About "The Point Of The Rhyme"
SactownConnection:
It's not all that impressive of a resumé, but it's enough to feel that I can I say I love music and know a bit about People Under The Stairs.
Back when I was a kid in the 90's, my best friend and I used to walk around Sacramento, digging through comic books and records. My family was musical, so I was into classic rock, reggae, funk, metal, soul, and jazz. In a manner very similar to the roots of People Under The Stairs, I developed a collector's mind; if I heard a good song, I got everything that artist had to offer. If I loved a video game, I wouldn't rest 'til the big boss was as dead as fried chicken... then I'd play it again. My obsession with the comic books and the video games waned, but the music was always there. Herbie Hancock, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Lee Scratch Perry, etc.
However, there were a few steps I wasn't as proud of... in college, I was in the first wave of students to discover Napster and file-sharing, and I did my share of downloading scads of music. Despite broadening my tastes and my digital collection, I began to not take music seriously anymore. For instance: like every other middle class white kid that bought Doggystyle or The Chronic to laugh at the dirty rhymes or feel tough like a little sheltered gangsta, I had only a distorted view of the art-form known as hip hop for a long time. The Beastie Boys might've been the only hip-hop artists that I listened to regularly.
Fast forward to 2006: I'm two years out of college, and my love of the JBs and Parliament has led to me to discovering funk-sampled hip hop. Now, I'm playing catch-up with the cool underground hip hop artists that I should've been peeping ten years ago. Jurassic 5, Blackalicious, A Tribe Called Quest... I fell in love. I downloaded or bought whatever I could get my hands on, and slowly, that love of music came back. Every song was more than just a melody line and a rhythm section. Every song was an experience. From the virtuoso MCing, to the search for the samples in a particular song, to the amazement at how the sample was used, I could spend months just digesting one album. And it was all coming at me at once in my own personal Renaissance.
The first time I heard People Under The Stairs, I was in such a whirlwind of discovery that they got laid aside. Later, I heard Thes and Double guest rap on a Ugly Duckling track, and went back to give them a second chance.
Boom.
The collector in me said: "Get everything. Now." I started a modest collection, which in time grew to about 90% of everything People Under The Stairs has released. I also found the forum and met the other P fans, and noticed that I wasn't the only one that wanted to know about the lyrics, so I started this project.
The site:
Does it ever piss you off to try to find lyrics to something, and you get a gang of sites with no respect for the artist, tons of pop-up ads, no connection to the music, and a bunch of shit wrong? Yeah, me too. I felt that People Under The Stairs deserved better than that. People Under The Stairs deserve more than most; a gang of albums, over a decade of good music, and they're still underappreciated? Weak.
The way I see it, I was in a perfect spot for the help out. I'm essentially a big nerd that takes the free time that I have and devotes it to projects that some might call trivial, but I call FUN. I also happen to not give a shit about people's negative criticism if it's baseless. Add to that, a little knowledge about HTML coding, and it's time to help the brothers out.
One "disclaimer"-style note: This site is not directly affiliated with People Under The Stairs, Piecelock 70 or any previous label that they've been on. But I've met Chris and Mike, and they know about the site and have given me their "blessing", so to speak, on creating it. I've received word that they may even come by to correct the lyrics themselves at some point, if they can find the time (they work hard, man). The PL70 gang and I have also bandied about the idea that, at some point, this site may become a part of Piecelock 70's internet experience.
So enjoy the site. Until I get an email address set up, please contact me on the P.U.T.S. Forum (under SactownConnection) if you have any questions, and love your life enough to put some music and fun in it. Peace.
Final note on samples:
You will not, unfortunately, find out what samples were used for People Under The Stairs tracks on this website. This isn't really my choice. At home, I actually have a fairly extensive list of samples that People Under The Stairs have used. I think it would be cool if, someday, sample clearance laws in this country change, and I were free to post said list. For the time being, though...
Sampling is a touchy subject. Some artists are okay with their music being used for a hip-hop track. Some have let their copyright to certain pieces of music expire, so that music is fair game. Some artists, however, are against having their music used in any fashion. While it's true that eventually an artist may discover that an un-cleared sample of their music was used by a DJ, there's no reason to expedite the process by posting it out for all to see.
Also, part of the "fun" of hip hop is in the discovery. If it was laid out for all to see immediately, I'm not sure the journey to find the sample would be as much fun. I'm fairly sure P.U.T.S. agrees with me on this one, and I believe I remember Thes saying once that he did not want sample lists out there.
Anyway, I'm sorry if you disagree with me on this, but I hope you still enjoy the site.
