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.