Peanut Butter Wolf

Peanut Butter Wolf got his start in the early 90s as the DJ/producer for Charizma in San Jose, CA until December 1993 when Charizma lost his life at the age of 20. After taking a break from music, Wolf eventually started Stones Throw Records in 1996. Charizma’s posthumous “My World Premiere” was the single that launched the label. These days, PB Wolf is busy building the Stones Throw label and traveling as a DJ/VJ.

James Gardin has used his music to fuel dance floors, radiowaves, and varied social causes. But before opening for national acts (Macklemore, Grieves, Danny Brown, The Flobots, Ludacris, Ehlzi, Cool Kids), teaching music to children in South Africa and using his lyrics to champion cultural unity and HIV/AIDS awareness, Gardin had to learn to create for himself. James “P.H.I.L.T.H.Y.” Gardin was born in Germany to two parents in the Army before moving to Arizona at four years old, and settling into Lansing, Mich. at ten years old. He got involved with music early through singing in the church choir, guitar lessons from a mentor, and his first raps as part of an anti-drug song competition at Bella Vista Elementary in Sierra Vista, Arizona. After failing a fifth grade test to play violin at school, he took matters into his own hands and dug into books to learn how to play sheet music. “I didn’t understand music in their systematic way, but today, I don’t approach music with rules set to it anyway,” James remembers. “I’m glad I learned it for myself.”

Ozay Moore Is an Emcee, Producer, Recording Artist and Educator. As a transplant to the midwest, Ozay is not only active as an artist but in community development through his organization “All Of The Above” Hip Hop Academy.