The Royal Magazine Interview

Interview by: Jonathan Cunningham

Date: 6th November 2004

There's a clogged artery lumped in the veins of hip-hop these days. An invisible blockage that's stopping the passage of knowledge, of originality and rawness that once was the lifeblood of hip-hop culture. It's around us everyday; but there's something in the way of things that stops most people from seeing it.

Los Angeles' ultra-smooth hip-hop duo People Under the Stairs sees that blockage. They see it because it's right under their noses, on a warm Bay Area night inside the Bear's Lair Pub on the fringes of Cal Berkeley's campus. In a sense, it's fitting to see People Under the Stairs attempt to take over an off-balance Berkeley frat bar crowd. This audience, while appearing totally inept at any aspect of hip-hop culture, is in fact, the exact audience the group loves to educate.

Known for their raucous shows and dope turntable skills, Thes One and Double K of People Under the Stairs aren't about to be faded by a lackluster crowd. With 4 albums under their belt including the highly lauded 'Question in the Form of an Answer' and 'O.S.T.', the "P" takes the awkward opportunity to drop science on the Berkeley crowd - elevating the low energy in the room to ridiculous heights in mere minutes.

After the show finished, and the post-show blunt had been extinguished, The Royal swooped in - half cocked on cognac - to snag an in-depth interview from two of L.A.'s finest.

How long ago did the two of you put together People Under the Stairs?
Double K: Man, it'll be 10 years next year! We put the group together back in 1995, right before me and Thes One got out of High School. Still today we don't know how it happened. We just started hanging out and wrote some songs together and it felt right.
Thes One: But that was apart of the hip-hop scene back in 1995. We linked through a common love for the Beatnuts and Freestyle Fellowship. Now-a-days, two cats like us would probably meet and never end up working together.

Why's that?
Thes One: Cause me and Double K met frontin' on each other at a record store digging for hip-hop. We got together cause we were social and repped the music that we loved. Kids get most of their music on-line now-a-days; tucked inside their bedrooms all secluded and shit. It's like e-digging.

Do you have any specific goals that you try to adhere to when you get in the lab and start working on your albums?
Double K: Well, we probably never talked about it but not falling off! That's everybody's fear. We want to stay fresh and put out music that people want to hear. We're getting older now so the last thing we want to do is fall off. Real music fans can understand that.

Are there things that you find yourselves becoming more attracted to besides hip-hop?
Double K: That's a funny question. I think there's starting to be weeks at a time when I'm not mainly focused on hip-hop and music. That's a part of growing up. But I'm a true B-Boy 100% to the core. I'ma always be involved in hip-hop somehow. That's just me.

There have been some growing murmurs from a few of hip-hop's highest luminaries like Andre 3000 and DMC (from RUN-DMC) saying that hip-hop is dead. What are your thoughts on folks saying that?
Thes One: That's bullshit.
Double K: The thing with hip-hop, most of the songs that you hear on the radio and see on MTV and BET, most of that shit is wack.
Thes One: I mean, hip-hop might be in a coma, but that doesn't mean it won't come out of it. My problem with that statement is that you're not giving a chance to the younger kids to be fresh too. It's like saying "oh, you weren't there in the Bronx, so you'll never be dope." That's an old ass view. You gotta be accepting to the new cats that are coming up. Plus a big part of the joy with hip-hop is seeking out cats that are real and mad creative. For that you have to dig. Any music that's fed to you in mass media is probably bullshit anyways.

What role do you think independent media can play in keeping hip-hop culture alive?
Thes One: It has kept hip-hop alive thus far cause mainstream media, they take hip-hop and make it what they want it to be so they can sell it. They make it marketable but that's my whole 4 elements theory and I don't even want to get into that.

Don't let me stop you.
Thes One: Well, basically, my whole 4 elements thing is that big companies think hip-hop is a huge marketing gimmick. And the media has latched on. Together they've pretty much reduced hip-hop culture into 4 marketable areas. It's like Kool cigarettes using images of turntables in their magazine ads or seeing break-dancers in a McDonald's commercial. They take our 4 elements and try to sell it; but if it's 4 elements it's 400 elements. It's 4 million elements. The mainstream media doesn't understand that hip-hop can't be simplified into 4 little packages and sold.

What do you think is missing from hip-hop?
Thes One: Probably the responsibility of the artists to teach younger kids about music, and who's really dope. Like I was never really up on jazz until I listened to A Tribe Called Quest and was like, hmm, who's Ron Carter? Who's Miles Davis? Cause they would shout those cats out in their songs. But now-a-days, since kids don't hear about Miles Davis or Sun Ra in hip-hop songs, kids don't give a fuck about Miles Davis. They think people like Nelly are musical heroes. That's what's really missing.

Do you get the chance to work with youth at all?
Double K: Naw, not too much. I mean we rap about partying and getting drunk and acting a fool (laughs with a wide grin). But that doesn't mean younger folks can't feel better about themselves through our music.
Thes One: I used to do workshops with this non profit in Los Angeles for 2 years. It was all about teaching kids to express themselves through rhymes. But I was always going on tour and showing back up like 2 months later and it wasn't fair to the kids so I stopped.

You two are notorious as record collectors in the industry. What do you listen for to determine if a record is worth your approval?
Double K: Man, that's a good question. We stay in them records (laughing). It's like a really bad habit sometimes. I think I just listen to hear if a record is funky or not. If it ain't funky I don't buy it.
Thes One: And there's a lot of stupid reasons that we get excited about records that nobody else does. Like we'll find a $150 record that's got Buddy Guy's half-brother playing the Jew's harp and be like, oh we gotta get this shit! Start slappin' hi-5's and everything. It's ridiculous but to us, through our record collections, we're piecing back together history.

What's the most you've ever paid for a record?
Double K: I'm not about to put it out there like that but I just did it, less than a month ago. I shelled out over $300 for one album, let's put it that way. It's a double vinyl record and it's rare. The funny thing is it's a children's album. But it was worth every single penny.

Where do you tend to find the best records?
Double K: It's always overseas man. London, Stockholm, Tokyo, shit San Francisco at Groove Merchant. Detroit's always nice too.

Any last words for all The Royal readers out there?
Thes One: Stay true. Support that independent media, and definitely cop the new "P" album 'Stepfather' out in 2005.