The Next Step is the debut studio album by People Under the Stairs, released on March 24, 1998. The duo were responsible for nearly every aspect of the album's production and initial release. Quick sales of the album and its sole single, "The Next Step II", also helped to get the group noticed by the label Om Records, with whom the group produced four other albums and found greater success. Background After spending several months recording material and performing their first few shows in 1998, Thes One and Double K used Thes One's student loan funds to independently press and release their first 12-inch single, "The Next Step II". Just weeks after the single was released, the shopkeeper of the now-defunct Mr. Bongo record shop purchased a large number of copies of it for his shop. When he played it on an ordinary day in the store, customers rushed the counter and it sold out within minutes. Impressed by the quick sale, Mr. Bongo's shopkeeper called Chris Smith, owner of Om Records in San Francisco, and urged him to get in contact with People Under The Stairs. Initially, Smith contacted the group regarding a one-song deal for Om's compilation albums Deep Concentration and Mushroom Jazz, but upon hearing more material, Smith offered the group a full contract. Recording The album was self-recorded at Thes One's home on 2228 Cambridge Street in Los Angeles, California. Thes One and Double K used their personal recording equipment, including an E-mu SP-1200, an Akai MPC3000, and an 8-track ADAT digital tape recorder. In 1996, when many of the songs were taking shape, Thes One and Double K were not actually planning on making a full-length hip hop album. They had just decided to make music for their own benefit. Eventually, as the amount of material they were creating grew (and at the urging of their friends), they changed their minds, had the album mastered, created their own artwork and self-released the album in the summer of 1998. After being signed with Om, the label re-released The Next Step as the first album of a four-record deal. The self-released version of the CD came with a beedi in the spine, but this was omitted from the Om release. Some of the outtakes from The Next Step were later released on the group's first compilation album, American Men Vol. 1. Reception After the release of the