Kelly Trom

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Alchemist has produced for Mobb Deep, Nas and Jadakiss. He has DJed for Eminem. He produced the song “Live on Stage” for the 2008 film “Step Brothers,” starring Will Ferrel and John C. Reilly.

Evidence has been a part of Dilated Peoples. He has produced for music giants such as Kanye West, Defari and Planet Asia.

Put them together and you get the independent, freestyling sound that is the Step Brothers duo.

Alchemist and Evidence grew up together in Los Angeles and pursued their music careers independently from each other, collaborating occasionally when they had the time.

Hardcore fans who listened to each of their music independently for years as well as songs they wrote together had been pushing for the match for awhile. Evidence described the Step Brothers project as long overdue.

“We never said ‘We are the Step Brother group,’” Evidence said. “People wanted it and they kept asking for it since we had all this music sitting around, so it just made sense.”

Though both Evidence and Alchemist have achieved individual accomplishments in the hip-hop music industry, the two have competitive — but respectful — attitudes toward one another.

“He’s upsetting to be around,” Evidence said. “He’s the guy that beats the video game the first day it comes out. Or he doesn’t know how to play drums and he just sits there and figures it out.”

When the two are writing music together though, the atmosphere is relaxed and all about the beats.

“We don’t even realize we were making it,” Evidence said. “There was weed and people playing ping pong, and then there would be a beat and someone would be like, ‘Yo, let me jump on that.’ We were just making another song that day, it wasn’t specifically for anything.”

Once they had enough songs to make an album, the two really started to think about making the project more concrete. Their debut album as the Step Brothers, Lord Steppington, dropped this past January. The project is a departure from some of the big projects the two have worked on independently.

“Step Brothers aren’t trying to make pop songs for radio or television,” Evidence said.  “We have the power and the freedom to do this because we have earned a lot of money off of selling Girl Scout cookies.”

The songs on Lord Steppington are a departure from mainstream hip-hop. They don’t even have choruses that fans could possibly memorize. Part of the reason Alchemist and Evidence are involved in so many projects is so they have a greater selection of material to perform from.

“You get tired of performing everything,” Evidence said. “By the time people want that song, you are over it and on to the next one. No one likes old music except live. Everyone wants the new shit, but when you perform live they want to hear the old shit.”

Step Brothers performed at this past weekend’s Rock ‘N’ Flow festival at Santa Rosa Park.

“We wanted to be in San Luis Obispo for a long time, and now somebody booked us,” Evidence said.

Neil Nelson, a Rock ‘N’ Flow organizer and longtime fan of Evidence and Alchemist, said he feels blessed that the duo will be a part of a show he is helping to put on.

Nelson saw the duo live a month ago with James Kaye, a main organizer of Rock ‘N’ Flow.

“They are really consistent with their performances,” Nelson said. “You never catch an off-day with them. Every show that I see with them, they tear the stage down.”

Kaye and Nelson have been friends for more than 15 years and have shared a love for everything hip-hop, including looking up to Evidence and Alchemist as role models. They even played a part in one of Kaye’s albums.

“James Kaye actually wrote his album sound at my house down in Ojai,” Nelson said. “I was playing him a lot of Evidence and Alchemist and a whole range of different types of music. They have influenced James to be the MC he is today.”

Nelson has really appreciated the way they have carved out their own genre and stayed true to their own sound.

“They are really artistic dudes,” Nelson said. “They do a lot of directing of their own videos; they are into photography. They always have a hand as artists when they release projects. Nowadays with major labels that is hard to do.”