Express.com Interview

Interview by: express.com

Date: 2000

A new hip-hop renaissance appears to be underway in Los Angeles. A fleet of rappers disenchanted with the Hennessy 'n' Hos approach to modern hip-hop are laying tired cliches to the side, instead choosing to rhyme about sitting on stoops and kicking rhymes, flowing theories and enjoying the comforts of a mellow breakbeat.

New albums by the Black Eyed Peas, Dilated Peoples, Jurassic 5 and Quasimoto all signal the return to this school of music once propagated by the likes of De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest - a more sophisticated and philosophical age of hip hop where rhymes were your weapon and props your reward. And The People Under the Stairs can be found up front waving the flag into battle.

On their newest record, 'Question in the Form of an Answer', Thes One and Double K flow intricate stories over refreshingly smooth beats that leave your head nodding long after the record ends. They're blowing up across Europe. Now it's time for America to take note.

I know you're about to head out on another tour. Are you gonna miss L.A.?
Thes One: I love L.A., man. Every time I leave L.A. I just wanna get home again cause I feel comfortable here. People are like "Oh my god! Gangs!" But it makes me feel like I'm at home.

Although you've had a few singles over the years, it seems that lately you guys have really begun to blow up. How have you evolved?
Thes One: We got signed in August of last year. It was the type of thing where basically we were doing our thing independently, and we had stuff on consignment all over L.A., stuff in Wherehouse and Tower. And (Om Records) stepped to us like, "Has anyone offered you a record deal?" We were like, "Yeah, but we really don't need anyone. We're kinda on our own shit. We don't wanna have anyone over or above us". So then they came back like a week later and said "Alright, you guys do what you want -- do the artwork, do everything that you wanna do. And when you're done doing whatever you wanna do, give it to us and we'll put it out and help you with the business side." And we said cool. So contractually we have full creative control. Whatever we turn into them on DAT they have to put out as an album, which is nice. We take their suggestions here and there, but for the most part we control everything. And they just help us fund it. So we're getting out to places where we normally wouldn't have been able to get, which really helps.

I'm sure it's a big help, especially internationally, right?
Thes One: It's been huge internationally. Europe's our major market pretty much. Without them, we wouldn't have gone out there. I wouldn't know how to start booking a European tour, and it's been two months and we're already on our second one.

When was the first one?
Thes One: The first one was a few weeks ago - we went over there for three weeks. We went to the U.K., Scotland, Ireland and Sweden. And now we're going back to do Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the U.K. again, Amsterdam, all of that.

How were the shows received?
Thes One: For our first album ('The Next Step') we signed a distribution deal here and it got tied up in a fucked up deal. So a lot of people haven't heard it, or don't know about it. Over there, though, Om put it out in Europe and it got received really well and everyone ran out and bought it. So by the time we got over there to do shows everyone knew all the lyrics and it was a whole different thing.

What's some of the downside to touring?
Thes One: You're a million miles from home and you're having fun but at the same time your life is falling apart back where you're from. Bills stacking up, phones getting turned off. A lot of people don't think about that whole aspect when they think about touring. They just think it's glitz and glamour. But for us we're not big enough to have a tour bus or an entourage. So when we tour its Mike, me and another guy. We're carrying three weeks of clothing, records for all the shows - the whole nine - running through European train stations alone trying to catch the train. It's ridiculous man. It's not how touring should be.

One of the dopest things about the record is the production of the tracks - they have an incredibly catchy, almost summertime vibe. You've done a damn good job of record digging. What's some of your favorite records to sample?
Double K: As long as it's funky, man, we'll rock it. No matter what kind of music it is.
Thes One: Children's records, soundtracks. I love it when you find funky shit on records that aren't supposed to be funky. That's the best. I like high school records, or records of the youth, because you can tell when you listen to them that their band leader will tell them to do something and be real cool. But there'll always be an instant where they'll get real young for about 30 seconds and they start exploding, doing young things. And then they have to go back to the old structure, and the things that stupid people told them to do. Like their bandleader will have them doing some classic jazz song, but halfway through the middle they'll get real young for a second and start playing a hip-hop beat. That's always great when you find shit like that.

How did you guys manage to find so many tasty samples?
Thes One: I used to work at Rhino Records. And I was the guy behind the counter stealing all the good records before they hit the floor. A lot of frustrated beat diggers would come through like "Where's all the good shit?" and I'd be like "I don't know."

Do you feel associated with some of the other L.A. counterparts coming up right now?
Double K: Well, we developed and came up with our own shit, so we don't sound like anybody in L.A. And that's the meaning of the name - The People Under the Stairs - in a sense. It doesn't have anything to do with the movie, it's just all these people out there doing their thing. We're doing our thing but we're separate; we're like underdogs, underground.

So where did you come up with the name of the album, "Question in the Form of an Answer"?
Double K: You can get this one - you explain it better.
Thes One: The question is "What's the deal with hip hop right now?" The album is the answer asking that question. It's like a circle. It's an answer to the question that it's asking.

A criticism of you guys is that you focus too much on an old school - which at the time was called The New School - sound. What's your response to that?
Thes One: If you go back and look at a Source (magazine) Heavy Rotation (chart) from 1992 and there's like Redman, Diamond D and all these classic albums that were out at the same time, altogether. That's what we're trying to strive for. Whether you think so or not, I firmly believe there's an audience out there. Just like there's a bunch of old people that listen to oldies all day. Motherfuckers listen to oldies all day, 24 hours a day. They don't care about new music. We're like that with hip-hop, man. We listen to the K-Earth (L.A. oldies station) of hip-hop. Nothing but '89 to '93 - the classics.

What about the skits on the album? Are they pre-written?
Thes One: Nah, just stick this guy (Double K) in a vocal booth and let him go. He's crazy, man.
Double K: Record me and just don't let me know you're recording.
Thes One: Most of the skits that we did, I'll have him do a mic check but I'll record it. He'll just start buggin' and do something and that'll be the skit.

What's your opinion of the present state of hip-hop?
Double K: It's like whatever to me, man. Everybody's doing their own thing, everything's so different. You watch Rap City and each song's way different, everyone's trying out their own style, then you get to a point where everybody's doing the same thing. There's a lot of biters out there, too.
Thes One: I feel it's whack, personally. That's the shit that's really killing it, man. It's like one person comes up with a new style and a million people jump on it. It happens in rap, it happens in hip-hop.
Double K: Like with sampling little kids, that got out of hand. After (Jay-Z's) "Hard Knock Life" everybody was sampling little kids. Like Busta Rhymes "Get Outta Here."
Thes One: Southern shit got outta hand. A couple people were doing it, and it was dope because they were doing their shit. But then it's like a million people with the same type of big Mannie Fresh beats. In hip-hop, Premier invents a style: chopped up beat, slammin' drums, real simple. Everyone bites his style in hip-hop. Everyone wants to make a Premier-sounding beat. And I cringe when I hear these chopped up beats because they got no method behind their madness 'cause they didn't invent the style. They just copied it and it's so obvious.
Double K: Especially chopping up a beat - you have to know how to chop up a beat. You can't just go in and say "OK, this'll sound dope." Then it'll sound like circus music. It has to have a melody to it. You can't just throw a bunch of sounds together and expect it to sound good.
Thes One: Exactly, and there's dudes from everywhere, and they're all trying to do it. All the 12"'s are some cool sounds on top of a beat. It's not memorable - you know, hearing a bunch of blinks and bleeps over a beat. You don't want to hear that a year later. That'll never be classic. Hip-hop's like art, and art evolves. Certain painters develop a certain style, but they got their own shit. We remake classical shit.