Los Angeles has been a hotbed for some of the most creative emcees since the golden days of Radiotron, KDAY and the LA Dream Team. Once gangsta rap rose to prominence in the late ’80s, thanks to a myriad of controversies (many of which were unrelated to the quality of the music itself), a majority of subsequent Hip Hop acts have had to either “Death Row” their style up to please the uninformed masses or suffer the consequence of reaching a small but dedicated fanbase that might not go beyond their beloved neighborhood, city or area code.
People Under the Stairs [click to view] are no strangers to the challenges they face as they maneuver through an industry that will neither support their brand of “feel good” music or acknowledge that they are worthy of being given as much attention as their talented albeit “violent” counterparts (i.e., The Game, Tha Dogg Pound and Dubb Union) from the City of Angels. On their latest album, Fun DMC, the humble duo of Thes One and Double K are more than happy to rhyme about relaxing at backyard barbecues, struggling to pay their bills and traveling the world to find the best weed they’ve ever smoked in their lives – not exactly the type of exciting music you would expect from the place that birthed the cholos, the Bloods and the Crips.
Personal choices aside, the PUTS crew are more than adept at showing the world the joys and pains of living life as normal dudes, fellas who spend their time in a beautiful city that is very good at hiding the ugliness of urban life through a plethora of entertaining distractions. For example, take “Gamin’ On Ya.” The dynamic duo spit rhymes over classic ’80s video game samples and talk about their childhood spent getting high scores on the computer screen, unlike their peers who have succumbed to peer pressure and ended up gangbangin’ or slangin’ on the street corner. Some might say that this is nerdy of them but there is nothing wrong with surviving the ghetto by any means necessary.
This optimistic desire to transcend the sad reality of their environment is also evident in the party jam, “Anotha’ (BBQ).” Instead of getting up to start another day of illegal activities which could get them hurt or even killed, Thes One and Double K use their collective energies to get a party started with friends and loved ones in the form of nickel bags, cold brews and tasty burgers. It isn’t the fact that poverty and violence are non-existent in L.A., it’s just that People Under the Stairs want the rest of the world to know that it is as “Gangsta” to celebrate life’s beauties than it is to celebrate life’s miseries. Other noteworthy tracks on Fun DMC include “Critical Condition,” a head-on discussion of the senselessness of violence, “D”, a somber tale about the pain of losing a true friend, and last but not least, “California,” a touching love letter to their beloved home state that is every bit as proud as Dr. Dre and 2Pac‘s version back in 1996.
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From beginning to end, the latest album by People Under the Stairs is a well thought-out display of Los Angeles rap that neither glorifies nor sugarcoats the realities of city life. The focus of Thes One and Double K‘s music is to survive in the ‘hood by focusing on the celebration of life and by making day-to-day activities, such as throwing house parties, playing video games and smoking weed, a constant source of enjoyment. Although it might not excite the mainstream media or your imagination as much as rags tucked in pockets, pumps and dumps and fist-fights, Fun-DMC is as Los Angeles as Randy’s Donuts, bad traffic and air pollution.
