In predictable People Under the Stairs fashion, the video for “Trippin’ at the Disco,” the lead single from “Carried Away,” released today on Om Records, remains severely unsung, rivaling Alchemist and Oh No’s “Under Siege” for funniest rap video of the year. Assuming the premise that “in March of 1980 two young rappers from Los Angeles appeared on the ‘Chikara Kurahashi Hit Station’ variety show in Tokyo. [The tape details] the first time rap music had ever been performed in Asia…here is the lost tape of that performance.”
Double K looks slightly uncomfortable–understandable considering the spanking white leisure suit and cop shades make him look like a Disco dictator from the Caribbean. But Thes One, who nabbed a co-director credit for the clip, hams it up in full handlebar mustache Me Decade glory. This is the sort of stuff that underground rappers ought to be striving for–funny, creative, low-budget videos that don’t take themselves seriously and channel the ebullient spirit of the pre-Gangsta era without aping their antecedents. A decade deep, People Under the Stairs continue to demonstrate a longevity that’s eluded many of their peers from the class of ’99. To say nothing of the fact that Thes One has arguably the greatest crib in indie-rap history.
Download:
MP3: People Under the Stairs-“Trippin’ at the Disco”
