Where to begin? Post Malone is the hottest artist in the world right now. His fanbase seems to grow by the day, and it seems that more and more acclaim and praise is heaped on him by the media and internet. Do you remember when he first dropped White Iverson? The "soundcloud single" that went straight to radio, his first song ever commercially released? Well, that's where it started, and I'm here to dissect Post Malone's "career" piece by piece to give us all the full picture; the implications on the music industry, the media, the people, and even politics and racial issues.
You see, Post has practically pulled the rug from under hip hop, and this was while no one was looking. While your attention was directed towards beef and drama, Post has rose to prominence and dominance within the span of about 2 years. What changed? What happened? Do you remember when Post was quickly being labeled a one-hit wonder? Do you remember when Stoney came out to lukewarm reception and is only just now getting plays after the fact? Do you remember that embarrassing Breakfast Club interview? Post was shaping up to be a Trinidad James very quickly, but a switch flipped. Let's dive deeper...
So, our introduction to Post Malone was that formerly mentioned single, "White Iverson". You might have heard it from it buzzing on the internet for weeks after release. I do. I'm trying to stay more objective with this as I write, but I have to be honest; I thought the shyt was hot garbage. Never before did I realize someone could take trap music and cloud rap sounds, from the mainstream and underground, and make it so utterly banal. It was sleepy, it was clean, it was spacey, it was poppy. None of these things necessarily being bad, but in Post Malone's mixture, it became a trite exercise in neutering everything compelling about the music it pulled from. It was easy listening trap. An antithesis, but this is what was so key to it's success. A totally unoffensive version of the music it so blatantly ripped off, making it much easier to be digested by the masses. And the real masses it was aiming for, the white population, particularly women, turned this song and by extension the artist into a monster that can't be stopped. The radio constantly played this song, a huge leap for a soundcloud artist with only this one release so far. How this nobody went from the depths of the underground to the air waves is a question as good as any, and one that has been failed to be answered thus far. This is ALL ignoring the fact that industry producer FKi linked with him and had the now industry producer Rex Kudo produce the beat, enlisting help from FKI and even potentially his manager Andre Jackson to write this hit (according to the allmusic.com credits). Hearing Post recount the story of how the song happened is equally improbable, and just as ridiculous. A typical "we just linked up and made a hit!". In some versions, he says he "made the beat", failing to include any of the help he apparently got based on the writers listed. Of course, after influential Atlanta rapper Key! tweeted it, Mac Miller and Wiz followed suit, giving the song a boost any underground artist would only dream of.
To give them credit, Post's audio blackface works incredibly well here. When we had no idea who this guy was, there was many comments about they thought Post was a black man. Through social media, they soon discovered that this artist who had made this pleasant pop song was in fact white! This was a game changer. As much as white people fail to say it, they really do look out for their own, and this case was no different. Whiteness gives an artist a HUGE platform, an ability to communicate with an audience that would have otherwise ignored them. I've seen it myself, but more on that later...
Post was soon doing press runs and interviews, and I remember watching them. I had to see what this guy was like, what he had to say. A humble enough looking dude, but when he began talking I shut it out. This was a white man very, very clearly trying to "talk black". It was painful. It was fake. It was downright offensive. I particularly enjoyed seeing Charlamagne rip him apart on the Breakfast Club interview, and in 2015, when people didn't care for Post, most people didn't have a problem. Post was a clown. "The new vanilla ice" was something that was definitely going through all of our collective heads at the time. He had his 15 minutes and surely it was going to be over soon.
Here's where it gets interesting. I implore you to go watch those old interviews and compare them with his new ones. Or better yet, go through the years. You can slowly see Post evolve from "chilled, laid back wigger" to a affable weirdo white guy who speaks near perfect english. It's truly insane. I watched it in real time, and on the h3h3 interview, I couldn't help but like this new side of his personality. But as the weeks went by, I realized something. SOMETHING had changed. And that's when it made sense. The paul wall-esque vibe WASN'T HITTING. The people didn't care for this clown so his management had him switch it up. He had to play the nice guy, the relatable white man for white america who's just a little strange. They also introduced the beer drinking element. So the full picture comes into play. Post wasn't a beer drinking white boy in the beginning. And that's what everyone needs to realize. The manufactured aspect of his persona. He's a chameleon. Watch his pre fame videos. He's a nerdy minecraft youtuber sidekick. He went from this to PAUL WALL to some beer drinking Mr. Rogers with tattoos. He did a codeswitch, and that truly changed the trajectory of his career.
You see, the personality swap that I'm sure his management was partially behind lent him credibility as a personality in music. "He's such a nice guy!" Is a common comment on the youtube comments. That wasn't there in his gold fronts and corn row stage. What's interesting is hearing him talk about others. It's a script and he endlessly repeats himself. If an interviewer asks him about ANY celebrity "He's a super sweet guy. He's awesome" Look into it. He says it all. the. time. This and his "humble" act attracts the white girls like flies.
So, he does this switch-up, and then the "new" Stoney is being hyped across the internet. He released a mixtape that I honestly didn't hear much about in the months leading up. He was beginning his transformation already, and picking up more fans through sheer power of his personality and charisma rather than musically, because he really didn't have a lot at that point. He drops "Congratulations", and then we see Post might be able to actually get out of that fabled one hit wonder rut. His singles prior to this didn't go anywhere, all failing to live up to the hype of White Iverson. Go Flex, despite the views and accolades now, was a pop song that wasn't really resonating and not getting any airtime, and Deja Vu was just a rip off of a Drake rip off. Hindsight is 20/20, and now that Post is a possible icon of the era, these songs now have plenty of views.
Stoney is released and the critics did NOT fukk with it. The people were bored of him, it appeared. I didn't much talk at all throughout the forums I browse. The people I know weren't talking him up. The internet in general didn't have much to say. It seemed Congratulations was really the only song doing numbers from it, with the help of heavy hitters Metro Boomin and Quavo. "I Fall Apart" made some ripples with the die hards (white women) but beyond that, it seemed the Post Malone hype train died down. We gave him his album and the critics and people weren't feeling it, and the stans were just gonna stan anyway.
There's about a year gap where we don't really get much of any music from Post. People focus on different artists. Cardi B comes out with "Bodak Yellow" and makes waves. Future comes out with "Mask Off" and scores another hit. Uzi gets what will probably be the biggest song of his career with "XO tour life". Kendrick has a huge year with his album damn. The attention is really off of Post at this time. But on this downtime, he and his label backing quickly prepare for the next album cycle, and start doing as much positive press for him as possible. We get a vice documentary. We get a Noisey video. He goes on hot ones (I recommend you watch a little bit of this one because he is still doing his AAVE before he really gave it up, even saying cuh). Note that some of these came out BEFORE the release of the final single which was Congratulations. The funny thing is, and I remember this too, congratulations was also the FIRST single from Stoney. They made a video and released it AGAIN because they knew Post's buzz was dying.
I fell for the okie doke when this press run first came about. The h3h3 interview is what REALLY got the internet on this side. For those who don't know, h3h3 is a youtube channel run by Ethan Klein and Hila Klein, a couple who made comedy videos and had garnered a huge internet following. They started to do a podcast and had all types of internet and real life celebrities on, often giving us a closer look at the actual personalities of some of these people we don't necessarily get to see a lot of. Justin Roiland of Rick and Morty fame, Michael from Vsauce (an educational youtube channel), and pewdiepie (one of the most subscribed to youtubers) were just some of the guests. When they had Post on, we got the guard down. If you watch it comparing to the initial interviews, it's a different person. The transformation was practically completed here. He could talk naturally now, he could be who he is. The internet got to see this, and see that Post seemed like "a nice guy". Not only this, he started being spotted with Bud Light a lot during this time, claiming "they give him free beer". Next thing you know, he's doing a concert for Bud Light. Now you can't spot him without him talking up Bud Light. Something's in the water with that...
Moving on, Post continues his press run and things take something of an upturn, but nothing to save his career. Then, he releases Rockstar later in the year and the tide really changed forever. The radio played this song 25/8. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing it. Was it a forced number one? Ask Apple. This was a manufactured number one all the way. They actually gamed youtube streams using a video with just the repeating hook. I saw the video myself. Que beerbongs and bentleys and a booming career. So you're probably wondering "Why? What's the point of typing up all this?" Well, we've gotten the HOW of Post's career. And we've covered numerous points, points that would make any observant person see that this guy's career reeks of falsehood and glows with a manufactured aura. He's portrayed as a talent when in reality he's more of a Drake type figure, singing the songs of more talented writers. This isn't an issue, but it becomes one when people praise his talents and not theirs, and especially when he chooses to portray it as if he did it by himself (barring some cases).
Not only this, but Post is incredibly silent on ANY political issues whatsoever, except for a vague prepper and gun loving good ol boy persona. Beyond talking up guns, Post is silent on black issues, progressive issues (the shock of this is that nearly every entertainer is saying SOMETHING in this), his own political beliefs. He lauded Bernie Sanders in a couple of words, and beyond that, said he would do Trump's inauguration (perhaps jokingly). I believe people in show business are entitled to their opinions, but for a new entertainer to be so deafeningly silent on politics at such a time is a surprise to say the least. It's as if he's meant to be a lowest common denominator figure, neither offending nor surprising anyone, but simply pleasing those who accept his catchy little tunes. And why would that be? Well, when one of the biggest sellers of beer is in your pockets, it's likely you could be asked to remain silent, so as to not upset that overlap between beer drinkers and Post listeners. Just a thought.
Yeah, Post and his team have seemed to have eyed the big bucks in this case. White America and internationals. Em did the same before him, and what an apt comparison to make. Eminem peddles the same poppy garbage and gets praised for it, and we can all take a guess as to why. He's a white man in a black genre. And that's what Post fails to acknowledge, even going so far as to trash hip hop and all that it stands for musically. He relentlessly steals the language, swagger, rhythms, cadences, musicality, and more from hip hop/trap music and shrugs it off and calls it lesser. A true vulture. A wolf in sheep's clothing. He is the Trap Elvis. The Trap Kenny G. Any of those comparisons you can dream up, he IS.
And the people love it. They embrace Post Malone because he has a smile on his face, and he's waiting for them to be fans. Post Malone removes the threat of a black person from the music; the one thing preventing them from breaking through that barrier. Post transcends it with ease, simply because of the color of his skin. He is white privilege incarnate, and he'll never admit it. He even says it's HARDER for him as a white rapper (even though he also says he's not a rapper). I find it funny, knowing a couple of white girls who readily admit they don't listen to black rappers at all, but they'll praise Em and say Post has a couple of good songs. And that's all it takes. Post is the whole essence of trap distilled into a consumable white pop form. But it's hard to take him seriously with a career so obviously planned out. I don't doubt he was signed before he released White Iverson. Industry plant is such a dirty word now, but if anyone is, it's this guy.
You see, Post has practically pulled the rug from under hip hop, and this was while no one was looking. While your attention was directed towards beef and drama, Post has rose to prominence and dominance within the span of about 2 years. What changed? What happened? Do you remember when Post was quickly being labeled a one-hit wonder? Do you remember when Stoney came out to lukewarm reception and is only just now getting plays after the fact? Do you remember that embarrassing Breakfast Club interview? Post was shaping up to be a Trinidad James very quickly, but a switch flipped. Let's dive deeper...
So, our introduction to Post Malone was that formerly mentioned single, "White Iverson". You might have heard it from it buzzing on the internet for weeks after release. I do. I'm trying to stay more objective with this as I write, but I have to be honest; I thought the shyt was hot garbage. Never before did I realize someone could take trap music and cloud rap sounds, from the mainstream and underground, and make it so utterly banal. It was sleepy, it was clean, it was spacey, it was poppy. None of these things necessarily being bad, but in Post Malone's mixture, it became a trite exercise in neutering everything compelling about the music it pulled from. It was easy listening trap. An antithesis, but this is what was so key to it's success. A totally unoffensive version of the music it so blatantly ripped off, making it much easier to be digested by the masses. And the real masses it was aiming for, the white population, particularly women, turned this song and by extension the artist into a monster that can't be stopped. The radio constantly played this song, a huge leap for a soundcloud artist with only this one release so far. How this nobody went from the depths of the underground to the air waves is a question as good as any, and one that has been failed to be answered thus far. This is ALL ignoring the fact that industry producer FKi linked with him and had the now industry producer Rex Kudo produce the beat, enlisting help from FKI and even potentially his manager Andre Jackson to write this hit (according to the allmusic.com credits). Hearing Post recount the story of how the song happened is equally improbable, and just as ridiculous. A typical "we just linked up and made a hit!". In some versions, he says he "made the beat", failing to include any of the help he apparently got based on the writers listed. Of course, after influential Atlanta rapper Key! tweeted it, Mac Miller and Wiz followed suit, giving the song a boost any underground artist would only dream of.
To give them credit, Post's audio blackface works incredibly well here. When we had no idea who this guy was, there was many comments about they thought Post was a black man. Through social media, they soon discovered that this artist who had made this pleasant pop song was in fact white! This was a game changer. As much as white people fail to say it, they really do look out for their own, and this case was no different. Whiteness gives an artist a HUGE platform, an ability to communicate with an audience that would have otherwise ignored them. I've seen it myself, but more on that later...
Post was soon doing press runs and interviews, and I remember watching them. I had to see what this guy was like, what he had to say. A humble enough looking dude, but when he began talking I shut it out. This was a white man very, very clearly trying to "talk black". It was painful. It was fake. It was downright offensive. I particularly enjoyed seeing Charlamagne rip him apart on the Breakfast Club interview, and in 2015, when people didn't care for Post, most people didn't have a problem. Post was a clown. "The new vanilla ice" was something that was definitely going through all of our collective heads at the time. He had his 15 minutes and surely it was going to be over soon.
Here's where it gets interesting. I implore you to go watch those old interviews and compare them with his new ones. Or better yet, go through the years. You can slowly see Post evolve from "chilled, laid back wigger" to a affable weirdo white guy who speaks near perfect english. It's truly insane. I watched it in real time, and on the h3h3 interview, I couldn't help but like this new side of his personality. But as the weeks went by, I realized something. SOMETHING had changed. And that's when it made sense. The paul wall-esque vibe WASN'T HITTING. The people didn't care for this clown so his management had him switch it up. He had to play the nice guy, the relatable white man for white america who's just a little strange. They also introduced the beer drinking element. So the full picture comes into play. Post wasn't a beer drinking white boy in the beginning. And that's what everyone needs to realize. The manufactured aspect of his persona. He's a chameleon. Watch his pre fame videos. He's a nerdy minecraft youtuber sidekick. He went from this to PAUL WALL to some beer drinking Mr. Rogers with tattoos. He did a codeswitch, and that truly changed the trajectory of his career.
You see, the personality swap that I'm sure his management was partially behind lent him credibility as a personality in music. "He's such a nice guy!" Is a common comment on the youtube comments. That wasn't there in his gold fronts and corn row stage. What's interesting is hearing him talk about others. It's a script and he endlessly repeats himself. If an interviewer asks him about ANY celebrity "He's a super sweet guy. He's awesome" Look into it. He says it all. the. time. This and his "humble" act attracts the white girls like flies.
So, he does this switch-up, and then the "new" Stoney is being hyped across the internet. He released a mixtape that I honestly didn't hear much about in the months leading up. He was beginning his transformation already, and picking up more fans through sheer power of his personality and charisma rather than musically, because he really didn't have a lot at that point. He drops "Congratulations", and then we see Post might be able to actually get out of that fabled one hit wonder rut. His singles prior to this didn't go anywhere, all failing to live up to the hype of White Iverson. Go Flex, despite the views and accolades now, was a pop song that wasn't really resonating and not getting any airtime, and Deja Vu was just a rip off of a Drake rip off. Hindsight is 20/20, and now that Post is a possible icon of the era, these songs now have plenty of views.
Stoney is released and the critics did NOT fukk with it. The people were bored of him, it appeared. I didn't much talk at all throughout the forums I browse. The people I know weren't talking him up. The internet in general didn't have much to say. It seemed Congratulations was really the only song doing numbers from it, with the help of heavy hitters Metro Boomin and Quavo. "I Fall Apart" made some ripples with the die hards (white women) but beyond that, it seemed the Post Malone hype train died down. We gave him his album and the critics and people weren't feeling it, and the stans were just gonna stan anyway.
There's about a year gap where we don't really get much of any music from Post. People focus on different artists. Cardi B comes out with "Bodak Yellow" and makes waves. Future comes out with "Mask Off" and scores another hit. Uzi gets what will probably be the biggest song of his career with "XO tour life". Kendrick has a huge year with his album damn. The attention is really off of Post at this time. But on this downtime, he and his label backing quickly prepare for the next album cycle, and start doing as much positive press for him as possible. We get a vice documentary. We get a Noisey video. He goes on hot ones (I recommend you watch a little bit of this one because he is still doing his AAVE before he really gave it up, even saying cuh). Note that some of these came out BEFORE the release of the final single which was Congratulations. The funny thing is, and I remember this too, congratulations was also the FIRST single from Stoney. They made a video and released it AGAIN because they knew Post's buzz was dying.
I fell for the okie doke when this press run first came about. The h3h3 interview is what REALLY got the internet on this side. For those who don't know, h3h3 is a youtube channel run by Ethan Klein and Hila Klein, a couple who made comedy videos and had garnered a huge internet following. They started to do a podcast and had all types of internet and real life celebrities on, often giving us a closer look at the actual personalities of some of these people we don't necessarily get to see a lot of. Justin Roiland of Rick and Morty fame, Michael from Vsauce (an educational youtube channel), and pewdiepie (one of the most subscribed to youtubers) were just some of the guests. When they had Post on, we got the guard down. If you watch it comparing to the initial interviews, it's a different person. The transformation was practically completed here. He could talk naturally now, he could be who he is. The internet got to see this, and see that Post seemed like "a nice guy". Not only this, he started being spotted with Bud Light a lot during this time, claiming "they give him free beer". Next thing you know, he's doing a concert for Bud Light. Now you can't spot him without him talking up Bud Light. Something's in the water with that...
Moving on, Post continues his press run and things take something of an upturn, but nothing to save his career. Then, he releases Rockstar later in the year and the tide really changed forever. The radio played this song 25/8. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing it. Was it a forced number one? Ask Apple. This was a manufactured number one all the way. They actually gamed youtube streams using a video with just the repeating hook. I saw the video myself. Que beerbongs and bentleys and a booming career. So you're probably wondering "Why? What's the point of typing up all this?" Well, we've gotten the HOW of Post's career. And we've covered numerous points, points that would make any observant person see that this guy's career reeks of falsehood and glows with a manufactured aura. He's portrayed as a talent when in reality he's more of a Drake type figure, singing the songs of more talented writers. This isn't an issue, but it becomes one when people praise his talents and not theirs, and especially when he chooses to portray it as if he did it by himself (barring some cases).
Not only this, but Post is incredibly silent on ANY political issues whatsoever, except for a vague prepper and gun loving good ol boy persona. Beyond talking up guns, Post is silent on black issues, progressive issues (the shock of this is that nearly every entertainer is saying SOMETHING in this), his own political beliefs. He lauded Bernie Sanders in a couple of words, and beyond that, said he would do Trump's inauguration (perhaps jokingly). I believe people in show business are entitled to their opinions, but for a new entertainer to be so deafeningly silent on politics at such a time is a surprise to say the least. It's as if he's meant to be a lowest common denominator figure, neither offending nor surprising anyone, but simply pleasing those who accept his catchy little tunes. And why would that be? Well, when one of the biggest sellers of beer is in your pockets, it's likely you could be asked to remain silent, so as to not upset that overlap between beer drinkers and Post listeners. Just a thought.
Yeah, Post and his team have seemed to have eyed the big bucks in this case. White America and internationals. Em did the same before him, and what an apt comparison to make. Eminem peddles the same poppy garbage and gets praised for it, and we can all take a guess as to why. He's a white man in a black genre. And that's what Post fails to acknowledge, even going so far as to trash hip hop and all that it stands for musically. He relentlessly steals the language, swagger, rhythms, cadences, musicality, and more from hip hop/trap music and shrugs it off and calls it lesser. A true vulture. A wolf in sheep's clothing. He is the Trap Elvis. The Trap Kenny G. Any of those comparisons you can dream up, he IS.
And the people love it. They embrace Post Malone because he has a smile on his face, and he's waiting for them to be fans. Post Malone removes the threat of a black person from the music; the one thing preventing them from breaking through that barrier. Post transcends it with ease, simply because of the color of his skin. He is white privilege incarnate, and he'll never admit it. He even says it's HARDER for him as a white rapper (even though he also says he's not a rapper). I find it funny, knowing a couple of white girls who readily admit they don't listen to black rappers at all, but they'll praise Em and say Post has a couple of good songs. And that's all it takes. Post is the whole essence of trap distilled into a consumable white pop form. But it's hard to take him seriously with a career so obviously planned out. I don't doubt he was signed before he released White Iverson. Industry plant is such a dirty word now, but if anyone is, it's this guy.
