• Artist: People Under the Stairs
• Rating:
• Release Date: March 23, 1999
• Type: Contains explicit content
• Genre: Rap

Review

Before finding a home further north on San Francisco's Om label, People Under the Stairs released this debut set of understated productions and steady rhymes via their own PUTS imprint. The subject matter on display is hardly unusual, taking in the requisite MC boasting ("Ten Tough Guys"), three tales of hip-hop love gone sour ("The Turndown"), inebriation out on the town ("Mid-City Fiesta"), and odes to the group's birthplace ("Los Angeles Daze") and their adopted home ("San Francisco Knights"). Unfortunately, the duo fails to follow up on the promise of "Death of a Salesman," a gem of dizzying storytelling that arrives early on. Elsewhere, though the train of thought is more easily followed, the two MCs remain well above par, applying the same agile wordplay to almost everything in sight. Stark outlines of rugged, organic beats are tastefully fleshed out by anonymous walking basslines, horn traces, and ominous keyboard chords from deep record crates. These samples set the stage without dominating it as The Next Step manages to dodge most of the jazz-rap pitfalls. Ultimately however, the album falls under the category of "promising debut." PUTS' independent philosophy and their "true school" tag created high expectations during a time when the hip-hop underground was attempting to establish the music's role as "art not income" ("Wannabes"). Yet, rather than "developing a new system" ("Intro/4 Everybody"), The Next Step finds People Under the Stairs performing quite well within the boundaries of old. ~ Nathan Bush, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Intro/4 Everybody	C. Portugal	People Under the Stairs	(6:05)
Death of a Salesman	C. Portugal	People Under the Stairs	(4:37)
Hardcore [Featuring Smile-Oak]	M. Turner, C. Portugal	People Under the Stairs	(4:35)
Wannabes	C. Portugal	People Under the Stairs	(6:15)
Ten Tough Guys	M. Turner, C. Portugal	People Under the Stairs	(3:23)
Mid-City Fiesta	C. Portugal	People Under the Stairs	(4:28)
Slow Bullet	M. Turner, C. Portugal	People Under the Stairs	(1:18)
San Francisco Knights	M. Turner, C. Portugal	People Under the Stairs	(4:31)
The Turndown [Featuring Assault]	M. Turner, C. Portugal	Assault, People Under the Stairs	(4:52)
Time to Rock Our Shit	C. Portugal, M. Turner	People Under the Stairs	(4:24)
The Tamburo 5 [Featuring Naimad/Assault/Shine 5]	D. Walker, C. Portugal, C.J. Anderson, M. Turner	Assault, People Under the Stairs	(3:56)
Los Angeles Daze	C. Portugal	People Under the Stairs	(6:19)
The Next Step II	C. Portugal, M. Turner	People Under the Stairs	(3:44)
D.A.R.E.	C. Portugal	People Under the Stairs	(4:18)
Asshole [Featuring Assault]	C. Portugal, M. Turner	Assault, People Under the Stairs	(4:46)
Play It Again/Outro	C. Portugal, M. Turner	People Under the Stairs	(4:36)

Credits

People Under the Stairs (Producer), Thes One (Producer), Thes One (Executive Producer), Zoo Dog (Mastering), Assault (Performer)

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