From the Archives: Terrence, American Buddhist, Reviews Peanut Butter Wolf

Greetings, brothers, sisters, friends, adoring fans. I, Terrence, American Buddhist, would like to thank you for your support through the years. Who knows where I’d be without your caring, your words of encouragement, your felonious transmission of cannabis buds and leaves through the mail…

To thank you properly I have decided to answer some of the various letters you have sent me recently.

Dear Terrence, American Buddhist:

Your brave struggle to achieve zen nothingness and shed the commercial, corrupted world of the West has inspired me. I have also quit ingesting the soothing pleasures of the sativa plant and am now seeking the sartori without its help. Enclosed are the three super chronic nugz I was saving for the millenium– I no longer need them. Thank you, Terrence, American Buddhist, thank you.

— Reginald
Hull, United Kingdom

Dear Reginald, ‘UK Buddhist’,

Your letter touched my heart, and sent me into a grave re-examination of my own life. This study of myself was so taxing, that I quickly smoked your “millenium buds” to calm my mind. I know it no longer concerns you, but they were incredibly stoney. Keep up the good work, I am behind you 100%.

Dear Terrence, American Buddhist,

How do you decide what music to buy? Aren’t you cut off from society in that monastery or whatever?

Earl DeSoto,
Edina, Minnesota

Dear Fred,

I keep abreast of the latest trends by reading USOUNDS, of course. Seriously though, I will surf the web and pick up information here and there, letting my spirit guide me. Of course sometimes I buy things based on name alone.

For example, the other night I bought an album by Peanut Butter Wolf, which was by far the best name I had heard in years. I even wrote a quick zen koan about it just before I went to bed that night:

A Peanut Butter Wolf
Is the most dangerous
Wolf of all

The next day the CD arrived in the mail, and I quickly popped it into my Sony. The massive speakers immediately blasted some of the illest hip hop I had heard in years. Fast cuts, tite beats, smooth-flowing, excellent rapping– I felt like I was transported back to the days of Grand Master Flash, except on a smooth nine-nine-nine turntablist tip.

I played the CD over and over, at louder and louder volumes. Some tracks really stood out, and started to knock on a door deep within my heart.

Tracks like In Your Area, which features some tremendous rhymes above sublime beats and cuts by the Peanut Butter Wolf, are what make this album one of the finest hip-hop releases I have heard in months, maybe years.

The whole record has a slightly eerie vibe to it, even though a lot of the beats are super catchy– there’s a light touch of a turntabelist DJ Muggs on some tracks, with creepy organ and uptempo breakbeats.

Peanut Butter Wolf is an apt name– he’s got both sticky beats and snarling danger up in his mix. His turntable wizardry is overshadowed only by his almost cinematic sense of timing and pacing– each track feels like the prelude to a film or like a pivotal scene in a rugged movie. So, in answer to your query, I may live a life of peaceful solitude, but you can’t stop the bum rush.

Dear Terrence, American Buddhist,

Sometimes I feel like my life has no meaning. I feel as though I’m a pawn in the evil machinations of a giant plot called life. What should I do?

Malicia Bencortes
Zaragoza, Espana

Dear child, don’t despair– even though best thing in life to feel is nothingness, life can still be incredibly rewarding and fantastic. You can find beauty in the smallest flower, creature, sound, or crispy bud– you must realize that all are the same, that we are all caught up in the magic of life, that wisdom is forgetting knowledge, and knowledge is forgetting experience.

What I recommend to you I recommend to all of my fans. First, buy this Peanut Butter Wolf record. Strap on an extra large pair of headphones, roll a nice spliff using some Rizla+ papers and some Galousise tobacco. Lay back into some leaves or some soft grass and put the volume on 11. Allow the beats and smoke to filter through your blood, feel the rhythm of the peanut butter wolf, of the earth, of your heart. If there is a place (some call it Oakland) that can produce such wonderful music, and that place is part of the earth, than it is part of your heart. We are all beautiful beings, part of this beautiful earth, together, one…

USOUNDS | 9.23.1999

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