''Never Better'' is the third 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 2009. It peaked at number 106 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart.

Production

Over half of the record is produced by P.O.S himself, along with contributions from Doomtree producers

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 ...

Paper Tiger "Paper tiger" is a literal English translation of the Chinese phrase ''zhǐlǎohǔ'' ( zh, s=纸老虎, t=紙老虎). The term refers to something or someone that claims or appears to be powerful or threatening, but is actually ineffectual and ...

and MK Larada. It features guest verses from Doomtree compatriots

Sims Sims, sims or SIMS may refer to: Games * ''The Sims'', a life simulation video game series ** ''The Sims'' (video game), the first installment, released in 2000 ** ''The Sims 2'', the second installment, released in 2004 ** '' The Sims 3'', th ...

Cecil Otter Kyle Smith (born July 16, 1980), better known by his stage name Cecil Otter, is a rapper and producer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a founding member of the indie hip hop collective Doomtree. History '' Cecil Otter's False Hopes'' was r ...

and

Dessa Margret Wander (born May 23, 1981), better known by her stage name Dessa, is an American rapper, singer, writer, and former record executive. She is a member of the indie hip hop collective Doomtree. Early life Dessa was born to Robert Wander ...

, as well as

Astronautalis Charles Andrew Bothwell (born December 13, 1981), better known by his stage name Astronautalis, is an American alternative hip hop artist currently based in Brooklyn, New York. History After gaining some recognition in local circles in Jacksonvi ...

Release

The first single "Goodbye" was released in December, 2008. The second single "Drumroll (We're All Thirsty)" was released in January, 2009 on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

and

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

. The track "Savion Glover" is a remix of a track previously released on Doomtree's '' False Hopes'' in 2007. The album was released in a limited custom transparent digipak edition designed by Minneapolis designer Eric Carlson. It features 16 solid picture inserts with 6 plastic overlays, allowing the owner to create their own cover art combinations.

Critical reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 75, based on 8 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Many reviewers on RapReviews.com placed this album in their top ten list for 2009, with it even claiming the number one spot in a few.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes. * P.O.S – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, organ, production (2, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17) * Matt Scharenbroich – drums (1) *

– production (1, 4, 5, 6, 8), vocals (2), piano (5, 6), keyboards (5), organ (6) * Eric Timothy Carlson – vocals (2), artwork * Glorily Velez – vocals (2) * Joel Anderson – vocals (2) * Julie Kravitz – vocals (2) * Ruben Vela II – vocals (2) * Ryan Cybul – vocals (2) *

The Bled The Bled was an American post-hardcore band from Tucson, Arizona, formed in 2001. They released four albums (''Pass the Flask'', ''Found in the Flood'', ''Silent Treatment (The Bled album), Silent Treatment'' and ''Heat Fetish'') before disband ...

– vocals (2) * Mike the 2600 King – turntables (3) * Turbo Nemesis – turntables (7) *

Jessy Greene Jessy Greene is a violinist, cellist and vocalist from St. Paul, Minnesota. She was a former member of Geraldine Fibbers and The Jayhawks. Career A native of Sheffield in western Massachusetts, Jessy started playing the violin at the age of fou ...

– violin (7) *

– production (9) *

– vocals (9) *

– vocals (9) * F.Stokes – vocals (10) * Maria Juranic – handclaps (12) *

Jason Shevchuk Jason Shevchuk is an American singer and guitarist for the band None More Black. None More Black announced an indefinite hiatus in 2007 but later regrouped. On May 20, 2008, None More Black announced that they were back with a singular show schedul ...

– vocals (13) *

Judah Nagler Judah Nagler is the singer for The Velvet Teen, an indie/baroque pop band from Santa Rosa in Northern California. He was born on June 19, 1980. He is also a graphic designer and web developer, and has created artwork for The Velvet Teen and other ...

– vocals (14) * MK Larada – production (15) *

– vocals (16) * Maggie Morrison – vocals (17) *

Joe Mabbott Joe Mabbott is an American record producer and studio audio engineer who has worked with many independent and mainstream artists of the 1990s 2000s and 2010s including Atmosphere, Snoop Dogg, Brother Ali, Cloud Cult and The Matches. In addition to ...

– engineering, mixing * B. Sayers – executive production * S. Daley – executive production * S. Alexander – executive production *

Chris Gehringer Chris Gehringer (born May 27, 1962) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered recordings such as Gwen Stefani's '' Love. Angel. Music. Baby.'' (2004), Rihanna's '' Loud'' (2010), Lady Gaga's '' Born This Way'' (2011) and Drake' ...

– mastering * Adam Garcia – photography * Brian Lesterberg – photography * Dan Monick – photography * Julien Murray – photography

Charts

References

External links

*
''Never Better''
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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Never Better 2009 albums P.O.S albums Rhymesayers Entertainment albums Albums produced by Lazerbeak