Peanut Butter Wolf - My Vinyl Weighs a Ton

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat

Bay Area maestro Peanut Butter Wolf's 24-track full length features some of the West's best talent of the day. Low key rappers such as Planet Asia, Lootpack and Rasco make appearances, showing that hip-hop is yet again moving west and that independent is better than mainstream in '99.

Wolf, responsible for the complete beatage throughout the LP, gets turntablist aid from renowned DJs such as the Invisibl Skratch Picklz, Kid Koala, Rob Swift, Cut-Chemist, Beat Junkies and even Arizona's own Z-Trip.

The main strength of My Vinyl Weighs a Ton is the constant attention paid to the beats and cuts. Tracks such as "Styles Crew Flow Beats" showcase this to the Nth degree. One vocalist of interest is Zest, who sounds like the kid in your math class with jam jar glasses.

The stand alone vocal tracks of the album are Planet Asia's, Lootpacks's and Zest's appearances, whereas the instrumental breakthrough is "Tale of Five Cities," the ultimate DJ megamix featuring every cracking turntablist out there.

- james casey