Local rapper lays down fresh beats

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Griffin Muckley
April 6, 2009
Filed under Music Reviews

Finding a way to mesh underground emotion with a mainstream sound, P.O.S. has released his third solo album “Never Better” fresh off the Rhymesayers label, which could potentially propel the underground star into the limelight.

The most notable aspect of the album is a masterful blend of realistic hip-hop drum kits and the epic tones which are usually all too overused in mainstream hip-hop. The Rhymesayers studio has somehow found a way to outdo themselves without overdoing the beats. There is a fine line between creating an intense blend of bass, tones, snare, and high hat and simply creating a cacophony of superfluous sound; “Never Better” rides a unicycle down the middle. On top of the mixing, cuts, scratches, and breaks are perfectly timed and used to complement his lyricism.

P.O.S. stays true to his underground roots in his lyrics, in which he reveals pain and politics from his own life through crafty metaphoric language. In different songs, the rapper moves between entrancing refrains, personal verses, and narration.

P.O.S.’s true merit as a rap artist shines through in his tone and delivery. His intense and fervent tone grabs a listener’s attention by the ear and forces him or her to listen, even if they can’t make out every word through the fast fluid enunciation. What sets this album as a whole above many others is P.O.S.’s deliberate differentiation between deliveries in his songs: no rap is delivered in quite the same way.

It would be a stretch to say that this may be a masterpiece album: P.O.S. has much room to grow, considering a few tracks, namely “Terrorish” and “Never Better” contain more beat than lyrics. However, this could be an album to prove to hard core underground enthusiasts the art behind mixing computerized tones, while also showing narrow-minded mainstream listeners the beauty of neatly crafted, meaningful verses and lyrics.