by Steve Huey
The underground hip-hop outfit People Under the Stairs was formed by Mike Turner (Double K) and Chris Portugal (Thes One), who met on the fringe of L.A.s late-90s hip-hop underground. The duo, devoted to jazzy samples, danceable beats, intricate rhyming skills, and laid-back humor, debuted in 1998 with the acclaimed The Next Step and followed it up in 2000 with Question in the Form of an Answer. Gathering heavy praise and touring with De La Soul, the group took their road experiences and brought it to the studio to record their next album. The final results appeared in the summer of 2002 under the name O.S.T. Busy with individual side projects, the next People Under the Stairs album, Stepfather, didnt come out for another four years.