Post Malone, Climbing His Way to the Throne
This post will be about none other than Post Malone, the rapper that surprised everyone with his quick rise to success. Although no one knew him a few years ago, he is know loved by many, and is referred to as one of the most successful rappers today. Austin Richard Post, more commonly known as Post Malone, was born on July 4th, 1995, the same day that we commemorate the independence of our country.
Growing up in Syracuse, New York, he was raised by his father, Rich and stepmother Jodie. Post was surrounded by music as a young child, as his dad was a disc jockey when he was younger, and he then introduced Post to many genres, some of which included rap, country and rock. He left Syracuse behind for the big state of Texas at the age of 9, due to his dad receiving a job with the Dallas Cowboys.
After playing Guitar Hero as a child, he soon became interested in learning guitar, which was his first step towards becoming the musician and singer he is today. His first experience with music was actually becoming a part of a heavy metal band. This transitioned to soft rock and then hip-hop. He started experimenting with FL Studio and Audacity, the latter of which he used to create his first mixtape Young and After Them Riches, at the age of 16 years old. He showed it to some of his classmates, and in turn was voted “Most Likely to Become Famous” as a senior in high school. He enrolled in his local community college, but soon dropped out, moving to Los Angeles, California. Soon after arriving, he formed a group named BLCKVRD, recording music together and soon loved into the same house in San Fernando. His stage name was made when he was 14 or 15, using a rap name generator that gave him the name Malone, adding it onto his last name post.
His career started when he wrote “White Iverson,”in reference to which he recorded just two days after writing the song. The song garnered lots of attention, receiving praise from Wiz Khalifa and Mac Miller, while the music video also received over 390 million views on Youtube. With this song gaining more attention, it caught the eyes of record labels as well, signing with Republic Records in August 2015. This same record label houses other big names such as Drake, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, The Weekend, and Aminé. This same month, he actually performed at Kylie Jenner’s 18th birthday party, where he met legendary artist Kanye West, who enjoyed his music so much he featured him on his single “Fade.” He also met Justin Bieber, who he performed the opening act for Bieber’s concert. He followed this up by releasing his new single, “Go Flex” in April 2016. Over 6 months later on December 9th of 2016, he released his debut album, ‘Stoney.’ This featured “Congratulations,” which hit #8 on the billboard, as well as “I Fall Apart” and “Deja Vu” breaking the top 100. The album went double platinum, although Post himself said the album was mediocre.
After this album, he started working on his second album, Beerbongs & Bentleys, which is set to be released sometime in 2018, after being delayed. “Rockstar,” the first song from the album was released in September 2017, with this song staying at #1 for eight consecutive weeks. Many are awaiting the arrival of his new album, expecting something even better than his first.
What separates Post Malone from many of the other rappers and artists is his unique ability to mix musical styles and genres, making each his own and being successful with them all. While “I Fall Apart” is slower and more R&B, “Rockstar” and “Congratulations” goes more with hip-hop and rap. He called himself genre-less, knowing the unique abilities that he has. With his talents, many are expecting his success to continue throughout his career for a long time to come.