Double K of People Under the Stairs Dead at 43

Double K, one-half of Los Angeles rap duo People Under the Stairs, has died. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, Double K died at home yesterday (January 30). DJ Mark Luv, a friend, claimed he died in his sleep. A cause of death has not yet been revealed. He was 43 years old.

Double K and Thes One formed People Under the Stairs in 1997. Their long-running partnership was founded on DIY principles—as producers and MCs, they sampled, produced, and deejayed all of their music. In 1998, the duo released their debut full-length The Next Step, followed by Question in the Form of an Answer in 2000. O.S.T., their most beloved LP, arrived in 2002.

People Under the Stairs continued to release records and tour frequently throughout their 22 year career. In 2011, Mac Miller brought them on tour as openers. The duo also released a steady stream of records until their disbandment in 2019—their 12th and final album was titled Sincereley, The P. Prior to releasing their farewell record, the duo played their last show at London’s Jazz Cafe in 2018.

In 2019, Double K and Thes One spoke to The Los Angeles Times about their legacy and the decision to make Sincereley, The P their last record. Thes One referred to the article as the duo’s “exit interview,” and the two artists reflected on the two-plus decades they created music together. “Where I grew up, there was the negative, and I had the positive, which was my music,” Double K said. “I was surrounded by the negativity, the things going on in the streets, the stuff that I thought that I wanted to be a part of. I decided that this was more important. I just holed up in my room, listening to music, and then I met this dude and I had somebody else to listen to music with.”