P.O.S.
Ipecac Neat (2004)
While manifestly the work of Alexander—a.k.a. Promise Of Stress, a.k.a. Pissed Off Stef, a.k.a. P.O.S.—Ipecac Neat is more than just a solo rap record. It bleeds the sensibility of an entire community of producers and MCs. Recorded in fits and starts, and written largely during Alexander’s day job as the men’s room attendant at Rick’s Cabaret, Ipecac Neat is a mish-mash, a mess, a sloppy album that defies simple descriptors. It has its share of relatively straight-ahead rap tracks (“Ants” featuring Toki Wright, and especially the hidden “I Play The Matador (Original Redo)” featuring I Self Devine), but it’s the slightly off-kilter tracks that hint at the heavier artist P.O.S. has become. (P.O.S. releases his third album, Never Better, today.)
“Kicking Knowledge in the Face” seems for half a bar like it’s going to blast off on the kind of tongue-twisting rap that anchors the chorus of “Gimme Gimme Gunshots," but instead the verse goes cavernous. An ominous hum swirls through the stereo field like a circling helicopter while a lonely kick and snare mark the beat and P.O.S. unspools rhymes. The chorus introduces a languorous classical guitar line that seems completely out of place until the beat falls away to reveal it in full. When the boom-clack returns, it’s half-time and funky. To borrow a phrase from our new president, let’s be clear: This is not the kind of shit you hear every day on a rap record.
Since Ipecac, Alexander has pushed his lyrics ever harder, carrying musical weight beyond the clever rejoinders. His present-day style is often dizzying and intense; it’s gratifying to go back and catch a couple of shrewd lines from Ipecac: “See, I see why crews choose the Fox News / I’m seeing CNBC / See and be seen" (from “Music For Shoplifting”); “Treat them cats them cats treat cats in Gummo” (from “I Play The Matador”).
The Legacy: This was the record that landed P.O.S. on the cover of City Pages, introduced us to Lazerbeak’s stupid-awesome production skills (check out “Meth-Head Vs. McNugget” and “Duct Tape”), eventually landed P.O.S. on the Rhymesayers roster, and generally got the ball properly rolling on all things Doomtree. The elements that are whipped up into so much sound and fury on Never Better are here in embryonic form—a little younger, a little more innocent, and maybe a bit clumsier, but no less charming for it.
The Legacy: This was the record that landed P.O.S. on the cover of City Pages, introduced us to Lazerbeak’s stupid-awesome production skills (check out “Meth-Head Vs. McNugget” and “Duct Tape”), eventually landed P.O.S. on the Rhymesayers roster, and generally got the ball properly rolling on all things Doomtree. The elements that are whipped up into so much sound and fury on Never Better are here in embryonic form—a little younger, a little more innocent, and maybe a bit clumsier, but no less charming for it.
