One of the things I love most about Stones Throw is those moments when Peanut Butter Wolf’s roles as deejay and record label owner come together. The most recent instance involves a guy named Prophet from the Bay Area, who put out one album back in 1984, Right On Time. This weird album of R&B/funk got lost in the shuffle, and his music career got put on hold. Flash forward to the early 2000s, and a deejay named Peanut Butter Wolf finds this album while digging through the crates at Groove Merchant in San Francisco, and he liked what he heard so much that the album found its way into Wolf’s deejay sets, which he played for years not knowing anything about the man behind the music. Then Prophet introduced himself at a record fair, and Wolf convinced him to start performing again, putting him on the opening slot for Snoop Dogg & Dam Funk in 2013. He also introduced him to Mndsgn., who was also a big fan, and the two started collaborating. Now, after all these years, we finally get Prophet’s sophomore album, Wanna Be Your Man.

There are a few interesting aspects to Wanna Be Your Man, but the one that hit me right away is what a great job Mndsgn. in producing this album. This doesn’t sound like a Mndsgn. album, this sounds like Prophet’s proper follow-up to Right On Time, something that could have come out in 1986. It’s clear that Mndgsn. really studied what made Prophet special, and then did everything he could to make this artist comfortable getting back in the studio for the first time in thirty years. The result is an able that is completely synth driven, with all sorts of great funk and R&B that walks the line between weirdness and accessibility. It sounds like if Prince had a sibling who smoked a lot of pot and just stayed in their room playing with synthesizers and drum machines. This all sets the stage perfectly for Prophet, who immediately reveals himself as a charismatic vocalist with a great falsetto. Just as the music moves in and out of pop-friendly grooves and weird twists and turns, so do Prophet’s vocal lines. Sometimes he’ll deliver the biggest hook that will stay in your head for days, and other times he’ll throw you for a loop and find a melodic line that is completely unexpected, but somehow ends up working. He’s not doing anything too left field lyrically, mostly just singing about love, but he still manages to avoid the big clichés and manages to make it sound really personal. The result is an album that in other hands could have been just another romantic R&B album, but instead ends up being this album that at once sounds familiar and completely unexpected.

It may have taken thirty-four years to get here, but I guess Prophet just needed us all to catch up with what he was throwing down in the ‘80s. I can’t think of anyone better than Mndgsn. and Peanut Butter Wolf to help bring this album to fruition, and to give Prophet the shine he so truly deserves.