The Onion and Radio K present P.O.S.
P.O.S
P.O.S built his reputation as an innovator, with an unlikely punk rock past and expressive, honest content. He re-earns the accolades with every release. He manages to capture his charisma on his records; they’re driving and sincere, the dark moments counterbalanced by some giggling banter with the engineer.
MYSPACE :: FACEBOOK :: TWITTER :: DOOMTREE :: RHYMESAYERS
As a little kid, Stef developed a fascination with an older cousin’s bass guitar. Stef was allowed to take it home and he banged on it happily for years before realizing that it was intended to be played through an amp. "I just thought it was supposed to be a quiet instrument." As a teenager, he fell hard for punk rock. Minor Threat, At the Drive-In, Refused, Kid Dynamite. He played in a series of hardcore bands, sometimes as a drummer, sometimes on guitar and vocals. From the start, he preferred basement shows to club gigs. Simultaneously, he pursued hip hop, rapping in the hallways and after school with classmates who would eventually found Doomtree Records. P.O.S released his first rap record, Ipecac Neat, on Doomtree in 2003. Soon it was re-released and widely distributed on Rhymesayers Entertainment. He built on this momentum with the release of the albums Audition (2005) and Never Better (2009).
Like many great rappers, P.O.S creates his own self-contained little microcosm-his characters become familial to us; we get in on his slang and inside jokes. His mother and his son Jacob emerge as familiar personalities. We know his politics too: P.O.S doesn’t hesitate to call out the compounding absurdities of pop culture, either with a little friendly ribbing or with a Molotov cocktail. On Never Better he drops deft one-liners that cut to the quick of America’s stuff-obsessed culture, "Can’t take it with them can they? Some critics will be eager to categorize P.O.S’ work as a hybrid, a crossover of some kind. But it’s probably not. P.O.S is a rapper with range, he’s a real musician and an unstoppable performer. For him, genres are as they ever were: permeable.
PLAIN OLE BILL
After spending one year on the road as P.O.S' tour DJ, Bill returned to town to continue building the phenomenon which is he and Jimmy 2 Times' monthly Get Cryphy party. If there's a great hip hop party going on in the Twin Cities, it's likely that Bill is the man behind the turntables. Special Young Bill has been consistently holding it down for years, fluent in classic hip hop, disco, and funk as well as current club rap stompers.
SLAPPING PURSES
Dance party eccrine and experimental noise abrasion may seem like distinct corners of the musical universe, but those with their nose in the Twin Cities underground know the explosive potential when the 'tween do meet. Like a methed-out Afrikaa Bambaataa scratching your itch for brain scrambling distortion, Slapping Purses is this nexus. Kick drum whumps, bass boom throbbing, garbled bombardments of sharp noise, and the most sinister command of breaks, breaks, breaks, since Marley Marl and Co.
PROF
Party, booze, girls, party, fun, booze, drunk, fight, party, party; a day in the life of Prof’s raps. A 25-year-old who loves to have a good time, Prof thinks his music should reflect exactly that. “Everyone’s trying to be a preacher or a politician— telling you how to live your life,” he says. “I’m not running for Senate. I’m doing this for fun and I don’t watch my mouth.”
ST. PAUL SLIM
Methodically quiet and seriously serious, St. Paul Slim prefers to sit back and observe, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Don’t write him off as shy or docile, though, because for as somber as Slim can be, he can be equally boisterous and rowdy. He’ll get in your face to deliver the harsh reality of everyday life in the inner city. Born in Chicago and raised in St. Paul, Slim’s hard past is the creative fuel powering his career. If he raps about a gun, it’s because he’s carried one. If he rhymes about gang violence, it’s because he’s dealt with it and witnessed it.
MOONSTONE CONTINUUM
Presently MOONSTONE is a Lunarian organization pathologically dedicated to cultivating general cultural enhancement and constructive affiliation, by ritually insisting a program of rightfulness upon the community at large. Through musical therapeutrics, spiritual consultation, and satisfaction advocacy, Moonstone transmits procedures of analytical Factualism, and individual rebrilliantation, which aid in illuminating the path of well-tendered Want and perceptual fulfillment. We have administered our program across the globe and its immediate margins, but are based in Minneapolis, MN.
