Since the February release of his third album, Never Better, P.O.S. has been an artist on the rise, garnering nominations from MTV (for Performer of the Year) and Spin (Best Rap Artist). A long time fan, I had never considered his music anything besides rap. The Minnesota native is a founding member of hip hop collective, Doomtree, and currently signed to one of the leading indie rap labels, Rhymesayers Entertainment. But commentators — reading too much into beats full of overdriven guitars and the fact that Stef also plays in a hardcore band — were quick to classify his music as some sort of middle ground between hip hop and punk. Don’t be misled– Stef makes it clear what genre he identifies with: “I make hip hop music,” he said, “People need to figure out a story or they need to figure out an angle.”

For better or worse, the ‘crossover’ label landed him on the otherwise rock heavy Pac Sun Tour. The crowd wasn’t fooled into believing that the music was anything besides rap, and Stef made no attempt to fool them. As DJ Ill Bill set up his turntables and Stef strolled onto stage in an oversized Adidas hoodie, there was a visible movement in the crowd. A majority of the crowd that had assembled for industrial synth rockers Innerpartysystem shuffled away towards the bars and bathrooms, while those waiting for P.O.S. descended from the edges of the cavernous House of Blues. Most artists would be thrown off by this shift, but Stef seemed to revel in the discomfort he was causing. This is his third tour with post-hardcore act Saosin, and one gets the feeling that he has grown accustomed to audiences that aren’t there to hear him. His first words to crowd were, “If you don’t like rap and you’re here for Saosin, move to the side,” leaving time for them to comply before launching into the equally unapologetic track, “Let It Rattle.” As those that like rap formed a pocket front and center, energy quickly picked up. Frantically pacing the giant stage, stretching the mic cord to it limits, Stef drew heavily from his most recent release, Never Better, though the few songs from 2006’s Audition seemed to be crowd favorites: fans provided the call-and-response on “P.O.S. is Ruining My Life” without needing any instructions.

Before chants of “P.O.S.” had even died down, we headed out into the cold with Stef and huddled in the shadows of Fenway Park. With adrenaline still flowing strong, and undeterred by the cold (“It’s cold, but it’s not Minnesota”), Stef weighed in on being labeled a crossover artist, his status as a member of both Rhymesayers Entertainment and Doomtree, and shared his plans for the coming months.

– Tim Burdick

That was quite the set.

It was fun.

So, what’s the day-to-day like right now?

Well, I’m on tour. I’m on tour with Saosin, Innerpartysystem, and Eye Alaska. It’s a cool tour. It’s nice to do rap tours, and then after a rap tour go out and do a weird tour. Go out and try to talk to totally different people. But tonight, it seemed like there were a lot of my fans. That was cool.

So, there’s this tour, but before that was–

Before this tour was with Eyedea and Abilities, before that it was Europe, and before that was Warped Tour. I’ve been on tour all year, man.

Do you feel like there’s a huge difference between when someone goes to see Atmosphere and catches your set and when someone is here to see a band like Saosin?

Totally. (laughs) Yeah, I mean people that go out to see Saosin don’t necessarily want to hear rap. And if they do, they don’t want to hear me. So, I spend the first three songs trying to fix that.

There’s been a lot of talk about how Doomtree artists have this punk background. There’s seems to be some thought that you’re in the middle of the two worlds, but I never thought your solo stuff was anything but rap-

That’s what I’m saying. That’s what it is. I make hip-hop music. People need to figure out a story or they need to figure out an angle. Because I grew up listening to punk and I play in a hardcore band, that’s what everybody does. They just talk about that. On my albums, it’s rap. I make rap records. That’s it.

Especially with being on tour so much this year, do you keep writing when you’re on tour? Or is it two different worlds?

I write a lot on tour, but I write differently when I’m home compared to when I’m on the road. I write with a clearer head. When you’re on tour, you write about being on the road and things you see on tour.

I know you made about half of the beats on Never Better. Are you also making beats when you’re out on tour?

I make some beats, but only if we have a nice long day off. I bring all my gear just in case. Not all of it, but enough to make a beat.

Doing both, how does it work when you are writing? Do you make a beat and feel a need to write to it, or do you write something and try to make a beat to match, or…?

Both. A lot of times, I’ll make or hear a beat and be like, “Oh, I know what will go with this.”  But most of the time, I write to no beat, make beats with nothing in mind, and just deal with it later.

Is Plain Ole Bill your usual DJ?

He’s been my DJ since January. He’s great. He’s an amazing DJ, and our chemistry on stage is really natural and genuine. I really like him.

You’re essentially a part of both Rhymesayers Entertainment and the Doomtree Collective? Is it that you’re signed to Rhymesayers, but you’re in Doomtree?

Right. I’m a founding member of the Doomtree crew. My rap records come out on Rhymesayers. Rhymesayers is the label that I am on and the crew that I’m a part of because I joined the crew. Doomtree is the crew I started with my friends. We have another False Hopes album coming out on December 5^th for the annual Doomtree Blowout. I fly home from this tour to do that show, and then I fly back out.

Alright, let’s talk about your involvement with Rhymesayers.

We stay on the road. I feel like we knew before the record industry crashed that you need to tour. (laughs) Now everybody tours, but we’ve been touring. We’re road ready. We work really hard. I don’t want to start any beef with anybody or anything but I feel like we might work the hardest – between Rhymesayers and Doomtree – and just stay busy all the time. We work pretty fucking hard.

There’s been some debate recently about whether Rhymesayers is an independent label because they use Warner for distribution-

They don’t use Warner for distribution for everything. It’s not even through Warner, it’s through an offshoot distribution company at Warner called ILG, which is the Independent Label Group. That means that every release – based on the artist’s wants – will either go through ILG channels or go through standard Rhymesayers channels. So, it’s a matter of what the rapper wants to do.

You mentioned Rhymesayers doing a lot of touring to counteract the state of industry, but it seems like they were also pretty early on the trend back to vinyl.

Well, I feel like that’s kind of the standard these days. But CDs are cool. I still like CDs. I still rock a discman. I don’t care. I like to have what I want to listen to on me, and not necessarily have a million choices all the time. I have an iPod, but I also have a CD player and a book of CDs on me when I’m on the road. I’m old school like that I guess.

So, if I were doing this interview six months from now, what would you be telling me? What are your plans after this tour?

After this tour is over, I’m going to get back in the studio and write and then get back on the road. I’m doing a collaboration with Astronautalis in January.  I’ll probably try to headline a tour for February and March. Then take six months off to write a record and go back out on tour again. It’s only been ten months since Never Better came out, but I’d like to have another P.O.S. record out next year.  Next year is my goal, probably towards the end of next year.

Can you think of an album or a rapper that got you interested in making hip-hop music?

What got me really on to rap was Appleseed and Float by Aesop Rock, Funcrusher Plus by Company Flow, and old Headshots tapes from Rhymesayers. Shit like that. Mos Def, more than anything, actually. I always listened to rap before that, but it was always gangster rap. That was the shit that turned me over.

Is there a huge difference between the crowds in, say, Minneapolis and Boston?

There’s less and less every time. Minneapolis is going to give the Minneapolis love whenever I play there, but wherever I go now, there’s at least a small pocket of people that are down. I’m not even mad; there’s love everywhere.

Do you feel like if you had grown up in Boston instead of Minneapolis you’d be doing something different right now?

I don’t know. I’d probably still be in a hardcore band. I play in a hardcore band now, so… Minneapolis has such a good music scene, so it’s easy to find your pocket and do it. There’s no major labels nearby, no close drives. You can just do your thing. Whatever you like, you can find. I don’t know what it’s like here, so I don’t know what I’d be doing. I’d probably be making music though. That’s what I do.

Any final thoughts for the world?

(Pausing and then leaning towards the recorder) Nope. (laughs)

I just want to say that people need to check for Doomtree, because Doomtree is on some crazy shit. That’s what it is. It’s not crazy music. It’s just good music, and it’s honest and real. Doomtree, Rhymesayers, Strange Famous, Def Jux. Aggghh.