Peanut Butter Wolf - Knowledge I'm Servin Feat. Deshee (1990

Not so sure about anything with these songs except for the fact that I made them while living with my mom in the early 90’s and almost all were recorded with the rappers rapping through headphones plugged straight into the DJ mixer. My original idea with this comp was to put stuff I did throughout the 90’s in honor of the 999 shows I’m doing, but I just discovered SO MANY songs from this 3-year period that I made that the focus. I didn’t use compression on anyone’s voice nor did I know what that was back then. That’s why the vocals are all over the place. Most songs didn’t have effects on the voices either. A lot of adding loops on top of other loops live, which made it sloppy.

At this point in my “rap music career”, my goal was to make a “Marley Mahl In Control Of Things” type comp with all the rappers in San Jose I was meeting at the time. My situation was a lot different than Marley’s though, mainly because he established a crew of rappers that all worked together (before Wutang) and most of the rappers I worked with never even met each other.

The fact that I put out a record with Lyrical Prophecy (Quiz One and Deshee) in 1989, made it easy for me to find MCs to record in San Jose. I was known as the “kid with the record out”, even though it didn’t really sell. I was also the only kid with a sampler besides King Shameek, but Shameek moved to New York. None of these “songs” were really finished and definitely none were polished. They were all rough draft versions with the intention of going into a proper studio to re-record. The only rappers I really finished songs with and took to the studio back then were Quiz One and Charizma, but none of those songs are on here.

I think at that time, if I made a beat that a rapper liked and he had lyrics, I’d record him over it to hear what it sounded like. Some of the beats were chosen by more than one group or artist, and I’d try different guys over the same track. My idea to do this comp back in 1990 quickly got scrapped as I found myself working with Charizma more than anyone else and decided that he was the one I worked best with. We both had that slightly warped sense of humor. Plus, we both liked the Whirlwind pinball machine, so that sealed the deal.

1. A Day In Your Life feat. Charizma (1990)
2. Knowledge I'm Servin feat. Deshee (1990)
3. Catch The Beat (1990)
4. The 7th Sign feat. N.O.T.U. (1991)
5. Raquel feat. Charizma (1991)
6. Jamboree (1990)
7. Score The Medaphore feat. Quiz One (1991)
8. Original feat. Peace Maker (1990)
9. Rebel Within feat. MC Twan (1990)
10. Move feat. Charizma (1990)
11. Brother Brother Brother (1990)
12. Death In The Premises feat. Deshee (1991)
13. No Time For Frontin feat. Charizma (1991)
14. Full Beat (1991)
15. Jane & Jim feat. Raised By Suess (1990)
16. On the Square feat. N.O.T.U. (1991)
17. It's Charizma feat. Charizma (1990)
18. Lyrical Calisthenics feat. double duce & Kid Krush (1990)
19. Live & Direct feat. Peace Maker (1990)
20. Peanut Butter Wolf Scratch feat. Charizma (1992)

Minimal Wave: both a genre of underground DIY electronic music from North America and Europe in the late 1970s and 80s, and the name of the label devoted to unearthing these recordings. The Minimal Wave Tapes is the first official anthology (on CD, LP and digital) of Minimal Wave music from this label. Most of the songs were originally released on limited edition cassettes or vinyl by the artists themselves, and only a handful of people knew about them. They’ve been remastered from their analog source tapes and compiled here by Minimal Wave's Veronica Vasicka and Stones Throw's Peanut Butter Wolf.

The Minimal Wave musical genre was hallmarked by the use of the analog synths and drum machines manufactured in the 70s and 80s, and characterized by simple music structures made by musicians working in the early D.I.Y. asthetic: recording on tape in their home studios, creating their own album artwork, and often collaborating via postage mail. The fanzine CLEM (Contact List Of Electronic Musicians) was very influential in creating a worldwide community for this sort of music, before digital technology and the internet came into play.

Minimal Wave the label was founded in New York City in 2005 by Veronika Vasicka, who focused the label solely on obscure Minimal Wave recordings, remastering and releasing them on limited vinyl and digital.

The Minimal Waves Tapes fits neatly into Stones Throw Records' own tradition of compiling or reissuing the independent music of the past which influences the independent music we make today - 60s funk (The Funky 16 Corners), early 80s hip-hop (The Third Unheard) and West Coast Electro/Rap (Arabian Prince's Innovative Life) to name a few.

The Minimal Wave Tapes
Track List:
1. “Way Out Of Living” Linear Movement
2. “Flying Turns” Crash Course In Science
3. “Radiance” Oppenheimer Analysis
4. “Who's Really Listening” Mark Lane
5. “Tempusfugit” Tara Cross
6. “Blurred” Turquoise Days
7. “Mickey, Please...” Bene Gesserit
8. “Moscú Está Helado” Esplendor Geometrico
9. “Reassurance Ritual” Das Ding
10. “Just Because” Martin Dupont
11. “Game & Performance” Deux
12. “Things I Was Due To Forget” Somnambulist
13. “My Time” Ohama
14. “The Cabinet” Das Kabinette