PUTS: "Kool Herc Wasn't Rocking Jams With A Keyboard"

These two cats are the realness. Thes One and Double K are People Under The Stairs. Two LA b-boys making hot ass beats and writing chill laid back rhymes to get your head knodding. They basically keep to the ethics of digging and use vintage gear and old dusty samples to make all there beats. No keyboards, no PC's, just mpc's and analog equipment. There sound is that chill laid back block party groove with filtered bass's and boom bap drums. The rhymes are usually humorous and bout getting faded, but sometimes introspective and quite deep. Brings ur ass right back to the 90's.

Aight, Thes One and Double K meet up at a record store one day digging and decided to chill and share there beats. They became close friends and started writing and working on tracks together. They recorded mad tracks together on the low, and wound up with 12 60 minute master tapes in a box and asked themselves, "What’s the next step?"

In 1998 they released an album titled "The Next Step". It basically was a collection of there recordings from the preivous two years. "The Next Step" caught the attention of San Francisco electronic label Om Records. Om basically gave them a contract saying that they could do whatever they want and keep it the way they had been doing it with no say from the label. That’s some real shit right there. Also they were and are the only hip hop group signed to Om. In 2000 they released there second album, "Questions In The Form Of An Answer" Now I’m really feeling the beats on this album and Double K on the mic, but u can see Thes One as a newbie. He sounds a little awkward rocking. Double K though straight up kills it and outshines him. They could have slimmed down the track count a little also, but I’m just nit-picking now.

ANYWAYS, there 3rd album, "O.S.T" is the hot shit. The beats sound a lot alike, but shit, they are dope. They mainly are real funky joints, with the laid back bboy rhymes. These cats be lovin the izm and crates of old wax. Chopped up breakbeats and filtered bass dominates this record and is a good old school approach to hip hop that has been lacking lately. Also Double K rips shit up on the decks. Dude can cut like a muthafucka. Just a chill funky record. This is the best one that they put out in my opinion.

There latest album, "...Or Stay Tuned" still sticks to the same methods as all the others. The DIY mixing, engineering, rhyming, scratching, digging, producing mentality that they kept throughout there whole career. This album is straight. A few of the standout tracks, LA Song which is a dope tribute to the city they rep, and Take the Fruit (which uses samples off a Pac Man record) which talks to the youngins and trys to school em, show the P's diversity in there tracks.

They are releasing another album this year so keep an eye out for it. It should be banging. If u are a fan of old school hip hop and the whole bboy aesthetic, definitely scoop this up.

Oh on a quick side note, apparently the P got beef with O-Dub. Read this article from SOHH.COM

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