Most mega-successful stars – maybe with the exception of Queen of the Universe Beyonce – can be pretty divisive, with uber stan fans going to bat while half the population scratches their heads.
Pop-rap superstar Post Malone has been one of this generation’s most divisive musicians, managing to piss off ‘real music’ dad rockers and OG hip-hop fans with his stoned-out mish-mash of rap, trap, grunge and country that covers all the bases with broad strokes.
But in a year when Lil Nas X’s troll meme track Old Town Road has just become the longest-running US Billboard No1, it’s time for people to calm down and go with the post-genre flow.
There’s no doubt that the cultural appropriation slurs have some weight with Post. In a particularly to-the-bone piece last year, the Washington Post called him an “avatar of algorithm culture”, but it’s an algorithm that’s been devastatingly successful – his second album Beerbongs and Bentleys broke Michael Jackson’s 34-year-old record for most weeks on the the Billboard Top R&B and Hip-Hop Albums chart (Jacko managed 76 weeks for Thriller).
Diehard hip-hop fans might face-palm with the Texan’s not-quite-rap bars and rap-rock crossover hits like Rockstar, but he’s lapping up the adoration, as one of the world’s biggest stars.
- Post Malone plays Dublin’s RDS tonight (Thursday)
Moo Kid 