''Audition'' is the second solo studio album by American rapper P.O.S. It was released on

Rhymesayers Entertainment Rhymesayers Entertainment (sometimes abbreviated RSE) is an American independent hip-hop record label based in Minneapolis. History Rhymesayers Entertainment was co-founded in 1995 by Sean Daley (Slug), Anthony Davis (Ant), Musab Saad (Sab th ...

in 2006. It peaked at number 45 on the ''

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Independent Albums The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' maga ...

chart.

Production

P.O.S titled the album "''Audition''" because he felt he was auditioning for a national audience for the first time, given that his only prior album, ''

Ipecac Neat ''Ipecac Neat'' is the first studio album by American rapper P.O.S. It was released on Doomtree Records in 2004. It was re-released on Rhymesayers Entertainment in 2005. Production P.O.S began his hip hop career as half of a rap duo called Cenosp ...

'', had much smaller distribution. On his second album, he set out to make the "most abrasive possible sound" and "some of the songs difficult to listen to." Although the opening words of the album are "First of all, fuck

Bush Bush commonly refers to: * Shrub, a small or medium woody plant Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to: People * Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name **Bush family, a prominent American family that includes: *** ...

," P.O.S told ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' in 2006 that he did not see the album as "overtly political" so much as a social commentary. P.O.S told ''

City Pages ''City Pages'' was an alternative newspaper serving the Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area. It featured news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews and music criticism, available free every Wednesday. It ceased publication in 2020 due to a ...

'' in 2016 that the song "Paul Kersey to Jack Kimball" is about his uncle getting hit and killed by a car and its title is an allusion to the ''Death Wish'' film series. The song "P.O.S is Ruining My Life" contains an uncleared

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...

of an

Underoath Underoath (stylized as Underøath or UnderOath) is an American rock band from Tampa, Florida. It was founded by lead vocalist Dallas Taylor and guitarist Luke Morton on November 30, 1997, in Ocala, Florida; subsequently, its additional member ...

song; P.O.S had discovered them at

Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...

before using the sample and later played lead guitar for them at Warped Tour. Most of the production is credited to both P.O.S and his alias Emily Bloodmobile.

Lazerbeak Aaron Mader (born July 21, 1982), better known by his stage name Lazerbeak, is an American record producer, singer, and guitarist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has been a member of Doomtree, The Plastic Constellations, Mixed Blood Majority, Shre ...

and MK Larada also provide production contributions as well. Guest appearances include

Mike Mictlan Michael Marquez (born July 8, 1982), better known by his stage name Mike Mictlan (), is a rapper from Los Angeles, California, who is currently based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a founding member of the indie hip hop collective Doomtree and ...

Slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...

, Greg Attonito,

Craig Finn Craig Finn (born August 22, 1971) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known as the frontman of the American indie rock band The Hold Steady, with whom he has recorded eight studio albums. Prior to forming The Hold Steady, Fi ...

, and Maggie Morrison.

Critical reception

Marisa Brown of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album 3.5 out of 5 stars, calling it "a very well-produced album, exciting and musical and intense."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. * P.O.S – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, synthesizer, production (1–3, 5, 7, 9–13, 16), executive production * Greg Attonito – vocals (3) *

– production (4, 6, 14, 15) *

– vocals (5, 14), executive production *

– vocals (7) * Maggie Morrison – vocals (8) * MK Larada – production (8), art direction, design *

– vocals (12) * Turbo Nemesis – turntables * Tasha Baron – electric piano * Jesse Greene – cello, violin * Bitsy Hanson – cello * Passions – vocals * Joe Mabbott – vocals, recording, mixing * Ian Campbell – vocals, recording, mixing * B. Sayers – executive production * Dan Monick – photography * Jason Miller – photography * Josh Syx – photography

Charts

References

External links

*
''Audition''
at

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

{{Authority control 2006 albums P.O.S albums Rhymesayers Entertainment albums Albums produced by Lazerbeak