Post Malone – Beerbongs & Bentleys (Republic)

2018 sees the genre Trap, one developed in the late 1990s to early 2000s from Southern hip hop in the US, still exerting its hold and remaining loud and dominant.

One artist who took advantage of this new hype was Post Malone who, controversially and interestingly, made the jump from country folk to trap after struggling to find fame at first.

First garnering attention with early mixtape August 26th and then debut album Stoney both in 2016, Post Malone was quick to release second album Beerbongs And Bentleys but unfortunately he shows that he has much to learn before finding the perfect album.

With the success of Trap, it was bound to be twisted, morphed and incorporated with a new sound. This was the birth of emo trap, a genre Post Malone seems to be on the edge of breaking in to, with the majority of tracks on this album being about heartbreak and sadness.

Opening track Paranoid, sounds like somewhat of a watered down Lil Peep rip off, rapping about about being down in the dumps and scared…this would be the first of many.

Only being five tracks in to the album, it was intensely clear that Post Malone has learned nothing or even attempted to shape up his music and sound, I felt like I was listening to a Stoney v.2: THE REDUX and in all honesty, Stoney didn’t even impress despite having incredible tracks like I Fall Apart and Congratulations.

When he’s not rapping about misery and heartbreak, Post Malone is rapping about being rich and famous especially on my favorite track, Rockstar which features rapper 21 Savage which glamorizes the rockstar lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock n roll (*sigh).

Surprisingly, despite flexing his fame and fortune strongly throughout this album, Post Malone contradicts himself on third track Rich and Sad, where he raps about not enjoying fame, I think he should make up his mind where he stands and stick to it otherwise he runs the risk of sounding privileged but pulling the “poor me” card, never attractive!

Another thing Post Malone really needs to work on is his lyrics, as previously said the topics of this album remain the same throughout, almost as if Post Malone fears broadening his horizons. Although lyrics aren’t crucial, they definitely do stand out in music, especially with lyrics like “I ain’t even see the face, but she got beautiful boobies (wow)”. It’s a shame because Post Malone really does have so much potential as a lyricist and it’s clearly evident on I Fall Apart from Stoney which displays such strong human emotions and pain, but where did this sort of lyricism go? I hope he finds it and leaves the hackneyed old adolescent observations behind.

Apart from the negative points on this album (of which there are many), Post Malone does pack a lot of punches on this album. First being the amount of guest appearances, rappers like Nicki Minaj, Swae Lee, 21 Savage, G Eazy and  surprisingly even Tommy Lee of glam metal outfit Mötley Crüe, who offered his drumming to another one of my favourite tracks on this album, Over Now, in which Post Malone does attempt to leave his comfort zone with music and try something new which results in an aggressive vocal performance and a really impressive beat.

Another positive is Post Malone’s voice, regardless of his music, his vocal performance is incredible and shows no flaws. On the folky, guitar track Stay, Post Malone displays crazy vocal skills and really does kill it, as he also does on previously mention track Over Now.

Overall I can truthfully say that this album is not the best. Post Malone has much work to do before he can become critically acclaimed but of course there will be fans of this album and I can see how it appeals to others.

For me, I really cannot bring myself to listen to another set of the same sad, boastful trap songs and sadly he really does not offer anything new to the trap genre which is unfortunate as he has potential and that wonderful voice is also crying out for something more substantial to express other than his love of “boobies” Grow up Post Malone and fulfil what I consider to be a huge potential, it just wasn’t to be this time around .

Jonathan Strock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PgBVHnu4V4