$18 Adv 8:00 PM 17+ Bottom Lounge | 1375 W. Lake St. | Chicago ••••••• Tickets: Time: Doors 8:00 PM Show 9:00 PM Price: $18 Adv $20 Day of Age Limit: 17 & Over J Rocc One of the original turntablists, J Rocc founded the Beat Junkies in 1992 with Melo-D and Rhettmatic, but has done just as much on his own as in a group setting. He began DJing in the mid-'80s with a California group named PSK. Soon after forming, the Beat Junkies became a seminal force in the rise of instrumental hip-hop, including core member Babu plus future stars Shortkut and D-Styles. In addition to numerous mixtapes and his own production for Stones Throw releases, J Rocc has been the DJ for Madlib's live shows since the early 2000's, was the 3rd member of Jaylib (Madlib & J Dilla) during the group's live events, and collaborated with Madlib on Beat Konducta Vol. 5-6: A Tribute to J Dilla. J.Rocc is on the air every Sunday Night from 10pm-12am PST with KPFK (90.7 FM) in LA. As the host, J Rocc plays a wide range of music from new releases to dusty old records made around the world. Past guest include Gaslamp Killer, Cut Chemist, Dam-Funk, Peanut Butter Wolf, Stro Elliot, Lakim, Metta World Peace and many more. You can tune in on-line at kpfk.org. Every 2nd Saturday you can find J.Rocc on Apple Music/Beats1 with Dr. Dre presents The Pharmacy. Hosted by Xzibit, D.J. Pooh, Eddie Francis, and Wyann Vaughn. J Rocc is currently working on a new LP for Stones Throw and is co-producing a "Flaunt Edwards" project on Leaving Records. ◙ stonesthrow.com/jrocc ■ twitter.com/jrocc ◘ instagram.com/jrocc210 ♫ mixcloud.com/jrocc Karriem Riggins Karriem Riggins is best known as a jazz drummer and hip-hop producer for artists like Common, Slum Village, Talib Kweli and The Roots, but he doesn’t categorize himself as anything but an artist. “You don’t have to put yourself in a box…there’s so many different ways to go,” Riggins says. A student of late jazz bassist Ray Brown, he tours with another Brown protégé, Grammy Award winner Diana Krall. In 2011, he collaborated with former Beatle Paul McCartney in concert and on Kisses on the Bottom, McCartney’s first studio release in five years. Names of some of the jazz artists he’s backed reads like the genre’s hall of fame - Hank Jones, Oscar Peterson, Milt Jackson, Donald Byrd and Ron Carter. For his solo debut Alone Together on Stones Throw Records, Riggins plants himself firmly as a hip-hop producer with a 34-track instrumental odyssey through nearly every influence on his career thus far. “Coming back to the machines, I feel like I can really express myself,” Riggins says. “This is the way that I express my rhythms.” Machines, however, are just one way he expresses his rhythms. Midway through the album, the track “Water” is interrupted by a vocal snippet where the speaker places Riggins “right at the intersection of hip-hop and jazz.” Alone Together is that intersection; it’s the jazz music he’s played professionally since the age of 19, and it’s crafting beats like “Africa” on an MPC5000 while touring throughout Eastern Europe and Russia. ◙ karriemriggins.com ■ twitter.com/karriemriggins ◘ instagram.com/karriemriggins1 ♫ youtube.com/user/KARRIEMRIGGINSMUSIC Peanut Butter Wolf Chris Manak first started buying records in San Jose, CA in 1979 at age 9. It was mainly soul/funk 45s by artists like Cameo, the Gap Band, and Rick James. By the mid 80's, he was DJing and making his own beats for MCs and a few years later, he met 16-year-old rapper Charizma and they soon signed with Hollywood Records. In December 1993, the world lost Charizma to gun violence. Wolf took a break. "Making beats" eventually became therapy for the next few years and in 1996, he started Stones Throw Records out of his bedroom as a vinyl-only record label that catered to DJs. His own album My Vinyl Weighs A Ton, was the most successful release of the label's early years. In 2001, Wolf moved to Los Angeles, bringing hip hop artist Madlib along with him, who became the center of the label for many years. When Madlib made Quasimoto's The Unseen, Stones Throw saw a turning point and defied more conventions with each year. With artists as varied as Dam-Funk and Anika, Stones Throw grew a reputation for its left-field style, while Madvillain and J Dilla's Donuts, cemented their status in hip hop. As the founder of Stones Throw, Wolf has also curated albums for Adult Swim, 2K Sports, Serato, and Urban Outfitters. He has also discovered Mayer Hawthorne and Aloe Blacc, encouraging both artists who were rappers at the time to become singers. After three decades of vinyl DJing, PBW now prefers A/V sets, playing music videos pulled from his personal collection of rare VHS, DVD, laser disc, beta, etc. Peanut Butter Wolf the label founder still enjoys a DJ career that has taken him around the world since 1992. Whether it's a private dinner party for Bill Clinton, a string of dates with the Beastie Boys, Gwen Stefani's birthday party, or his own high school reunion, Wolf is equally at home behind the turntables. A documentary on the life of PB Wolf and his label Stones Throw, Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton, is now playing at film festivals, focusing on the path of Chris and the record label he created nearly 20 years ago. ◙ stonesthrow.com/pbwolf ■ twitter.com/pbwolf ◘ instagram.com/pntbtrwlf ♫ soundcloud.com/pbwolf Also Appearing: DJ Dave MATA of Impala Sound/Soul Summit