Stones Throw founder Chris Manak aka Peanut Butter Wolf and Brian Ellis are Campus Christy. Following their first song together, “Very Complex” featuring Piya Malik of Say She She, the duo returns with “The Visit” alongside a claymation created by students of Andrew Morgan, founder of PPU Records. “The Visit” was the first song that Brian and Wolf made together – it was originally recorded in 1966 by sunshine pop group The Cyrkle and served as the sample behind J Dilla’s production on A Tribe Called Quest’s “Get A Hold” back in 1996.
Stream: Campus Christy – The Visit
From Peanut Butter Wolf:
“We all know the first hip hop records from 1979-82 were rappers rapping over a live band playing versions of popular disco/funk songs. What I consider the second movement was 1983-87, when drum machines and synths got introduced; then, in the late 80’s, sampling technology meant artists could electronically loop bits of older songs to make new ones. James Brown was the go-to artist to sample, along with funk artists from the late 60s, and the Ultimate Breaks & Beats series.
By around 1990-93, producers like The 45 King, Pete Rock, DJ Premier, and Large Professor were changing the sound, finding samples from unlikely sources to create hip hop. Two examples which inspired me were Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s “T.R.O.Y.” and Main Source’s “Fakin the Funk”. Both were based on samples from late 60s, airy sounding, jazzy folk, sunshine pop artists.
I was making my own sample-based hip hop beats by this time and started buying any records where the artists were dressed like hippies. One I discovered at a thrift store was the album Kites Are Fun by The Free Design, which I sampled for a song on my 1994 album Peanut Butter Breaks. This in turn inspired J Dilla to make the backing track for “Get A Hold” for A Tribe Called Quest in 1996 (which he revealed to me years later).
I heard the original “Get A Hold” sample by 60s group The Cyrkle in 2001, and decided to try singing it. I noticed the vocals were panned fully to the left so I took the right channel only and put it in mono, which acted like an instrumental, and sang my own version. I never did anything with it other than play for a few friends. I regret not ever playing it for Dilla but by the time he moved to LA and we were hanging, I’d forgotten I made it. But I had always wanted someone to recreate the music so I could do a “real” version and here we are.”
The songs below led to the birth of Campus Christy’s “The Visit”:
1. T.R.O.Y. – Pete Rock & CL Smooth (1992)
2. Today – Tom Scott & The California Dreamers (1967)
3. Fakin The Funk – Main Source (1992)
4. Magic Shoes – The Main Ingredient (1970)
5. Don’t Turn Your Back – Peanut Butter Wolf (1994)
6. Don’t Turn Away – The Free Design (1967)
7. Get A Hold – A Tribe Called Quest (1996)
8. The Visit – The Cyrkle (1966)
9. The Visit – Campus Christy (2024)