Thes One

Christopher Cesar Portugal (born October 18, 1977), best known as Thes One, is an American rapper, record producer and sound engineer. As one half of hip hop duo People Under the Stairs alongside Double K, serving as a vocalist/MC, producer and business manager, he produced and engineered 12 albums for People Under the Stairs that appeared on the U.S. and International Billboard charts numerous times, as well as remixes and singles for various artists across the globe and appearances as guest vocalist. As a business manager, he coordinated world tours for People Under the Stairs, co-founded the independent artist-run Tres Records label and went on to create Piecelock 70, a self run, independent record label and brand in 2004. People Under the Stairs announced their intention to retire in early 2019 following the release of their 12th and final album Sincerely, The P, and his career and contribution was celebrated by the Los Angeles Times in a full page article. Additionally, he designs and builds recording studios and custom gear, guest lectures at colleges and graduate programs about AI, financial literacy and music history and continues to create music following the death of his partner. His musical aliases include Lord Radio. Born Christopher Cesar Portugal in Torrance, California to an American mother and immigrant Peruvian father, Thes One grew up in San Pedro, California. He was first introduced to hip hop at Peck Park childcare, where older counselors would paint graffiti in the empty public pool and play the now defunct AM radio station 1580 KDAY. While attending high school in Los Angeles, Thes One met Michael Turner (Double K), and the two began working together as what would soon become People Under The Stairs. Upon graduating from Loyola High School in 1995, he applied to Berklee School of Music in Boston for a BA in Audio Engineering but received a writing scholarship to USC, where he was chosen for the prestigious honors English program. While there, he studied under his advisor Percival Everett, received the Seibert Fellowship for poetry, acceptance to the Golden Key Honors Society and walked in 1998 Magna Cum Laude with Dean's Honors. While studying at USC, he began recording music with Michael Turner as People Under the Stairs, and in 1997 they performed their first in-store appearance as a group at the now defunct Beat Non Stop record store on Melrose. That year they also took a trip to the Bay Area, and upon returning, wrote and recorded "San Francisco Knights", one of the group's most popular songs. In the spring of 1998, months before graduating and using his student loan funding, Thes One independently released the first People Under the Stairs 12-inch entitled The Next Step Pt. 2. 250 of the original vinyl run were made until the stamper broke, at which time an additional 200 were made from a different master without the secret bonus track "Live at the Fishbucket", which appears on the first run B-side. In late summer 1998, he independently released their first album entitled The Next Step, which he also produced and engineered in its entirety. After selling out of the vinyl 12-inch in 7 minutes, the shopkeeper at Mr. Bongo's record store in London called Chris Smith, label owner of Om Records, and urged him to get in contact with the group. Chris Smith contacted Thes One initially for one song for their compilation series Deep Concentration and Mushroom Jazz, but upon hearing the tracks they were working on, offered P.U.T.S. a four-album deal. The deal was signed in 1999 and P.U.T.S. left for their first world tour in August 1999, initially as support for the Deep Concentration project but later that year in Europe as a Solo Act with local openers. The second PUTS album, Question In The Form Of An Answer, was released in June 2000. The lead 12-inch single, "Youth Explosion", sold the full run of 15,000 copies pressed in its first month, and was not repressed in order to promote the second and third singles "The Cat" and "We’ll Be There" – each of which went on to sell its 15,000 run. The album was critically acclaimed for its eclectic and diverse range of beats rooted in jazz and Psychedelic rock and P.U.T.S. continued with another set of world tours to support the record, this time adding Japan and Australia to their routing. Following the release of the second album, Thes One began to coordinate strings of successful world tours for PUTS culminating in performances at the UK's Glastonbury Festival in 2001 alongside Kelis and shows at the Reading, Leeds and the Essentials festival in London where the group was joined by Biz Markie, Ice-T, Jeru, Masta Ace and De La Soul on the final Sunday of the festival. In between managing tours and performing, Thes One began producing and engineering the third People Under the Stairs album, which was released in June 2002 as O.S.T. (Original Soundtrack). Critically acclaimed for its broad musical influences and dead on hip hop sound, songs such as "Montego Slay" and Acid Raindrops quickly became favorites and helped solidify their dedicated worldwide fan base. As well as producing People Under the Stairs albums, Thes One completed remixes for many artists as well as library music for a few television pilots which were not picked up. 2002 also saw PUTS embark on their first national US tour as support for Deltron 3030. The group continued to tour through the 2004 release of their Or Stay Tuned album, the final release on San Francisco-based Om Records. The album was labeled an EP due to contractual issues but was considered by many, including the group, to be a full-length contribution. The group continued to tour the globe, spending, at times, 7 to 8 months of the year on the road. In April 2004, Thes One was approached by friend Chikara Kurahashi (of Giant Panda) and was asked to co-found and help start a record label using his connections and knowledge of the record industry. He agreed, and to help get the label off of the ground, turned over a series of 12" projects and one album, Lifestyle Marketing, as well as the concept for the Bloquera project. The first twelve-inch release on the newly formed Tres Records imprint was Thes One's Noonen 12", an ode to the music of the movie Caddyshack, followed by Doin’ It with Raashan Amad. Thes One also brought artists Lightheaded (whom he signed when they opened for PUTS in Portland) and DJ Alibi to the Tres Roster. In May 2004, he coordinated the Bloquera project, a trip to southernmost Baja California to record an EP and shoot a video on Super 8. Following this trip he began executive producing and mixing the Fly School Reunion album for Tres Artists Giant Panda. Shortly thereafter, following a disagreement about the structure and compensation for artists, Thes One formally left Tres Records both as an artist and founder. Thes One continued to tour with PUTS through 2005 and began production on the next PUTS album, Stepfather. He signed a distribution deal for the group with Los Angeles label Basement Records and coordinated the elaborate deluxe packaging with long-time friend Joshua Dunn of design team Secret Pizza Party. Stepfather (2006), PUTS fifth full-length release, was met with critical acclaim and presented a more modern and personal direction for the group. Consisting of Thes One's turn towards left of center rhythm's and modern soul and disco, it was his most ambitious production yet, though songs like Tuxedo Rap seemed, at first listen, a simple return to hip-hop's disco rap roots. The group toured the album in the US throughout that year, taking then unknown rock-rap group Gym Class Heroes as opening act with them. Stepfather debuted on the Billboard charts May 6, 2006 at #32 on the Heatseaker Chart and #35 on the Independent Albums chart. Throughout 2006 and 2007, Thes One continued to tour as a member of People Under the Stairs and tour/business manager, expanding the groups presence throughout the world through festival dates