Double K, one-half of the LA rap duo People Under the Stairs, died in his home Saturday, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner confirmed to Billboard. He was 43. Born Michael Turner, he and cohort Thes One (real name Christopher Portugal) formed People Under the Stairs in 1997. The two went on to collaboratively produce, sample, MC and DJ their own music with their DIY technique. People Under the Stairs released and entirely engineered their first album The Next Step in 1998 and later signed to Om Records. Their subsequent albums, Question in the Form of an Answer in 2000 and O.S.T. in 2002, helped Double K and Thes One continue to hone their idiosyncratic hip-hop sound that was somewhere in the middle of jazz and psychedelic rock. PUTS eventually disbanded in 2019 following the release of their 12th and final studio album, Sincerely, The P.... "Where I grew up, there was the negative, and I had the positive, which was my music," Double K told the Los Angeles Times in their 2019 exit interview. "I was surrounded by the negativity, the things going on in the streets, the stuff that I thought that I wanted to be a part of. I decided that this was more important. I just holed up in my room, listening to music, and then I met this dude and I had somebody else to listen to music with." A cause of death has not been revealed. DJ Mark Luv claimed in an Instagram video that he died peacefully in his sleep. - Billboard. The mix below was released a few years ago by Soul Supreme and Dase Boogie - it pays tribute to People Under The Stairs. Artwork above by Collins Spaedy. Enjoy the mix of tracks and original samples below, and Rest In Peace, Double K. I had the pleasure of meeting Double K (and Thes) at Fat Beats in 2008... they signed a few pieces of vinyl for me, and I vaguely remember a beer cozy, too. Phenomenal artists and a real pleasure to be around. Tough to digest. Condolences to his loved ones.
