by John Bear
Daily Lobo
P.O.S., also known as Stefon Alexander, is feeling stressed.
He is about to go on his first tour as the headliner. His second solo album, Audition, is soon to drop. He is helping his friends with their respective projects. He has a lot going on.
But he isn't complaining. Music is what he loves to do. But it can be stressful. That's what P.O.S. stands for presently - Promise of Stress.
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It stands for several other things - Piece of Shit, Promise of Skills, Pissed off Stef and Product of Society. A name with so many different meanings makes sense for this Michigan-based MC. He comes from a dual background of punk rock and hip-hop. He started playing in punk and hardcore bands, and rapping for fun with his friends. He said he didn't cross over from punk to hip-hop.
"It wasn't so much of a transformation," he said. "I just thought, 'I'll try this too.'"
Punk and hip-hop music, according to P.O.S., are identical, not sonically, but in spirit.
"They're both music that comes from the bottom, whether it's the white suburban bottom or the inner city bottom or somewhere in between," he said. "They come from that voice for the voiceless."
Though P.O.S. is simultaneously punk and hip-hop, he keeps them somewhat separated.
"Punk and rap have no business in the same song," he said.
He said it concerns him when people see him billed as a punk and hip-hop cross, they will assume he is playing Limp Bizkit-type music.
"People hear 'punk rock' and 'hip-hop,' and they think it sucks," he said.
He keeps the punk or hardcore music confined to his band Building Better Bombs. His hip-hop music utilizes samples from punk bands, and possesses some of punk's screaming tendencies, but it is by no means crossover music. His music simply shares the energy of punk, he said.
This punk and hip-hop unity is big in Minneapolis, where he grew up. He said it is not uncommon to see a show where a hip-hop group like Atmosphere will share the bill with a punk band like Dillinger Escape Plan.
It doesn't always work elsewhere.
"I have been to an Atmosphere/Dillinger Escape Plan show in Chicago," he said. "A lot of fights. People don't know how to mix. I have no idea why it works in Minneapolis."
He said his live shows also share a spiritual bond with a punk show. He said rappers tend to spend too much time focusing on how they look onstage. He tries to just let it all hang out.
"I think my live shows are a lot more inviting," he said. "We are trying to worry about people having a good time."
P.O.S. has a show coming up at the Moonlight Lounge on Feb. 27. Audition hits stores Jan. 31.
