Stones Throw Is Turning 30, and HUF Is Dropping a T-Shirt to Mark the Occasion

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Summary

  • HUF and Stones Throw Records are releasing a commemorative T-shirt on May 30, ahead of the LA label’s 30th anniversary Japan tour
  • The tee drops at HUF stores and hufworldwide.jp, giving fans a physical artifact from one of independent hip-hop’s most significant milestone moments
  • The Japan tour follows on June 5 at club JOULE in Osaka and June 6 at MIDNIGHT EAST in Tokyo, with label founder Peanut Butter Wolf returning to Japan for the first time in approximately eight years alongside Knxwledge, Mndsgn, and Michi

HUF and Stones Throw Records are releasing a commemorative T-shirt on May 30, 2026, marking the 30th anniversary of one of Los Angeles’ most important independent labels. The tee arrives five days before Peanut Butter Wolf brings the label’s anniversary Japan tour to Osaka and Tokyo for the first time in nearly a decade.

The pairing makes sense on every level. Both have deep roots in LA’s independent creative underground, and both have maintained genuine relevance across multiple decades without compromising the sensibility that defined them early on. A commemorative T-shirt is the right format for a 30th anniversary: modest enough to be wearable, specific enough to mean something to the people who know what the label represents. Stones Throw’s catalog alone — J Dilla, Madlib, Karriem Riggins, and a current generation that includes Knxwledge and Mndsgn — is sufficient justification for a piece of clothing that functions as a document as much as a garment.

The tour it precedes adds the context. Peanut Butter Wolf founded Stones Throw in Los Angeles in 1996, and his return to Japan after approximately eight years carries its own weight in a country that has maintained one of the label’s most devoted international followings since its earliest releases. His performance format for the anniversary shows is a “Stones Throw 30 Years Video DJ Set,” which moves through the label’s history visually as well as sonically — a decision that treats the catalog with the same seriousness the HUF collaboration brings to the merch. Knxwledge, Mndsgn, and Michi join from Los Angeles, assembling a lineup that spans three decades of the label’s creative output across two Japanese cities on consecutive nights.

The T-shirt dropping May 30 gives the anniversary a tangible starting point before the music begins. For anyone who cannot make it to Osaka or Tokyo, or who wants something to hold onto from a label that has produced some of the most enduring records in independent hip-hop, it is the most accessible entry point into a celebration that has been thirty years in the making.

The Stones Throw x HUF 30th anniversary commemorative T-shirt drops May 30 at HUF stores and HUF Japan. The Stones Throw Japan tour plays club JOULE in Osaka on June 5 and MIDNIGHT EAST at Spotify O-EAST and Azumaya in Tokyo on June 6.

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2026-05-22 11:34