Post Malone Biography

Austin Richard Post (born July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, and guitarist.

He first gained major recognition in August 2015, after the release of his debut single "White Iverson" before landing a record deal with Republic Records in the same month. He released his debut studio album Stoney in December 2016 with the single "Congratulations" peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. His upcoming album, Beerbongs and Bentleys, is set to be released in 2018 with its lead single "Rockstar" featuring 21 Savage becoming Post's first Billboard Hot 100 number one.

Early life

Austin Richard Post was born July 4, 1995 in Syracuse, New York. Post was raised by his father, Rich Post, and his stepmother, Jodie Post. Post's father had been a disc jockey in his youth and introduced Post to many different genres of music including hip-hop, country, and rock.

When Post was 9 years old, he and his family moved to Grapevine, Texas after his father became the manager of concessions for the Dallas Cowboys. Post began to play the guitar and auditioned for the band Crown the Empire in 2010, but was rejected after his guitar strings broke during the audition. He credited his initial interest in learning guitar to the popular video game Guitar Hero. According to Post, his very first foray into professional music began when he was in a heavy metal band. Soon after, he says he transitioned to softer rock as well as hip-hop, before beginning to experiment on FL Studio. At 16, using Audacity, Post created his first mixtape, Young and After Them Riches. He showed it to some of his classmates at Grapevine High School. He was voted "Most Likely to Become Famous" by his classmates as a senior in high school. He worked at a Chicken Express as a teenager.

He enrolled in Tarrant County College but dropped out. After leaving college, Post moved to Los Angeles, California, with his longtime friend Jason Probst, a professional game streamer.

According to Post, he chose Post Malone as his stage name when he was 14 or 15. The name was rumored to be a reference to the professional basketball player Karl Malone, but Post later explained that while 'Post' is his last name, he used a "rap name generator" to get "Malone".

Career

2015-2017: Career Beginnings and Stoney

After moving to LA, Post, Probst, and several other producers and artists formed the music group BLCKVRD and recorded music together. Several members of the group, including Post, moved into a house in San Fernando Valley together. While living in San Fernando Valley, Austin met 1st Down of FKi. He met 1st and Rich from FKi and Rex Kudo who produced several of Post's tracks, including "White Iverson". Post recorded the song two days after writing it. "White Iverson" is, in part, a reference to the professional basketball player Allen Iverson. In February 2015, upon completion, it was uploaded to Post's SoundCloud account. On July 19, 2015, Post released a music video for "White Iverson". The single received praise from Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa. However, the song was mocked by artists such as Earl Sweatshirt.

After hitting one million views within a month of releasing "White Iverson", Post quickly garnered attention from record labels. In August 2015, he signed a recording contract with Republic Records. Post subsequently worked with a number of prominent rappers such as 50 Cent, Young Thug, and Kanye West, among others. In August 2015, he performed at Kylie Jenner's 18th birthday party, where he met Kanye West, who enjoyed his music, leading to him collaborating with Post on his single "Fade" from his album The Life of Pablo. Post later began his friendship with Canadian singer and songwriter Justin Bieber, which led to Post being an opening act for Bieber's Purpose World Tour. On April 20, 2016, Post premiered his new single, "Go Flex" on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show. On May 12, 2016, he released his first full-length project, a mixtape, titled August 26, the title of which was a reference to the release date of his debut album. On June 9, 2016, Post made his national television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing "Go Flex".

In June 2016, XXL editor-in-chief Vanessa Satten revealed Post Malone was considered for XXLs "2016 Freshmen Class" magazine cover, but she was "told by his camp that he wasn't paying attention to hip hop so much. He was going in more of a rock/pop/country direction." However, Post denied these claims, explaining that his latest mixtape as well as his upcoming album were both hip-hop. In August 2016, Post issued an apology for his album, Stoney, being late. It was available for pre-order on November 4, and was finally released on December 9. Post later went on to call the album "mediocre", despite the success of the single "Congratulations" featuring Quavo, Post's first top-ten song on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number eight. Stoney also featured the top 100 hits "I Fall Apart", and "Deja Vu", featuring Bieber, with the album later being certified double platinum by the RIAA in October 2017.

2017-Present: Beerbongs & Bentleys

In February 2017, Post revealed the title of his next project, Beerbongs & Bentleys, and was set to be released in December, before eventually being pushed back to 2018. In September, Malone released the first single from the album, "Rockstar", featuring 21 Savage. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and held the spot for eight consecutive weeks, later prompting Rolling Stone to call him "one of the most popular musicians in the country" in 2017. In November, Malone released the official music video for "Rockstar", directed by Emil Nava.

On February 20, 2018, Post previewed his new song with Ty Dollar Sign titled "Psycho." "Psycho" was released on February 23, 2018 and a tour with 21 Savage was announced. The song debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Post's third entry in the top 10.

Musical style

Post's music has been described as a "melting pot of the country, grunge, hip-hop and R&B" and Post himself has been described as versatile. His vocal style has been described as laconic. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times described Post as "an artist who toes the line between singing and rapping, and hip-hop and spooky electric folk". Malone himself has called his music "genre-less".

Post cites Bob Dylan, who he became interested in around the age of 15, as an influence on his music, calling him "a genius" and "a god". He called "Subterranean Homesick Blues" the "first rap song". He has a tattoo of Dylan as well. Post has also listed rappers 50 Cent, whom he called a legend and Key! as influences.

Controversies

Post has been labeled the "Donald Trump of Hip-Hop" by executives at Republic Records, saying "Things that should've killed his career have only made him bigger." Post has been called a culture-vulture multiple times by different publications and on social media for perceived usage of African-American culture. Californian rapper Lil B said on Twitter in October 2017, "Post Malone is slowly turning into a white dude! Lol he"?s pushing, it give it a few years he gon be full country and hate blacks lol" with Post replying in an interview saying his white skin has been "used against him." In January 2018, Post went on an intoxicated rant against people labeling him a culture vulture. In an interview with GQ several days later, Post said "there"?s a struggle being a white rapper."

In a November 2017 interview with Polish media outlet NewOnce, he expressed his belief that modern hip-hop music lacks "people talking about real shit", saying "If you're looking to think about life, don't listen to hip-hop." Post received social media backlash for his comments, including from rappers such as Lil B and Vince Staples. He appeared in a video on Twitter, explaining that the reason for his comments were that it was a "beer-tasting" interview, and going on to say that he loves hip-hop. NewOnce denied that Post drank the majority of beers offered to him by the outlet.

Personal life

Post currently lives in Los Angeles, California. He also has a $3 million 13,000-square-foot home in northern Utah.

Post has a series of tattoos, inspired by Justin Bieber. His first tattoo was of the Playboy Bunny. He has tattoos on his hand and fingers with artists that he was influenced by having their faces tattooed on each individual finger. Post has a rifle with a snake wrapped around it tattooed on his tricep in recognition of the 2nd Amendment and the face of deceased rapper, Lil Peep on his arm.

In terms of face tattoos, Post has barbed wire tattooed across his forehead and an upside-down music note tattooed under his eye. He also has the words "Stay Away" tattooed above his right eyebrow.

Politics

Post has a tattoo of U.S. president John F. Kennedy on his arm, and has said that Kennedy was "the only President to speak out against the crazy corruption stuff that's going on in our government nowadays." In December 2016, Post discussed that if asked to perform at the inauguration of Donald Trump he would not have been opposed, though he stated that neither Trump nor Hillary Clinton were fit for President of the United States and expressed his support of Bernie Sanders during the election cycle.

Post later expressed a dislike for Trump in a November 2017 interview for Rolling Stone. In the same interview, he revealed that he owned a myriad of guns, and believed it was an "American" right to own and operate guns. He also expressed a heavy interest in conspiracy theories, saying "There's crazy shit that goes on that we can't explain." During a trip to Canada, Post was interviewed and when asked what the "biggest lie is", he replied "The biggest lie in the world is the U.S. government, It"?s a fucking reality show and I think there"?s gonna be a lotta weird shit that happens within our generation that really changes the way of the world."?

Discography

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• Stoney (2016)
• Beerbongs & Bentleys (2018)

Media appearances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Skee TV	Self	1 episode ("Action Bronson, OT Genasis, Post Malone, Matt & Kim")
2016	GGN: Snoop Dogg's Double G News Network	Self	1 episode ("GGN Post Malone Has the Sauce")
2016	Jimmy Kimmel Live!	Self	2 episodes ("Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon & Leslie Jones/Post Malone," "Sarah Silverman/Jimmy Butler/Post Malone")
2016	Pattaya	Performer, Writer ("White Iverson")
2016	Hot Ones	Self	1 episode ("Post Malone Sauces on Everyone While Eating Spicy Wings")
2017	"Making Music with Post Malone"	Self
2017	FishCenter Live	Self	1 episode
2017	H3 Podcast	Self	3 episodes (Episodes #7, 10, 39)
2017	Late Night with Seth Meyers	Self	1 episode ("Jake Gyllenhaal/Whitney Cummings/Post Malone/Quavo/Metro Boomin/Charlie Benante")
2017	Ridiculousness	Self	1 episode ("Post Malone")
2017	iDubbbzTV	Actor
2017	xXx: Return of Xander Cage	Performer, Writer ("Burning Man")
2018	Good Mythical Morning	Self	1 Episode