People Under The Stairs Co-Founder, Double K, Dead at 43
The rapper and producer co-founded People Under The Stairs with Thes One in 1997.
Michael Turner, better known as Double K of People Under The Stairs, has reportedly died. He was 43-years-old. However, a cause of death has yet to be announced.
Turner founded People Under The Stairs with fellow Los Angeles-based rapper and producer, Christopher “Thes One” Portugal in 1997. At the time, Turner was already a member of LA’s Log Cabin Crew, a local collective featuring Murs, Eligh, and Scarub. But a mutual love of crate-digging and one another’s beat tapes brought Turner and Portugal together. People Under The Stairs went on to release their debut album, The Next Step, in 1998 and have released more than a dozen projects in the years since. The group’s final album, Sincerely, The P, arrived in 2019, marking an amicable disbanding of the influential LA hip-hop duo, whose catalog featured appearances from George Clinton, Jurassic 5, and the Hieroglyphics crew.
As the news of Turner’s passing began to circulate, peers, collaborators, and fans alike offered their condolences and remembrances on social media Sunday morning.
You can read through some of the tributes below.
RIP Double K. Was just listening to People Under the Stairs last night.
— ItsTheReal (@itsthereal) January 31, 2021
RIP ? 2 Mid-City└A’s own Double K
(Michael Turner) of @PUTS. Respect.
Condolences 2 his family, Thes One,
all their listeners & peers at this time.• Bandcamp:https://t.co/51TGy2yVLM
• Discogs:https://t.co/LJLCoeOLht pic.twitter.com/G0Zph3tiWr
— DāM-FunK (@DaMFunK) January 31, 2021
Damn…. RIP Double K. Never knew the PUTS guys personally, but it felt like there was a concurrent thing happening on the west coast to the Jux/Fondle em/RSE thing, and they were in the middle of it. Condolences to Thes One.
— RJ (@rjd2) January 31, 2021
Just found out that Los Angeles lost another hero.
Rest In Peace to Crescent Heights very own Dj Double K of @puts. Mike was a good man…#DjDoubleK #PUTS #PeopleUnderTheStairs #LosAngeleHipHop pic.twitter.com/tKOcKaUuxP
— rhettmatic (@rhettmatic) January 31, 2021
TRENDING VIDEOS
RIP to Double K of People Under the Stairs, a canonical L.A. rap group & one of the most underrated duos ever. If you ever saw the live show, you know.
If you’re unfamiliar, here’s a re-upped 2009 profile that I wrote in an unnamed local alt-weekly. https://t.co/8JGagQV6DE
— Otto Von Biz Markie (@Passionweiss) January 31, 2021
Not Double K. What a dope persona and artist. One of my first big national tours PUTS was gracious enough to take me out. Double K was a fucking west coast pioneer. This is tough. Prayers up for K, his family, and Thes.
REST IN POWER DOUBLE K ? pic.twitter.com/nPXjRM2xkC
— PSALM ONE ??? (@PsalmOne) January 31, 2021