I’ve written it before, and I’ll write it again…Rhymesayers are the ultimate hip hop road dogs. While overhyped swag rappers screw over audiences with drunken lip-synch gigs, and indie rap artists wander around their respective states for a dozen dates and call it a day, the Minneapolis crew perform hundreds of shows a year. And people still act surprised when P.O.S. clocks over 20,000 albums while the media “sleeps.” The proof is in the pudding.
The punk rapper/vocalist continues to support last year’s gem, Never Better. This time around, he’s taking along fellow Doomtree member Dessa, with Astronautalis and Grieves on select dates.
Around this time in 2008, everyone was buzzing about the “new school” of blog-hyped rappers. They injected the medium with an enthusiasm not felt in ages. So far, however, the results of this youth movement are decidedly uneven. Wale’s Attention Deficit drew mixed reviews; even fans of it must concede that it has plenty of decent rhymes, but lacks great songs. By contrast, Kid Cudi landed a few monster singles, particularly the undying “Day ‘N Nite,” but his Man on the Moon: The End of Day seemed monotone and self-indulgent. Blu and the Cool Kids mostly kept silent, and we all know what happened to Charles Hamilton.
With the jury still out on the so-called “freshman class,” the end of the aughts belonged to the veterans. With the notable exception of Nosaj Thing and Dorian Concept, all of the artists on this list are firmly established. Some mounted surprising comebacks after years of mediocre and sub-par work; others made solid follow-ups to classic albums. Unlike 2008 and Flying Lotus’ Los Angeles (and, I would argue, the Cool Kids’ The Bake Sale), these recordings didn’t establish new stylistic tropes. In a year when populism and stubborn class and racial traditions weighed down American culture, these works met expectations and buffered the status quo, whether it was the true-school ethos or the mainstream’s street-rap-as-blues credo.
That’s not to say that 2009 wasn’t an exciting time: it was. But hip hop music thrives on youth movements, and to see blog rap’s most promising rookies disappear in a cloud of weed smoke, meandering mixtapes and incessant corporate-sponsored tours and marketing campaigns was frustrating. It certainly didn’t convince the old heads from continuing to insist that the genre is a dead zombie walking. Of course, next year could be different. But for now, this is where we are.
I don’t know if this list is unique from any other, but I suspect there may be a few surprises. Perhaps the most contentious entry is for Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…Pt II. It has topped many lists, but it certainly didn’t top mine. If my summary reads negative, it’s in reaction to the universal acclaim that has greeted it, some of which seems unwarranted. People love their action fantasies, and Raekwon’s triumphant return has some great crime narratives. But I think some consider it the year’s best because it fits stereotypes of what a great hip hop album is supposed to sound like; other entries on this list drew strong reviews, too, but they were often considered something other than “real hip hop.”
I don’t know what that “other” may may be. Maybe “alt-rap,” “backpacker,” or some nefarious micro-genre like “wobbly”? But lists such as the Plug One 50 will continue to be an anomaly until fans stop equating the genre with criminal activity and po-faced lyrical schemes, embrace a more complex universe of sounds, and live up to Afrika Bambaataa’s vision of hip hop as a perspective on the world instead of a region-specific, drug-infested street corner.
Yes, 2009 was a good year. We got consistently great music, but we missed the excitement that made 2008 seem like a promise of better things to come. Hopefully 2010 will combine not only the tried and true, but also the shock of the new.
P.O.S. has been touring across the States all year, ever since his third album Never Better dropped in February. And it looks like he’ll perform shows right up to Christmas break. He’s currently on a Midwest run with Rhymesayers label mates Eyedea & Abilities; when that ends, he’ll jump on the PacSun PacTour, an alt-metal package with Saosin as the headliner.
So yeah, I slept on the Vans Warped Tour. But that’s only because the hip hop offerings are so anemic in comparison to last year. In fact, the only two dudes worth mentioning on the bill are Shad (more on him later) and P.O.S. The latter is having a breakout year thanks to Never Better, which landed in the Billboard top 100 upon its release last February.
There’s still about a month and a half left in the tour. After that, he’ll support Bad Brains on a few dates; those have yet to be announced, but I’ll add them once they become available. (August 12 update: Added!)
P.O.S. has announced the first of what will undoubtedly be many tours in 2009. The concerts, in support of his upcoming album Never Better, take place in February and feature several comrades from his Doomtree crew, including Sims, Mictlan, Lazerbeak and Hand Over Fist.
On February 3, Rhymesayers will release Minneapolis rapper P.O.S.’ third album, Never Better. Here’s a section from the press release:
P.O.S. himself made more than half of the beats on Never Better, and the production bears his unmistakable signature. The album enters a room like bombshell with a black eye-badass, noisy, impossible to ignore. Feedback and relentless drum rolls are only occasionally tempered by sung choruses and clean, chiming guitar lines. Some critics will be eager to categorize the album as a hybrid-some kind of crossover project. But it’s probably not. P.O.S is a rapper with range, he’s a real musician and an unstoppable performer. For him, genres are as they ever were: permeable.
For the next week or so, P.O.S. will be doing the token-rapper thing as an undercard to metal band Underoath. But why hate? If it worked for Gym Class Heroes, then it may work for him.
For the past twelve years, the Vans Warped Tour has spread across America, bringing a mixture of mainstream punk bands eager to sell out and corporate sponsors eager to reach our nation’s impressionable youth. And each installment includes a few token rappers eager to expand their reach beyond the backpack nerds who normally attend their concerts. It’s like back in the 60s, when rock festival promoters would salve their liberal consciences by adding a few black artists to the bill.
As sucky as Warped Tour has become can — a tour that once prided itself on carrying one major sponsor (Vans shoes) is now backed by AT&T, for chrissakes — it can have a major effect on artists’ careers. Atmosphere, the Alkaholiks and many others can thank Warped Tour for ballooning their fan base. And we all know what Warped did for Gym Class Heroes.
This year, the 13th edition of Warped Tour will include Canadian musician K-os and Rhymesayers prospect P.O.S. (shown in photo) along with Adult Swim alum MC Chris on select East Coast dates among the hordes of emo nincompoops. (Okay, not all of the rock bands suck: Coheed & Cambria, Fishbone and Bad Religion will be there, too.) Tour dates are below.
Entries (RSS)