By our own admission, PT isn’t a hip hop website (clue is in the name, “yo”), so we’ll save everyone the trouble of slagging us off for displaying inferior knowledge of the wider genre. We’re reviewing P.O.S.’ ‘We Don’t Even Live Here’ simply because he’s an artist making hip hop with distinctly punk edges and roots, and ‘Never Better’ really was easily one of the most punk hip hop albums of the last fuck-knows-how-long when it arrived. That in mind, the follow up was always going to be exciting as a crossover prospect for fans of intelligent music, and ‘We Don’t Even Live Here’ doesn’t disappoint.
Differences in style between the two records aren’t subtle, with P.O.S. here regularly opting for a bigger, largely more hip hop sound flecked with synths and dance beats over the dark and moody moments of ‘Never Better’. That said, the attitude here is still very much that it’s P.O.S. vs. the world, and there’s little doubt that the man has a stack of talent.
It’s not really about guitars here (single ‘Fuck Your Stuff’ in particular is a straight up rap stomper), but tracks like ‘They Can’t Come’ carries the sort of rhythms, arrangement and melodies that make P.O.S. a unique an interesting artist, and his roots in punk music give the delivery as a whole a raw and angry edge that never feels forced or overblown.
The intelligent construction and lyricism on ‘We Don’t Even Live Here’ will please many who give it a change, and though it probably arrives without a few of the crossover elements from ‘Never Better’, it’s equally impressive as a body of work. Particularly noteworthy is the album digipak, which is great to look through, and the album as whole feels like the a full package.
TOM AYLOTT