Flip the old the new way

By REBECCA BARRY

People Under The Stairs are Thes One and Double K, Californian all-round B-boys: MCs, DJs, producers, stars of the underground, advocates of true-school hip-hop.

"To me, hip-hop was always hardest when it was just records, just people digging through records and sampling breaks," says Thes One. "That's all I know. I don't remember any dudes setting up keyboards and break-dancing to 'em."

Double K chortles in the background, as the pair do some pre-tour practice in his living room.

"He's just saying how wack hip-hop would have been if people had just set up keyboards at the park. It woulda looked real funny. It wouldn't be as cool as turntables, that's for sure."

PUTS make music the old-fashioned way, paying tribute to the glory of their hip-hop forbears by carefully choosing the wax they sample, looping it, twisting it and adding simple, good-time rhymes.

When they play live, they bring a selection of old, "busted" drum machines, turntables and samplers. Then they flip the old technology in new ways, adding everything from dusky conversations to sounds from old Nintendo games.

The result is funky, smooth, cruisy, jazzy, scratchy and, on new album O. S. T, encapsulates the spirit of "bumpin' beats, crackin' cold beverages, diggin' through the crates and smokin' fat blunts".

The last record Double K remembers buying was an album from 1979 by British punk-rock group Gang of Four. He'll use anything - rock, reggae, dance - "as long as it's funky".

"Double K's definitely the P-funk man," says Thes One. "He's combing out his Afro right now. For a long time I was a big jazz guy. Together we were two old people."

They are in their mid-20s but became interested in hip-hop through their parents' record collections.

"My older brother was always DJ-ing parties and had me carrying crates and lights and stuff. So I was always around it, so that's what taught me how to DJ," says Double K. "I taught myself how to scratch because I would ruin all my mom's records and turntables at home."

He met Thes One at high school and hooked up one day at a record store, a popular hang-out for all the rappers and DJs in their neighbourhood. Half the time they wouldn't buy anything, just look around and listen to beats.

"We have a lot in common," Double K continues. "Our humour matches like nobody else's. We read each other's minds."

They have since supported themselves through touring, making a name around the world and in their hometown of Los Angeles.

Thes One: "Basically we try to pump as hard as possible, no matter if Double K's scratching or rhyming or I'm dancing. We don't do everything to a script. We have fun, too. It's controlled chaos. That's what Double K stands for. Nah I'm just kidding.

"What does Double K stand for, man? Okay, now it's Kount Kracula. We just try to bring the LA house party vibe to the stage, whatever country or place we step on it."

Performance

* Who: People Under The Stairs

* Where: Galatos, tonight 9pm