Austin Richard Post (born July 4, 1995), known professionally as Post Malone, is an American rapper, singer, 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 it's lead single "Rockstar" featuring 21 Savage becoming Post's first Billboard Hot 100 number one.

Austin Richard Post was born July 4, 1995 in Syracuse, New York.[3][4] 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.[5]
When Post was 9 years old,[6] he and his family moved to Grapevine, Texas after his father became the manager of concessions for the Dallas Cowboys.[7][8] 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.[9] According to Post, his very first foray into professional music began when he was in a heavy metal band.[10] Soon after, he says he transitioned to softer rock as well as hip-hop, before beginning to experiment on FL Studio.[11] At 16, using Audacity, Post created his first mixtape, Young and After Them Riches.[12] He showed it to some of his classmates at Grapevine High School.[9][13] 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.[9]
He enrolled in Tarrant County College but dropped out.[14] After leaving college, Post moved to Los Angeles, California, with his longtime friend Jason Probst, a professional game streamer.[15][16][17]
According to Post, he chose Post Malone as his stage name when he was 14 or 15.[18] The name was rumored to be a reference to the professional basketball player Karl Malone,[19] but Post later explained that while 'Post' is his last name, he used a "rap name generator" to get "Malone".[

After moving to LA, Post, Probst, and several other producers and artists formed the music group BLCKVRD and recorded music together.[21] 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".[3] Post recorded the song two days after writing it.[13] "White Iverson" is, in part, a reference to the professional basketball player Allen Iverson.[22][23][19] In February 2015, upon completion, it was uploaded to Post's SoundCloud account.[24] On July 19, 2015, Post released a music video for "White Iverson". The single received praise from Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa.[9][25][26] However, the song was mocked by artists such as Earl Sweatshirt.[27][28][29]
After hitting one million views within a month of releasing "White Iverson", Post quickly garnered attention from record labels.[23] In August 2015, he signed a recording contract with Republic Records.[30][31] Post subsequently worked with a number of prominent rappers such as 50 Cent, Young Thug, and Kanye West, among others.[32][33] In August 2015, he performed at Kylie Jenner's 18th birthday party,[34] 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.[35] 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.[36][37] On April 20, 2016, Post premiered his new single, "Go Flex" on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show.[38] On May 12, 2016, he released his first full-length project, a mixtape, titled August 26,[39] 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".[40]
In June 2016, XXL editor-in-chief Vaness

Post's music has been described as a "melting pot of the country, grunge, hip-hop and R&B"[57] and Post himself has been described as versatile.[58] His vocal style has been described as laconic.[59] 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".[60] 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.[7] Post has also listed rappers 50 Cent, whom he called a legend[61] and Key! as influences.[