Our American correspondent reviews Post Malone’s ‘Stoney’
🇪🇸 El siguiente artículo fue escrito originalmente en inglés por nuestro corresponsal en Nueva Jersey Denzel Jones. Puedes leer la en español aquí. Traducción y adaptación por Natalia Warrior y Álvaro Reneses.
🇺🇸 The following review was originally written in English by our New Jersey correspondent Denzel Jones. The Spanish version can be found here. Translation and adaptation by Natalia Warrior and Álvaro Reneses.
Some accuse him of being a culture vulture , some hate the fact that his braids are never done, but no matter what the reason, you cannot hate Post Malone for being sonically blended. Hell, in an industry full of Young Thugs and Lil Uzi Verts there should be more than enough room for him.
In an industry full of Young Thugs and Lil Uzi Verts there should be more than enough room for him.
Posty, like Thugga and Uzi, literally refuse to be boxed in: the 21 year old Dallas native is as David Blaine as you can get. He mixes his own electric guitar in with elements of classic rock, country rock, hip hop, electronic, and folk all into one. But ‘White Iverson‘ didn’t teach me that, ‘August 26th‘ did; specifically the song ‘Hollywood Dreams‘.
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That track -strategically placed in the final quarter of a hip hop mixtape- prepared you for what was to come. It’s actually my favorite song of his to date, so it definitely had me hyped.
If you remember asking yourself a few months back: «why wasn’t Post on the XXL? This is the first mixtape that I downloaded where I was actually able to keep all 10 tracks«, there you partially go. You might’ve heard that he was kept off because he was «moving away from hip-hop» but he seemed to be just too tired to fly to New York .
Now, months later after a spat with an editor-in-chief and an album delay, we are blessed with ‘Stoney‘. To be honest, I knew from the beginning it was going to be hard to top his mixtape -a project where you have much more freedom to express yourself- but still, I asked myself: was it worth the wait? Kinda Sorta.
Was it worth the wait? Kinda Sorta.
He started off going the country rock route, just as I expected with ‘Broken Whiskey Glass‘. Note that it even shares the same name with Jason and The Scorchers 1985 song . It has a faint hip hop influence in the second verse but c’mon, we know which direction he was headed. And so began the first transition on the album.
I can’t lie, I hated ‘Dejà Vu‘ at first but it grew on me, fast. The song is so simple but the way Post just floats over it with his laxed flow, you can’t help but sing along. And JB with his nasally croon is just the icing on the cake. I don’t know where they found the time to record that catchy hit, considering that Justin’s tour life is known to be hectic. You can’t find their type of chemistry on a periodic table.
Post just floats over it with his laxed flow, you can’t help but sing along. And JB with his nasally croon is just the icing on the cake.
And of course came another flawless transition, with ‘Dejà Vu’ going into ‘No Option’.
In ‘Cold‘, Post decides to switch it up and go for something with a little more electronic in the tempo. Though this track was produced by frequent bestie collaborator, FKi 1st, it vaguely reminded me of ‘Dejà Vu’.
So you listened to the first half of the album, right? And you find yourself asking for more but for some reason you don’t know what you want more of. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you: you want more Austin Post. Not just Post Malone, the artist. You’ve yet to get personal with him. You don’t know anything about him, besides the fact that he loves molly, grills, and swangin’. But he’s from Texas, you knew that already.
The most intimate cuts on the tape are ‘I Fall Apart’, ‘Cold’ and a few lines on ‘Go Flex‘.
‘Feel‘, which features a new and experimental Kehlani, is an intimate song, but at the same time you can be detached during sex, so I’m on the fence. He has an on-again-off-again girlfriend, he moved from Texas to California with just his friends at 18 years old… Surely he has some material about love -or young independence at the very least.
The funky Pharrell produced track ‘Up There’ is simply amazing on both ends and Posty is consistent with his mellow sound. He could sing about your house being on fire and you’d swear everything’s all good. Also, whenever accompanied by smooth vocals from Pharrell, you can’t go wrong.
‘Yours Truly, Austin Post‘ was fitting to end on. It has heavy country influence, and he continues his streak onto the Deluxe Edition. Actually, the first song, ‘Leave’ is as climactic and about as country rock as you can get.
What is admirable about Posty though is his fearlessness. He’s not afraid to let you know who’s in his playlists, what he grew up on, and how he proudly listens to Dwight Yoakam .
The ambient fusion of R&B and hip-hop created ‘Hit This Hard‘ and it was too easy to fall in love with.
‘Feeling Whitney‘ is an introspective country track.
After listening to the Deluxe Edition, Post does dive into his emotions more, his come-up and substance abuse in particular, but as far as the first 14 tracks I couldn’t really tell. Maybe it was just too difficult for me to sift through the drug fueled lifestyle and the VVS diamonds he flosses.
He made and interesting choice with choosing ‘Money Made Me Do It‘ as a deluxe track. It was on his mixtape as well but I believe the general consensus would agree that it wasn’t the best one up there. [See ‘Hollywood Dreams’]
In the end, Stoney was aptly named and it does have its fair share of club joints, but I think it may be hard for him to find his next hit. ‘White Iverson‘ garnered a million listens on SoundCloud the first month it was released and it was viewed over 100 million times on YouTube. ‘Dejà Vu’ was a good follow up but it didn’t do numbers, at least not like what ‘Timmy Turner‘ did for Desiigner.
Considering where music is headed, with most modern MC’s not wanting to define themselves as rappers, and incorporating multiple genres into their music the future looks bright for Post.
