Where were you in 1998? It feels kinda funny to look back at Peanut Butter Wolf's My Vinyl Weighs A Ton more than 10 years on. Does the dude even need to produce music anymore? He runs one of the most forward leaning hip hop labels in the world, has launched numerous careers and continues to dj and rock parties like nobody's business. You can look at this record as a snapshot of where the West Coast scene was at the turn of the millennium. Turntablism, "underground" MCs and beats wearing their Golden Era influence proudly on their sleeves. It's packed with a ton of MCs that, depending on your age and where you're from, you've probably never heard of. I mean, what the hell are Planet Asia and Rasco up to these days? Regardless of all that they had fresh flows, from the Lootpack featuring "Styles Crews Flows Beats" to the Charizma resurrecting "Keep On Rockin It". Some of my favorite cuts off of this are the instrumental ones though. Babu's cuts on "Casio" are just sick as are the beats. And of course there is the ultimate turntablist posse cut, "Tale Of Five Cities"! Dudes from the Allies, X-Men, Beat Junkies, Skratch Piklz and the Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters?!?! Oh and some guy named Cut Chemist, too. Being the aspiring scratch nerd that I was these were and still are the standout tracks for me. Anyway, your copy of this is probably burned out and the cover is water damaged. Time to refresh the wax!

• black double vinyl pressing
• music label: Stones Throw 2001

reviewed by the mgmnt 10/2005