Thoughts convertible / That’s what I’m on /Keep living in
your box / What is that,
a Scion?
Said it before, I’ll say it again: That P.O.S. character is
the illest thing on Rhymesayers Entertainment, no offense to the
homeys—as much as I love a brilliant traditionalist like Brother
Ali, Pissed Off Stef makes music that for me is about a thousand times
more exciting. So good news for me and you—he’s gonna be at
Nectar (and cheers to their new booker, Meli Darby!) on February
6, rocking shit off of his incendiary new album, Never
Better.
Splicing punk ferocity and real rap skills is a famously tall order,
but it’s something P.O.S. is exceedingly skilled at, particularly on
this very fittingly titled album—isn’t it nice when rappers
keep getting better? The Gatling-type spits and
sparse-then-crushing beats of “Drumroll (We’re All Thirsty)” and
“Purexed” are unlike shit else you heard, and dude’s raps are only
out-slept-upon by his seriously idiosyncratic production (P.O.S. laced
half of this album hisdamnself, and his best moments are always over
his own sloppy, jittery, buzzing/screaming punk-hop instros). But don’t
get it twizzlered, P.O.S. has mucho rewindables for that ass—not
so much for the oh-shit punch lines, but for the wealth of scalding
clarity and honesty (and not the weepy insincere emo shit lesser
rappers do to acquire dangerous-looking female fans, mind you) that
litter his rhymes like Nikes do your apartment. Buy his album, then go
to this show; P.O.S.’s Doomtree clique and Onry Ozzborn and the Gigantics open.
Okay, so at this point y’all know I rap. I’m currently in three
active hiphop crews (and counting), and I try my best to avoid
unnecessary conflicts of interest in this column (this is a small town,
you gotta wear a lot of hats, period), but here goes: They Live! are rocking at Neumos February 11, with Rudy and the Rhetoric,
the very aptly named Helladope, Thee Satisfaction, and
LéRoy. You may be wondering who those last two
are—Thee Satisfaction is THEE Stasia and Cat
Satisfaction, and their blunted freakjazzpop is a beautiful mess.
LéRoy is Waystyles and OC Notes, and when their
considerable powers combine, they form one of the illest
instrumental/laptop combos I’ve ever heard. You’ll know
soon.
Speaking of which, instrumental master Nightmares on Wax (it’s one dude, dude) is hitting up Chop Suey February 7, with
(Del‘s DJ) Zac Hendrix opening up—definitely catch
that. Sometimes it’s nice to hit a hiphop show and not have to listen
to rappers squawking all the fucking time. 