, we love profit.

Speaker 1 (01:36:01):
We love profit. Now, thank you very much for coming
on the show.

Speaker 6 (01:36:04):
Christy, Thank you for having me back.

Speaker 9 (01:36:08):
Congratulations on a great label.

Speaker 7 (01:36:11):
Man, No for real for you to make it, have
been making it a long yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:36:15):
I mean just I'm just happy. Yeah, it's still like
enjoying it. You know, like if I was doing something
that I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it anymore.
So I'm glad that I still like to do it.

Speaker 1 (01:36:27):
It's relies and passion, all right, Ladies and gentlemen. On
behalf of Team Supreme, Boston Bill on Paid, Bill Fontigolo.
It's Laia and Sugar Steve of the Sugar.

Speaker 9 (01:36:38):
Steve Network, founder of this and curator and ed.

Speaker 1 (01:36:43):
Ya. My name is cost Love and this is Costler Supreme.
We will see you on the next go round. Thank
you very much. Quests Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

(01:37:04):
This classic episode was produced by the team at Pandora.
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