I can never be sure if the reason why I think Ipecac Neat is far and away the best P.O.S. album is because it’s actually better than everything he has put out since, or if it’s because it was one of the first hip-hop albums I ever liked. So throughout this review, let’s keep in mind that I got into rap through Rhymesayers and enjoy it now primarily through anticon and that when P.O.S., also known as Stefon Alexander, makes references to punk rock, I get them. But when he makes references to rappers, I don’t.

First, things that are good about Never Better: The frequently employed heavy drums, thick bass, fast momentum-pushing drumrolls, and Stef can still rap pretty dang well.

Still, I feel Doomtree-fatigued, like I’ve heard a dozen records with all these people rapping on them and rapping about the same things. Where is the new? Where is that which will make me feel like I’m listening to something that I haven’t heard before?

The record is solid. P.O.S. can rap like a motherfucker, and he doesn’t give a fuck what you think of him, and if he can be a little sentimental at times and a little over-pop-referential at others, at least he disses Obamarama in one song and sings a Fugazi lyric in another. So maybe the reason why I don’t feel it like I felt Ipecac is a problem with me and not with the album. Maybe real criticism is impossible and we’re all just hanging out rationalizing our subjective emotional responses. Whatever. I hung out with Stef a couple weeks ago. I beat him at Super Smash Brothers. He was nice and funny, and he told me that he really, really likes making rap records.

Tags: Hip Hop