P.O.S.

A self-taught bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, and drummer, P.O.S. (which stands for a variety of things, including Product of Society, Piece of Sh*t, and Promise of Skill) spent most of his childhood influenced by the energy of punk, drumming for Cadillac Blindside and singing and playing guitar for Building Better Bombs. At 14, however, he was introduced to hip-hop via Company Flow and Oddjobs, and began rapping for fun, performing at small venues around Minneapolis. In 2004, P.O.S. put out his first solo album, Ipecac Neat, with the label/collective (that he co-formed) Doomtree, whose studio was in the basement of the house that many of the members shared. Rhymesayers was so impressed with it that they immediately signed the rapper and re-released the record, as well as the successive P.O.S. releases Audition (2006) and the sprawling Never Better (2009). Filled with political rhymes and anarchist attitude, We Don’t Even Live Here followed on the label in 2012. He retreated from the music scene for a few years after being sidelined by kidney issues (he received a transplant in 2014) and made his return in 2016 with the song “sleepdrone/superposition,” which featured Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill, the Julie Ruin), Lizzo, Allan Kingdom, and his son, Hard_R. His fifth full-length, Chill, Dummy, arrived at the start of 2017. ~ Marisa Brown, Rovi