Spine Mag Interview

Interview by: A-Cyde

Date: Summer 2002

Spine's resident questioner, A-Cyde, grabbed hold of the People Under The Stairs when they appeared in London in the summer months. As one of the favourite hip-hop groups of the Spine staff, we are pleased to present this interview with 'em...

People Under The Stairs are just about ready to go home. They've been in Europe for over a month and they miss their crates. Thes One misses all 27 of his, which hold about 100 records each... "More or less, just old stuff - and about half a crate of hip hop" and Special K wouldn't mind reacquainting himself with his collection (which totals roughly the same amount, but is split evenly into half 'old shit and half hip hop', "cuz I started off buying hip hop."

So to ease the pain of homesickness we head into London's Soho to check some breaks, play some grooves and spin some yarns. Thes One spits straight from the jugular as we storm troop our way through the racks at SoulJazz.
Thes One: "Hip-hop taught me how to love old records and it taught me how to appreciate old music. I got seriously into record collecting which is something quite different from beat digging. You know a lot of dudes who are producers, started making beats a year and a half ago on the MPC2000, chopping up stuff trying to sound like Premier, but DJ Premier has developed his own personal style over a period of time." "Before the first real samplers, we were making beats on the 4 track way way back."

Developing from the basics gave PUTS the edge needed to kick-start from the "First Step" onwards. Double K continues tracing his tracks back against the mixed sonic assault of jazz, reggae and other musical oddities that emanate from the shop speakers.
Double K: "We had to pawn our first bit of equipment to get the first EP out. But then I got a SP1200 plus the MPC 2000 and now we've got OM who just put a little help behind our label, so we're keeping that growing, but putting out other artists like our boy Jazmak."

Thes One interrupts the train of thought and hops aboard.
Thes One: "I got the MPC 3000 within the first month it came out. I mastered it about a year and a half ago. There's not a lot I can't do on the 3000, in fact I fact I feel know it better than most."

As obviously demonstrated on their musical output thus far, their individual mastery of their equipment and record collections have placed them within a world-wide grasp, but Thes still stresses over the basic point.
Thes One: It doesn't necessarily make the beat better if the record's rare, but when you're record collecting, you start looking for rare records anyway."
Of course it pisses me off when people bootleg some shit that you've searched high and low for and especially when you've made a beat with it. I can't be like a musical fascist about rare groove, cuz I'm not against people having the music - but at the same time it really pisses me off."

He emphasises his true feelings on the new digging obsessives.
Thes One: "People get into beatdigging, right, and don't start learning their labels, their producers or the players. They just get on the internet and find peoples wants lists, and you get a thousand people and they're all after the same wants list. So now companies see an opportunity and they start repressing what's on the wants list".
"I've found shit that wasn't on no list that's hype - and then a couple of weeks later it shows up on a want list and the prices shoot up" "So the thing with reissues is that on our new album, I was only one step ahead of the game. A lot of the stuff I used, right after I used it the reissues came out, It breaks my heart that on the album I scratched my Baby Huey (infamously expensive Soul/funk album) and I'll spend $100 on a record as a collector and the reissue is $8, so everyone has access to the same shit. That doesn't mean I condone record prices been like that. Records aren't a commodity like people make them. This is our music, this is our culture, people should have access to the records, they shouldn't have to buy reissues from another."

For those who scratch (and dig) way beneath the surface, finding the average nu-jack wannabe trainspotter, itching to be down in a cratefoolish reissue stylee is straight up laughable, or as Thes suppresses his giggles to spurt.
Thes One: "I don't have a maximum that I'll spend - I've spent more than $200 on a joint. I look at it this way, if I can use it and make something classic - if I could have been Pete Rock and someone came at me with that Tom Scott record and they said, 'it's $500' and I spent that and made 'They Reminisce' out of it, the money spent is irrelevant. Sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do.

We press pause for a minute as Thes starts filing through the racks, grimacing at the odd reissue while eyeing any obscurities with more than a customary glance.
Thes One: "When it comes to breaking records I think about Tribe and Pete Rock. When those records came out it changed the way beatdigging worked, people were like, 'oh shit!' We're not restricted to a certain type of record. You can find breaks on High School records and souvenir records from Disneyland and this and that. Prince Paul and De La were even flipping children's records. Like the South American break from Peru (NB: in '43 Labels I Like') that I put on the album, to me the future's in finding records from around the world."

Thes follows the path of other beatmaking luminaries who talk it as they spin it from 33 to 45rpm.
Thes One: "I buy doubles and triples of shit. I'd rather swoop then sell records and I'd rather buy a record than swoop. I'd rather spend money on a record than eat! The money comes and goes, and I'm going to die without it, but at least the music gives me pleasure."

Double K takes his finger off the record racks for a minute and speaks on the records that inspired him to touch the two tables and a mic.
Double K: "Speaking for myself you've got Beatnuts 'Street Level', NWA 'Straight Outta Compton', Tribe 'Midnight Marauders', Black Moon 'Enta Da Stage' and Freestyle Fellowship 'InnerCity Griots'."

The sudden realisation that it's been a while since he actually played the above records suddenly hits home accompanied by the soundtrack of heavy reggae music pouring out the shop's speakers.
Double K: "We've been in Europe, back and forth over the last year. I'm just itching to go back and see my turntables and crates. I wanna hug them. See, I'm a deejay. But I got into rhyming 'cuz of this guy (points to Thes) and now into making beats. Samplers to me are just emulating a deejay going back and forth impeccably. But as far as beatdigging goes, we're open to anything - so you're best to keep that dope shit out of our way."

Thes wheels up the record to the start and backs up his partner 100%.
Thes One: "That's why when people start fucking with keyboards, you're making something else. In essence you start losing sense of the origin. The same reason I'm not feeling this whole sexy shit, people who were hardcore at one point now want to hang out with headwraps, while the fans who have supported you from day one are in the street".
"To me, it's just selling out to your dick in a sense and my thing is, my perspective might change but I'm never going to make music to get ass"