Raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, P.O.S. grew up with punk, hip-hop, and skating -- all of which are visible influences in his music today. His new album Never Better is already turning heads, thanks to his lyrical style and his knack for producing mind numbing beats. And while other rappers will try and use the fact that they skate as a selling point, P.O.S keeps it as a hobby, not a tool to sell records.

What are you up to, man?
Walking around a Barnes and Noble right now.

Looking for anything in particular, or just browsing?
Yeah, I got a review in Alternative Press, and it's like a whole page, I didn't know it was gonna be that big.

Good stuff. How has the album been received thus far?
It's been doing incredibly well. It's been killing me lately -- I didn?t expect it to go over so well. It's been really cool.

The packaging is really sick! It really caught my eye, and it's interactive. It kind of gives some incentive to buy rather than download.
Oh, thanks. Yeah I would hope so, it's really cool.

I know you did half of the beats yourself, and the album as a whole is very percussion heavy. Was any of it live drums?
Yeah, there's lots of live drums on it. Not just me, but a couple of other cool guys on there too. Stuff from Russian Circle, Minus the Bear, and a few others have some stuff that got chopped up into it as well.

What other producers did you work with?
Lazerbeak from Doomtree. I did about half, and he did about the other 40%. Then there's a track from Paper Tiger from Doomtree, and a track from MK Larada.

What's your favorite track off the new album?
Probably "Never Better," the title track. I kind of lucked out really hard at getting my friend Judah from the Velvet Teen to sing on it. I think he really came through for me. It sounds really great.

Just curious, but what's the guitar sample from in "Low Light Low Life"? It sounds so familiar, and it's been stuck in my head.
I actually don't know. I feel like that's why it's such a good beat is because it sounds familiar, but you can't place it.

What kind of music did you listen to growing up? Was it hip-hop oriented?
Yeah, hip-hop and punk rock wound up being what I was listening to when I was younger. Just because it was the first stuff that kind of popped out to me.

What made you want to start making music?
I don't know there's nothing that's that much funner, you know? It's just what I've really liked doing my whole life.

Does the weather/growing up/living in Minnesota effect the tone or subject matter of your music at all?
Yeah, it always has. It's just one of those things. It's gonna get cold, and if you don't find another way to keep busy when it's cold, you're just gonna wind up getting caught up in something stupid.

The Minneapolis scene is a tight knit group. Who are you psyched on from there right now?
Vampire Hands is sick, this kid Ecid tears it up on the beats, Big Quarters is a dope hip-hop group, Kill The Vultures are good too.

What's your take on mainstream hip-hop? Is there anyone you're psyched on?
Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of people that were kind of coming up, and while the whole industry was crashing, they didn't get a chance to blow up the way they thought they were gonna. It kept a lot of really good rappers hungry like MCs like Freeway and Petey Crack. I can get down with some Jay-Z -- anything good where rappers really try and you can still hear the heart in it.

Is there anyone you would ever consider collaborating with?
I'll rap with anyone that I respect as an MC, for the most part.

What about a non-hip-hop artist?
There's lots of bands and producers I'd like to collaborate or work with.

That's rad you did some stuff with Minus The Bear.
Yeah, I love that band. It was an honor to get to do that.

What's the most embarrassing song or artist on your iPod?
I'm kind of not about being embarrassed with what's on my iPod, but that being said, I don't like The Killers. The Killers are on my iPod, and I don?t like that band at all.

So you're finishing up this tour next week. What do you have planned after this?
Just hang out at home, making new songs, get some cool stuff done before I hit the road again.

Are you working specifically for your next album? Or has that not even crossed your mind yet.
I'm not thinking about a new album yet. I have a lot of beats that I didn?t get the chance to use, but they might prove to work out for the new record, or they might work out for some sort of EP or something.

Check out the video for "Drumroll", below:

Never Better is in stores now!