P.O.S is a Minneapolis rapper i had discovered through a friend of mine that, although i instantly fell in love with, i never truly took the initiative to listen to. It wasn't till i had seen a video by Dead End Hip Hop where Myke "C-Town" had cosigned P.O.S that i took that time to download Ipecac Neat. Before i knew it Ipecac Neat was added to my CD Collection. It may be selfish to say this but P.O.S was made for me. Not saying that i directly relate to this album but that this style of music is right down my alley.
In my opinion P.O.S is a genius who deserves mainstream attention. He is a rather well known "underground" artist and it seems like his shows are constantly being filled, but i feel he deserves more. P.O.S' sound on this album is a grunge experimental hip hop project with a Punk Rock undertone. This isn't surprising considering his musical performance origins began in a high school punk rock band. Although rapping came a little later you will definitely see respect for hip hop being expressed.
The production of this album may confuse listeners unsure of "underground" hip hop, although would be a great album to listen to if you want to ease your way into the underground. There are times where the production feels like it wants to have mainstream appeal yet remains experimental, one of which that stands out in my mind is "Kicking Knowledge in the Face" where my imagination views a Step Up type choreographed dance number. Despite mentioning the Punk Rock undertone this album has few guitar riffs compared to P.O.S' later projects and the ones that do occur seem to be mere repeated strums, such as "That One".
Lyrically this album is impressive. There are plenty of quotable lyrics in my mind that i'll save for a deserved Track by Track review that i constantly reiterate in everyday life. I'll even go as far as to say that there are quotable verses that, if anyone would actually sit and listen to me, i'd recite line for line, mainly the intro track "Gimme Gimme Gunshots". I'd have to say the lyrics will keep you on your toes for some well played lines.
P.O.S brings energy in handfuls with this album. Some expressing more than i could initially handle, "I Play the Matador (Redo)". This being said there wasn't any time where his lyrics sounded dull even when the chorus' energy wasn't as aggressive, "Little Kicks". Rather there weren't any truly slowish songs on this album. This album lacks that relaxed aggressive sound that can be found on his later albums. Not saying this is necessarily bad but would have shown more versatility. Don't worry, his flow does change however it seems like the energy behind each flow is similar where various tracks stand out because of that change in energy.
The Chorus' of Ipecac Neat stand out almost as much as the verse's. Not saying that the verse's were that bad but that the chorus' were that good. The chorus's almost hold their own special place in a song because each was written with true meaning and emotion behind it. The combination of the lyrics and chorus work well together feeling as if they hold an equal placement where one outshines the other in only a few tracks. The chorus' feel almost like one of the most experimental parts of the album. Sometimes the chorus was just a repeated line,"That One", sometimes it was fully involved, "Music for Shoplifting" and others it held onto those punk rock roots, "Kidney Thief".
The features on this album were few taking only 5/16 tracks of this album. Each feature was well placed and well used to improve the track although i'm glad that P.O.S spent the majority of the album promoting himself. The main feature that stands out in my head is Crescent Moon who showed great chemistry with P.O.S. Appearing in "Hunger Pains Three" and "Dead Music", these two artists flowed off each other continuously. It seemed like they were always trying to one up each other the way they came back, adding more to the imagery of each song. It wasn't necessarily Bar for Bar but you could tell a lot of thought went into these lines. The feature i could actually do without was the only DoomTree feature on the album, Sims. It wasn't that it was a bad verse it just didn't stand out, i actually forgot Sims was on the album by the end and he was track 12. It also didn't really feel like he added much to the song besides another voice.
Ipecac Neat was a really good album but not without its faults. Like i had mentioned earlier P.O.S' energy on most tracks were basically the same, so much so that the times where it was different almost felt like you were being blindsided. It wasn't boring energy but a little diversity would have been well appreciated.(I can't really take points off however because i didn't really notice this until i listened to future projects by P.O.S.)
P.O.S proved himself an artist deserving of your time in Ipecac Neat. This has to be one of the better freshman albums i've heard in awhile and deserves promotion. Like i said in an earlier paragraph if you're someone who wants to ease their way into the "underground" or grunge hip hop this is a great album to start you on.
Rating: Must Buy
Stand-Out Tracks: Gimme Gimme Gunshots, That One, Ants, I Play the Matador (Redo), Dead Music, Duct Tape
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