Interview: P.O.S. of Doomtree

The multitalented Doomtree hip-hop collective has become an almost inescapable presence in its hometown music scene of Minneapolis and St. Paul, but its first real national exposure came via the fiery second album by founding MC Stefon Alexander, a.k.a. P.O.S. Co-produced by the Doomtree collective along with Slug and Siddiq of Rhymesayers, Audition bristles with energy and wit, taking inspiration from hardcore punk-rock as much as rap. P.O.S. winds up a two-month tour this week with a homecoming stand at Minneapolis’ First Avenue March 26 with Doomtree compatriots Turbo Nemesis, Mac Lethal, and Sims.

The A.V. Club: Your pathway to becoming a rapper is kind of out of the ordinary, since you grew up as a part of the punk scene in suburban Hopkins, Minnesota.

P.O.S.: Well, I never lived in Hopkins, but I went to Hopkins High School. For a long time, during early junior high, it seemed like I was the only punk. And later there was a bunch of other punks, but I was definitely the only black punk. We had bands and our bands were great. And then members of the band went to college, so we started rapping.

AVC: The walls that used to divide different genres of music, especially rock and hip-hop, seem to be evaporating.

POS: Minneapolis makes it really easy. It’s just a great, all-inclusive music scene. I can’t think of any other place in the country where Atmosphere and Dillinger Four can play a show together and nobody will blink an eye. Everybody will be like “Oh yeah, that makes sense.” And then the same show happens in Chicago and there’s fights every 15 minutes. Nobody gets it. But in Minneapolis, that kind of shit’s just really standard. It didn’t take any deep breathing to figure out what I was going to do—it just was what was going to happen, you know?

Originally published March 21, 2006 on avclub.com. Read the complete article.

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