Customer Reviews

Next Step

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Alright, PUTS is one of my three favorite groups. My others are TCQ and Common (Common Sense, whatever, for the LP Ressurection). The first PUTS album I got was Question in the Form of an Answer, which is a great album. So, I bought this one and was blown away. While QFA is an album where the maturity of Thes One and Double K is apparent, Next Step is just so fun and catchy, it sticks out as the better of the two. This is real hip-hop right here. Great lyrics, revolutionary beats (they're taken from 8-tracks) and a great atmosphere, The Next Step is the best of one of the three best hip-hop groups available on CD. Get it, cherish it, and please appreciate it to its fullest.

I just found out about this album a few days ago when I went to the record store and man was it a good buy. This is no doubt an excellent album even outshining their current album. The best track in the album has to be track no. 6: Mid-City Fiesta. Their album is laced with tight bass drums,funky horns,guitars and old school samples which gives this album a solid and refreshing sound. This is highly reccomended to all the hip hop lovers out there. This has to be in my top 50 favorite albums. Check this out .....

People Under The Stairs are some of the last true hiphop producers. PUTS and J5 seem to be the last real beat-diggers. The good old days of sampling loops off old funk and soul records to make decent hip-hop records are nearly over.

For a start this was their first LP, constructed from an extensive array of undiscovered breaks ranging from south america to europe and probably further. I can't imagine how many hours these guys spend digging for beats.

PUTS rhyme in an old-school way. Maninly slow flows, somewhat similar to J5. More of a party vibe. It makes a change from the cram-as-many-words-into-a-bar style of many of todays MC's. Also PUTS rhyme about fairly cheerful stuff, going to parties and getting drunk etc.

You just have to listen to San Francisco Knights to see that this is no run of the mill LP.
It is far from the modern 'beep-line' over a rock guitar break neptunes type sound. This is one of those LP's that you will keep coming back to.

Aaron, you're better off listening to Linkin Park, funkFlex & other chart music. Listen to another 500 hiphop LP's then check PUTS again . . . . . you're welcome.

"The Next Step" (1998) was the start for one of the most consistant groups in hiphop, period. People under the stairs to this day have still not come out with an album that has disappointed or paled in comparison to other releases, everything they do is pure HipHop, straight "for the love", no bullish. And this is the foundation, the one that started it all, the one that they had to run around san fran just giving out free copies to promote themselves with...this is the underground. And just for that fact alone, I recomend this album. Now if you've never heard of PUTS, they are made up of Producer/MC Thes One & DJ/Producer/MC Double K both of whom compliment each other perfectly with their funky LA personalities and mutual relationship that just makes everything sound right. Now, it is often said that PUTS' work is never ever groundbreaking, or revolutionary, or "nothing different" so "why the hype?". Understand, the difference with PUTS is they pretty much symbolise the saying "dont F' with it, if it don't need fixin'", and when we talk about "it" we mean HipHop. PUTS have an old school approach to their music, with the help of some SP1200's and MPC's, both thes one and double K are the ultimate beat makers, finding some of the most un-used samples and flipping 'em to make every beat they do as tight as it can get! Admittedly, PUTS are not the most orginial lyricists ever, but it's their relatable honesty & chilled - out LA mentality that make them utterly captivating when they decide to start talking. Besides, not all "good lyricism" means strict multiple rhyming, creative metaphors & similies etc, as "lyrics" means the substance, and if the substance is far from brainwashing, generic crap then whats to say it isn't brilliant lyricism? It depends on the listeners ability to understand where the artist is coming from, and their aim.
The Next Step is made up of 15 tracks and 1 skits. Now, there is not one weak track on the album, with "San Francisco Knights" being one of the best tracks ever to come from the West, period. The beat is just ridiculous! which just sums up the brilliance of PUTS. "Los Angeles Daze" is equally as brilliant, with a sample that will send shivers down your spine, and just make you reach for that rewind button! Tracks like "Mid City Fiesta" bring that funky, positive vibe that is definitely feel-good music but is far from a cheesy attempt. "Time to rock our sh*t" brings that typical backpacking fire! with Thes one & double k displaying their lyricial ability, over once again, a flawless beat that makes you think "why have I not heard of these cats before?". Featurings on the album, are limited, just like the old school. With natives Smile-oak, Assualt, Naimad & Shine dropping by for the ride, contributing their bit. People under the stairs just sum up everything still good about Hiphop, bringing that natural love that all fans of boom bap, old school, early-mid 90's and all of that other "true" hiphop will undoubtedly appreciate. PUTS are still broke as ever, and as slept on as ever, & it is your duty as a self-proclaimed hiphop fan to now pick up this album and everthing else by PUTS and support the best group still going, recognise. PEACE!!!

Also Check out: "Question in the form of an answer" (2000), OST (2002), "Or stay tuned EP" (2003) and their best "Stepfather" (2006)!

Lyrics - 9/10
Beats - 10/10
Originality - 10/10
Replay Value - 10/10

This album is so good. It is even better than ? in the form of an answer. The beats are incredible. This record is in the top five of my 200+ hip-hop album collection.

One reason it won't get five stars from me? The awful gangsta pastiche that is "Death Of A Salesman" - complete with faux-gunfire. The rest is just wonderful. Thes One (principally rhymes) and Double K (turntables, although both do both, if you follow) were so confident in their ability as musicians and producers that they pawned all their equipment to make this album - sounds like they were entirely justified too. The "Domino's Pizza" skit makes me laugh every time, as does the ticket-booth woman in "Mid-City Fiesta". Funny, funky, raw and yet polished till it could blind you in the sun, The Next Step is certainly one in the right direction.

I recently bought this CD, and it is one of those albums that you can listen to all the way through without skipping any tracks, and then start over again at track one and listen through again. The beats are amazing, and vary a good deal, and the rhymes are nearly perfect. San Francisco Knights is one of the best rap tracks i have ever heard!
Favorite Tracks: San Francisco Knights, Mid City Fiesta

While you listen to this album, keep in mind that this is People Under the Stairs first album! It is so tight- excellent creative and groovy beats(production could be better), dope lyrics, and an album to hit 'play' and not have to skip songs. Get this or consider yourself out of the loop!

'they said it was all glitz.. i exhale, this sh*t is stale, old bidis are like new hip hop..' this album along with EVERY other PUTS release is as fresh as it gets for old school/true school.
PUTS are one of the only still following the 'all break beat/no key board no drum pack' style hip hop.. as in every sound you hear is literally another piece of another song somewhere else in time. all this new industry made hip hop is horrible. if youre looking for relief from today's 'hip hop' b**ch-made music its time for you to turn to the people under the stairs.. and id suggest you start with next step. thats an album with alot of funky breaks,really fat beats and the freshest of lyrics. reminds me alot of tribe called quest back in the day. its a gem.

Most hip-hop nowdays has become all about cappin fools or makin it rain in the club. Now I'd shoot somebody who comes into my home tryin to hurt me and I enjoy going to the club too, I just don't drink Cris and I complain about how expensive the $6 water is - but as far as relating to whats being rapped about in 2009? I don't have much in common with it.

Now People Under the Stairs? They rap about smokin blunts with their crew, gettin to know fine mid-city honeys, and drinkin 40s. I can relate to all of that. I have found my identity in hip-hop!

And it doesn't hurt that all their beats are sick, they flow over the feel of each song's track and I can listen to this album especially; over and over and over again!

And shout-out to Aaron G in Seattle: don't be mad that one of the PUTS guys probably swooped in and stole your girlie's heart when they came through your town. Life must be hard as a chump.