This is a special one.

I've got to start with this. People Under The Stairs is my favorite hip-hop group.

Yes, over whoever else you're thinking about.

Them too.

All of 'em"

That being said...

I first heard PUTS on Mark Farina's Mushroom Jazz 3. The song was called "Schooled in the Trade", and that put me onto Om Records in general (so many posts to go into another day, but I digress...)

I came around O.S.T time, so some old-old school fans could probably claim that I was in first wave of gentrifiers, but I'm pretty celibate to that mindset, AKA, gives no fucks. Is === is.

I reached back into the past catalog and followed them over the years. I listened to Thes One change his lyrical style from a Freestyle Fellowship follower to someone who really rode rhymes in his own unique way.

As did Double K.

These cats loved the music (Jazz Mac did too, no slight to him intended). They rhymed, they produced, they dug beats, they told real life stories without glorifying them; a trait I would appreciate in Little Brother when they came out. I used to call groups like that "Real Hop", because they talked about real life. Not absurdly glorified shit.

I managed to see them twice. Once in Manhattan, once in Brooklyn. I remember being next to Double K and being too shy to buy him a shot (yeah, I had shy days).

I wish I had gotten him that shot. PUTS built a community of people who appreciated music all in all, regardless of where they're coming from. They had a way of unifying people that we really kind of need in the world now.

Double K passed away, and this is a tribute mix to the man who made such wonderful music.

Hip-Hop musicians create art by sculpting sonic elements from one or more sources to have the song hit you in a different way. For many people, it was like magic, and before the era of whosampled.com, one needed to dig and find and know how these songs were created.

In this mix, Thes One pays tribute by playing all the music that inspires the songs that carried me through so many times, made me laugh, smile, shake my head, and make my day. This magician is showing us the source of the magic they provide, and telling us stories of how Mike lived.

As a fan, this is powerful, this is fantastic, and seeing how this is for Thes makes me appreciate him doing this more, appreciate artists for all the journeys they make to be able to share something with the world and hope that someone understands and gets it, and appreciate being able to sit, and feel the journey, and love it.

Mr. Portugal. At one point you apologize, and I just wanted to say that you have nothing to apologize for. As you have done for over 20 years, thank you for bringing a wonderful day through my ears.

Peace.