A huge “South Bay Urban Block Party” is set for April 22 at 7th and Martha in downtown San Jose. Exact details have yet to officially be released, but headliners are expected to include local hip-hop legend Peanut Butter Wolf, as well as Planet Asia, Zion I, Locksmith and Sahtyre.
Peanut Butter Wolf (aka Chris Manak) is of course San Jose’s most famous hip-hop export. He got his start pause-mixing here in the early ’90s, and more or less brought the groundbreaking Ensoniq Performance Sampler (EPS) technology to the South Bay underground. He and his rapping partner, Milpitas’ Charles Hicks (MC Charizma), were signed to a major label before Hicks was tragically shot and killed in East Palo Alto. Peanut Butter Wolf carried on, producing Kool Keith’s first single and signing some of hip-hop’s most brilliant minds—Madlib, J Rocc, J Dilla—to his Stone Throw label, which he now operates out of SoCal.
He also had a big impact on other South Bay rappers and producers like Tape Mastah Steph, who founded the iconic local crew Subcontents with Dave Dub and Matt Gamin.
The block party will be an all-day event, beginning at noon on Sunday, April 22 and running through 8pm. The theme of the event is celebrating the “four elements” of hip hip: dancing, emceeing, DJing and graffiti.
.Peanut Butter Wolf to headline Urban Block Party April 22 in San Jose
