Last night, Minneapolis hip-hop head Stefon Alexander, otherwise known as P.O.S., graced the stage at Harper's Ferry in support of his latest album, Never Better. Unfortunately, the set was far too late for Bostonist's bedtime (hey, it was a work night), forcing Bostonist to replace what was no doubt a compelling performance for the awkward gaffes and moments that made up this year's Academy Awards telecast. Luckily, Bostonist managed to corral Alexander into answering a handful of questions via the Interweb.
Image of P.O.S. taken from his Myspace page
Bostonist: Your debut, Ipecac Neat was a very dark, minimalist affair, whereas the follow-up, Audition had a golden-age hip-hop feel to it. With Never Better it feels like you made a conscience decision to balance these two distinct musical components into one fluid album. Was this an aspect you were aiming for, or the end result of the creative process, or a culmination of all your previous work influencing your current songs?
P.O.S.: I don't know that I thought much about either record while I was making this one. I set out to make a challenging record for myself and for my fans. Everything is so clean and easy these days and I just wanted to not do that. I tried to base it off the rhythms and not really think about what anyone would think until it was done.
Bostonist: You're well known for easily traversing the hip-hop and punk scenes. Do you feel your experiences in more than one scene has aided your ideals to become a musician?
P.O.S.: Probably, I know that in a purely underground way the scenes are not really that different. Everyone grinds it out, and the further underground you go in both the more creativity and new shit you find. I found underground punk first, so I think I based my ideals off the d.i.y and the kinda raggedy approach first. I wanted to be a musician as soon as I was old enough to know it was an option. It was gonna happen and is gonna happen long after people are paying attention to my records.
Bostonist: With the release of the first official Doomtree album this past summer and Never Better just a couple weeks ago, you've had quite a prolific, non-calendar year. Any chance you may want to re-group with Building Better Bombs (Alexander's punk band) and squeeze out another album before the year ends?
P.O.S.: I was just wrapping up Building Better Bombs vocals when I left for this tour. We should have our new one done before the year is out. It's completely bananas. Also, I've been working on lot's more rap. I'm gonna try to stay busy for a while.
Image of the "Never Better" album artwork taken from the P.O.S. Myspace page
Bostonist: On your website, fans have the ability to re-package the album artwork for their digipack version of Never Better. Is there any particular decision you've decided to bring this D.I.Y. element to online packaging, especially when most other online music sellers/producers seem to have forgotten the entire idea of the album art as a part of the whole record package?
P.O.S.: The over-arching theme of the record is "make something." It comes up in the songs in various ways to do something with yourself than sweat, money, and rock the routine. We wanted the art to reflect that. Eric Carlson took the record before it was done and drew things and made things and we just went back and fourth picking what worked to represent each song. The transparent pieces are to just make it your own. A lot of his art even before this is about stacking different images on top of each other to change what it is, or what it represents. I don't really make singles, not this time anyway; I wanted to make a good record. I like to think in records because I still like records. Nothing is better than something you can play from start to finish while looking at the art. I wanted to do that.
Bostonist: The term "emo-rap" has been pegged squarely on the head of the general Rhymesayers collective for sometime now. What is your opinion of the term as it is used by the press and public? How do you approach musical terminology considering you work in numerous, distinct genres?
P.O.S.: I think people need to have a name for everything. Emo rap sounds pretty unfortunate. When people ask what kind of music I make, I say rap.
Bostonist: Outside of the folks in the Doomtree Collective, what up and coming artists from Minneapolis would you tell people to check out?
P.O.S.: Vampire Hands is an amazing band; Big Quarters are dope as hell and Kill the Vultures are living in the future. I could probably list names of bands that I love from Minneapolis for a month though. It's a good city to live in. We got Brother Ali!
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
