Double K, a member of the Los Angeles underground rap duo People Under the Stairs, died on Saturday at the age of 43. The rapper died at his home, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, although no cause of death has been reported.
Born Michael Turner, Double K and his cohort Thes One (Christopher Portugal) formed the duo People Under the Stars as high school students in the mid-nineties. Both already produced music in high school when they got together, meeting for the first time with a mutual friend to decide which song was superior. They decided to join forces instead.
“Where I grew up, there was the negative and I had the positive, which was my music,” Turner told Los Angeles Times in 2019. “I was surrounded by negativity, by the things that happened on the streets, by the things that I thought I wanted to be a part of. I decided that this was more important. I just hid in my room, listening to music, and then I met this guy and had someone else to listen to music. “
In 1998, they released their first LP The Next Step, featuring one of their exclusive tracks, “San Francisco Knights”. Although mainstream success eluded them, People Under the Stairs formed a cult following in the rap community thanks to albums like the 2000 one Question in the form of an answer and 2002 OST, the duo’s most enduring release.
The late rapper Mac Miller was also a fan of the duo, titled a song in his 2011 mixtape I love life, thank you “People Under the Stairs“; the track also proved “San Francisco Knights”. The duo was invited to act as an opening band on Miller’s 2011 tour.
The group continued to release songs and did a relentless tour of more than 60 consecutive shows, with hip-hop journalist Jeff Weiss watching his “mix of jazzy flirtations from Tribe Called Quest, the goofy and relaxed attitude of Pharcyde and the carefree pothead. Beatnuts ”in a 2009 profile of the group. After more than two decades together, People Under the Stairs announced in January 2019 that they would give up after their 12th studio LP, Sincerely, The P.
“I think a lot of the people who grew up with us still want us to rap about parties, car trips and buying records, and we thought, ‘Dude, how many times can I say that?'” Turner told LA Times at the time. ““ Most of my favorite rap groups have only reached three [albums], and the third sucked. “
In the farewell interview, it was noted that “Once a tall figure, Double K now looks much more fragile and his hands are shaking as he speaks.”
Turner fans and fellow rappers went to social media to honor the musician. “What a stupid person and artist”, Salmo One tweeted. “One of my first major national tours, PUTS, was kind enough to take me outside. Double K was a bloody West Coast pioneer. “