Stefon Alexander, better known by his stage name P.O.S., was walking around the streets of Austin during the South by Southwest music conference. This was his third year at the annual event.
‘Man, this was easily my favorite year at SXSW,’ Alexander said. ‘It was the most productive and the year with the most shows, and I had a lot of time to just mess around too, so that was good.’
Alexander is sharp, witty and in possession of a thought process that is on a different plane than the average hip-hop musician. Raised on punk rock and hardcore, Alexander has integrated those influences with hip-hop, creating a more aggressive blend of hip-hop than anything probably heard before.
‘A lot of the influence comes from the energy and experimentation that comes from that type of music,’ Alexander said. ‘I’m not trying to bite them, I’m just using them to mold my own creativity.’
Never Better, P.O.S.’s third studio album was released in early February. In comparison to his past releases Audition and Ipecac Neat, the album has done better both critically and sales-wise. Alexander remains indifferent about his sales, but remains content with the fact his album is doing well.
‘My last album sold 30,000 total and (Never Better) has sold more right off the bat, but I don’t care to know the numbers,’ Alexander said. ‘I’m a musician and an artist. I’m not trying to be in the business. I’ll do this regardless if people are listening.’
An artist would definitely be an accurate description of P.O.S., considering the time and effort that went into the packaging concepts that went into the physical copies of Never Better. The album has a clear digipak-style case with 22 interchangeable covers.
‘We mainly wanted the art to be interactive. We wanted to have the lyrics and the art and have it to where you can make it your own,’ Alexander said. ‘Any allusion to doing something yourself was incorporated into the artwork.’
P.O.S. does realize that he’s not going to be rapping forever, but he does have other goals in mind.
‘I’m gonna be 40 one day and no one wants to hear or watch a 40-year-old rapper, but my (original) goal was to get a job teaching,’ Alexander said. ‘I just gotta find a place where they don’t mind tattooed fingers.’
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