What I'm listening to right now

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

SONG OF THE DAY: "Optimist" by P.O.S.

From time to time, I will set a theme for a series of SotDs that can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on how much material I wish to cover. This week's theme will be rap songs!

RAP WEEK SONG #4!

P.O.S. is a member of Doomtree and has released both solo and Doomtree albums on Rhymesayers Entertainment since 2004. I honestly am not very familiar with his work and find most of what I've heard by him to be a very difficult listen. You see, P.O.S. is heavily alternative even with respect to other alternative rappers. He eschews standard beats and song structures in favor of an anything-goes attitude. He has very loud, industrial, cacophonous beats on many of his tracks, and it proves to be a bit grating and hard to listen to. But, occasionally, as on "Optimist," everything comes together in a really beautiful way.

This single from his 2009 album Never Better was featured on Fuse back in the day when I still watched Fuse, but I didn't pay much attention until years later. I re-discovered this song when I began searching for more alternative rap artists and learned about his connection to the punk scene. He has a song called "Lifetime...Kid Dynamite" on his first album, and his second album featured both Greg Attonito of the Bouncing Souls (on a track called "De La Souls," no less) and Craig Finn of The Hold Steady on separate tracks. His third album featured Jason Shevchuk of None More Black (and formerly of Kid Dynamite) and his fourth featured Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. Needless to say, any rapper so frequently featuring so many punk and indie heavyweights will make me take notice.

To paraphrase a lyric from "Optimist," P.O.S. does something until it's not fun, and then he finds another hobby. A quick survey of his Wikipedia page confirms that he truly does live with this mindset. In addition to the aforementioned projects, he also has been a member of five different punk and indie bands that appear to have little activity or recorded output. Nevertheless, he always has something on the horizon, and you never know what to expect next from this guy.

"Optimist" is a very unique song in the realm of rap. It honestly sounds like a spoken-word poem put to a very simple beat made with hand claps and plastic cups. He pushes and pulls the phrasing at will, plays with end rhymes and false rhymes, and even leaves out words that he doesn't feel the need to say at the moment. It is a thoughtful, stream-of-consciousness, somewhat rambling glimpse into his life and his mind, performed almost solemnly (in spite of the song's title). The video is as creative and original as the song, and P.O.S.'s signature cut-off hat brim is prominently featured. Give a listen below to the first, and better, "cups" song!


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