P.O.S. Ghettoblaster cover page interview

I interview P.O.S. and Damu the Fudge Monk in the latest issue of Ghettoblaster magazine. Go pick it up at all fine bookstores.



Interview text follows.

“I am P.O.S. I be the new generation of slaves. Here to make papes off this land corporation’s rape. From that life I’m tryin’ to separate. But I guess I’m livin’ dreams cuz my rent’s always a month late” That lyric and the album “Audition” by P.O.S is forever burned in my memory. Years ago, I was living in Indiana and working at Sweetwater Sound while grinding away to support my young family and make something of myself. Day after day, I would sit by the shitty, smelly, little pool in the townhouse complex I lived in while reading books and listening to “Audition” over and over. It was my go to “Feel better about life album”. It is so intense and so honest. Obviously, I jumped at the chance to interview P.O.S. as his new album “Chill, dummy” was just about to come out. He was just as straightforward and honest in casual conversion as his music would suggest. My goal was to dive into his process and figure out what really made Stefon Alexande tick.

Q: I noticed an evolution in your music, it was a lot more live instruments and now it’s more synthetic. Was that an intentional change or just a natural progression?

A: I actually think this album is a return to live instrumentation. The last record “We Don’t Even Live Here” was almost all synthetic sounds on purpose. “Never Better” and “Audition” were so guitar and drum heavy so I kept “We Don’t Even Live Here” very drum heavy but almost no guitars on it intentionally.

Q: What was the reason for that?

A: Half way because I was tired of the guitar sound and tired of people deciding that I was a specific kind of musician without really giving a solid listen to the records.

Q: Like the whole “punk rap” type of thing?

A: Yes exactly, so it was fun to do it differently.

Q: So how does it work? Do you write the music first, get beats from rappers, write lyrics first? What’s the process?

A: It’s different for every song. Sometimes I hear a beat and rap to it. Sometimes I am thinking something and I start writing and I have to match that up to a beat. There are no rules man.

Q: What were your goals or thought process for the new record?

A: I think it was to take some of the pressure off myself and just hurry up put some music out and let it come out. I feel like a lot of people, myself very much included, get burdened by the idea of what they want to make so they don’t make anything.

Q: What type of pressure were you feeling?

A: Nothing specific, it’s just life. It’s my livelihood. I don’t want to go on a tour and play the same songs from years ago every time.

Q: How has your creative process evolved over time?

A: I think it is just about discipline. I don’t think I have done anything different than I have ever done. I try to set up work hours and then work in those work hours.

Q: I have to ask, are you an Abelton guy, MPC guy?

A: I use Maschine. They kind of got to the whole digital world before MPC did. I have been using it since 2009

Q: What do you want your art to accomplish?

A: I used to think about that a lot more than I do now. I had big dreams and big plans for taking over the world. Now that is always a cool afterthought. Now what I am interested in is just making the best shit I possibly can. I feel like that has been sustainable for me. I have really solid cool friends that will wait years between records. When it comes out, they will dedicate and devour (the album) the way I was hoping. Everybody chews up all the songs and listens close then asks me details about things that I don’t think anyone is paying attention to.

Q: In the song “Fuck Your Stuff” you reference Christopher Hitchens. Are you a big Hitchens fan?

A: Some of it yea. A lot of his stuff talking about religion and just the different prescriptions people end up following whether or not they choose to or thought they would.

Q: What other books are you reading?

A: I am currently reading a book called “The Confidence Game” by Maria Konnikova. She is talking about the psychology of con men and women and famous con games and that kind of stuff over the years. I am trying to stay away from political books but that’s impossible.

Q: Do you read fiction as well?

A: I usually don’t read fiction. Mainly non fiction and a lot of science and listen to a lot of podcasts.

Q: What’s your favorite podcast?

A: “99% Invisible” is my hands down favorite. It’s about design that goes unnoticed.

Q: Do you mean industrial designers?

A: Just any kind of design that goes unnoticed. There are episodes about staircases that people don’t notice in San Francisco. Just understanding what you are looking at.

Q: Interesting. Would you consider yourself a design nerd?

A: Yea, (laughs) design, architecture.

Q: What are you the most proud of in life and in your career?

A: Probably my kids, Doomtree, stuff I have got to look at as it gets cooler.

Q: How many kids do you have?

A: Two; one very young and one bordering on adult. One is four and one is seventeen. The four year old wants to be just like his seventeen year old brother.

Q: What kind of advice did you get when you were just coming up that stuck with you and helped keep you going?

A: “Don’t be afraid to suck”. People end up not trying shit they should try because they are afraid to fail at it and I think that’s a waste but it’s something I see all the time. I think that was the best advice I got.

Q: Who gave you that advice?

A: Actually it was Slug (of Atmosphere).

Q: What records are you currently listening to?

A: I don’t listen to music man.(Laughs) I listen to a lot of Jon Hopkins and Task Force. A lot of instrumental techno. A lot of audiobooks and podcasts. Also, Vince Staples.

Q: What are some of the places you draw inspiration from? You talk about design and architecture but I assume it’s all sorts of different forms of art.

A: Yeah it’s art, architecture, backend design, old cars. That and my friends. I have very stylish friends, stylish meaning thoughtful. Stylish in life, not necessarily cool looking.

Q: So how does that work? Do you have a group of people that is your main circle of friends to keep each other motivated?

A: I mean, I hang out with a lot of musicians and artists and people that make stuff and help people make stuff. So, that is always inspiring. If I am not inspired, then someone around me is and it doesn’t take to long to come around again.

Q: How do you maintain relationships with kids and loved ones when you are on the road? How do you parent like that?

A: It’s super hard; it’s always been hard. It’s about maintaining relationships with the other half of the situation. Making sure I am always informed of what is going on.

Q: You write with such humility but hip hop is so full of bravado and as an artist you constantly have to self promote. What do you do to stay grounded and maintain that humility and that perspective?

A: There are a lot of different ways you can go but to stay grounded I still live in the Midwest. It’s impossible to get too big of an ego out here because everyone will look at you like you are crazy. I think I grew up with that same attitude that if anyone was getting too big for their britches then you remind everybody where they came from and where there head is.

Q: What is your daily routine on and off the road?

A: They are basically the same except one has a concert at the end. I get up and bring one or both of my kids to their schools. I listen to centerest news podcasts, then I go way right (wing), then I go way left. I stop listening to the news and turn on other podcasts of different comedic value while I kick up around my house and think about making a beat or writing. I visit my friends that have real jobs that I can visit. Then, I get some food and I start making a beat or writing. I get my little dude from school and hang out with him if it’s my time to hang out with him. I try to stay away from people. Try not to talk too much. Normal day stuff. I don’t know, it’s been a weird few months.

Q: What’s been weird?

A: You live here too don’t you? (The Midwest.) It’s weird here right now. I mean Donald Trump is president. Who could have imagined that?

Q: Well, I have a question about that. Obviously, in Audition you talk about Bush often and much of your music is very politically driven. I thought when Obama got elected that the country could not have been more divided but with Trump it seems even more so. What is your advice or recommendation for the average person to affect change in a positive way given how polarized everything is becoming?

A: Man, that depends on what day you are asking me. If you asked me yesterday, people should camp outside of Richard Spencer’s house and everytime he goes outside someone should deck him. But today I am feeling a bit more chill and I feel like you should surround yourself with the opposite people’s news’ feeds for the entire day to see where they are coming from. I want to be good and smart and be a positive force but I don’t know what I can actually do. So, I just blast out thoughts and I hope that someone smarter than me will grab onto one of them.

Q: What do you think about Kanye running in 2020?

A: (Laughs) I think that’s a joke but I thought Trump was too so maybe Kanye will win.

Q: Let’s go back to the discipline discussion. What kind of habits do you have to stay focused?

A: Oh no, I’m not disciplined. I just do what I have to do. I grew up with really bad habits. Biting my nails and not wanting to work or do anything that wasn’t fun. It’s not a matter of “I am so disciplined that I write a song everyday”. I recognize that if I don’t put work into music everyday that one day someone will have a bill and I will have no idea how to pay it. So I work and I play shows as I can get them. I play really good shows so people will pay me more for them and I try to make the best possible songs I can make.

Q: I would love for you tell me about the defining moment when you realized you were wired to have a career in music. Do you remember that moment?

A: I do, fourth grade. I saw the video for “Paradise City” by “Gun ‘N Roses” and it’s a time lapse of a stage getting setup on a football field. The stage gets set up by a bunch of crew while trucks back in and out. Band sets up and plays over the course of the song. I just watched that video and realized that those guys are at their jobs. Both setting up the stage and playing music are jobs. So from fourth grade on, I was ready to be a musician. By sixth grade I had read the (Henry Rollins) book “Get in the Van”, so I had pretty much decided what my life was going to be like by sixth or seventh grade.

Q: When did you actually make your first music or rap?

A: Fifth grade. I got a karaoke machine from my mom that basically worked as a four track if you had enough tapes. That and a Casio keyboard. I would bang on a football helmet for a drum beat. I didn’t really think about it I just did it.

Q: What do you think your favorite collaboration was?

A: Maybe “Minus the Bear” remix was my favorite remix. Working with “Lady Midnight” for the song “Faded” that was my favorite thing for the new record. I don’t know if I can pick a favorite because I collaborate so much out here. There is very little I just make on my own. I bounce so much off my friends and share inside jokes in the music.

Q: In a blog post by Amanda Palmer, she discussed having inhale years that you just absorb art and take in the marrow of life and then you have exhale years where you create. I read an interview with you that you talked about being on dialysis and you couldn’t write. Do you find yourself in similar cycles where you have ups and downs or are you able to grind everyday except in extreme situations?

A: No. I was having a hard time writing about that period because I didn’t want to write about kidney problems or talking about my health issues to strangers. There is a whole riff about art where you have to be a struggling dude and tap into that hurt to write about something real. I think the reality is that you just have to do it everyday. You don’t have to wait around for something bad to happen, you just have to live your life and be in the practice. Be in the habit and work. That way you can tap into whatever is the most relevant to your life at that time.

Q: Even Stephen King talks about that. Just show up everyday and the muse will eventually as well.

A: Yea, That’s it.

Q: What experiences have you had in your life that maybe shape you the most as an artist or just a human being?

A: (laughs) That’s a good question. There are a lot of consequential moments. I think the entire age of nineteen. Seeing Kid Dynamite play at the university at that same time. Having Rhymesayers being part of my city. I just have had so many inspiring experiences. I passed my biggest career goal four years into my career so I had to sit down and go shit, what do I do? What do I want to beat now? Then setting up bigger goals and you pass them and go “Well those weren’t big enough”.

Q: What’s your favorite hot sauce?

A: My very favorite is the Habanero “El Yucateco”. The one that is toxic neon green. I have one in my bag at all times. If we are talking general (hot sauce) Tabasco. I was raised on Tabasco. I had it in my mac and cheese. I love Louisiana style that are a little vinegar forward. Oh I love hot sauce. Me and Laser are working on a project called hot sauce.