Fuser of genres Post Malone has achieved incredible success in the since taking on the music business just a few years ago. What was his first song?
Post Malone self-released his first music project, which was a mixtape titled Young and After Them Riches. The mixtape is now difficult to track down, but two songs have been found by eagle-eyed fans: “Y.A.T.R” and “Squad Ruff.” His debut single was “White Iverson.”
Read on to learn about the early life of Post Malone and how he made his millions in the music industry.
The Early Years of Post Malone
The singer was born “Austin Richard Post” on July 4, 1995, in Syracuse, New York. The young Post Malone was raised by his father, Rich Post, and his stepmother, Jodie.
His father had been a DJ in the past and this was how Post got into a variety of genres including hip hop, country, and rock.
Post started learning guitar as a kid, which he credited to Guitar Hero and auditioned for the band Crown the Empire in 2010 when he was 15, but he was turned down after his guitar strings broke during the audition.
As a teen, Post was part of a heavy metal band, but also started to experiment with softer rock and hip-hop.
What’s in a name?
After fans had been debating about the singer’s choice of a stage name, the artist decided to clear things up. Post Malone got his name in two ways. “Post” is his real surname. “Malone” came from an online “rap name generator.”
Becoming a Musician
Aged 16, Post made his first mixtape—titled Young and After Them Riches. Kids at his high school evidently thought the young singer was going somewhere and voted him “Most Likely to Become Famous.”
Listen to “Y.A.T.R,” from Young and After Them Riches below.
Post enrolled in college but decided academia wasn’t his passion, dropping out soon after. He then moved to L.A. in order to seriously pursue a career in music.
Post and other artists formed the group BLCKVRD, and lived together in a house.
Through this exposure to the music community, Post was given the opportunity to record some solo tracks, one being “White Iverson.”
He uploaded the song to his SoundCloud account, to great acclaim. He even got praise from Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa.
Finding Success
After garnering a fair bit of attention from “White Iverson,” Post was offered a recording contract with Republic Records.
After signing the deal, Post had made it to the big leagues—he soon worked with prominent musicians including 50 Cent, and Young Thug.
He performed at Kylie Jenner’s 18th birthday party, in 2015, and met Kanye West at the party. Kanye was digging the Post vibe and the pair ended up collaborating on the hit track “Fade” from Kanye’s The Life of Pablo.
Post soon fell into favor with Justin Bieber and was offered the huge opportunity of opening his tour dates for the Purpose World Tour.
In 2016, Post released his first big project—a mixtape titled August 26. The title was supposed to be in reference to the release date of his first studio album. However, the album ended up getting delayed.
“Due to a couple of different issues my album couldn’t be finished on the date that I promised.
I’m disappointed in myself and my whole team…I couldn’t deliver on my word. There’s no excuse. I needed everything to be perfect for y’all and I fu***d up somewhere along the way.”
His debut album—Stoney, was released on December 9 of 2016.
The album reached number 4 on the mainstream US chart and the top spot on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Since then, Post Malone has gone on to have phenomenal success. He released his second album in 2018—Beerbongs & Bentleys and his third in 2019—Hollywood’s Bleeding. Both albums secured the top spot on the mainstream chart.