He first drew notice for the woozy hit “White Iverson,” in which he compared himself to a black basketball star, and his career has seen him navigating the racial dynamics of the genre with less than perfect sensitivity. “He’s using rock and roll to shorthand a world where creative black males can keep pushing boundaries.” The chorus on loop sums up the song and its movement: Become a rock star by insisting you’re one.īut Post Malone, it must be noted, is white. “When Lil Uzi Vert calls himself a rock star, he isn’t necessarily comparing himself to Kurt Cobain or even Prince,” wrote David Turner in a smart MTV News piece in 2016. It has also been a way for black artists to claim freedom and prestige not always afforded them. To be a rock-aligned rapper is to not necessarily sweat traditional ideas of lyrical virtuosity and biographical authenticity. It instead has accompanied a liquifying of rap’s parameters, both musical and visual. Worshipping rock hasn’t exactly translated into crunching guitars or bopping live drums, though Malone does play guitar.
Of course, these are already widely publicized features of rap stardom, too-a sign that the genres occupy similar spaces in youth culture, and that famous rowdy entertainers will be famous rowdy entertainers.īut there are aesthetic markers of the genre dialogue, too. Malone now sings that he feels like a rockstar because of all the sex he’s having and all the pills he’s popping. “Money and fame like David Bowie,” rapped E-40 in 2012’s “Rock Stars,” putting it as straightforwardly as can be. Partly there’s the obvious: rappers grabbing from a very fertile source of symbols for opulence and coolness. Pop-punk and metal echoes in his music and his look.Ī lot of critical writing has already unpacked what’s behind the rock obsession.
1 creators Migos arrived with memes about being “the Beatles of our generation.” Lil Uzi Vert, featured on Migos’s smash “Bad and Boujee” and one of the trendmakers of this era, has built a brand by insisting on being referred to as a rocker and not a rapper. “Rap is the new rock ‘n’ roll.” You can hear that mentality in the title of the late 2016 No. “We culture,” Kanye West said in 2013, stating what even then wasn’t a very controversial opinion. But more relevantly, they join a class of rappers going out of their way to take unlikely inspiration from the rock canon. By comparing themselves to rock stars, Malone and 21 Savage join a rich lyrical lineage that includes Run-D.M.C’s “King of Rock” in 1985 and Danny Brown’s “Die Like a Rockstar” in 2011. “Rockstar” also is on trend in demonstrating rap’s fascination with rock and roll, which rap recently dethroned as the most-listened-to genre in America. 1s was 2006, the era of Nelly, Sean Paul, and Chamillionaire. 1 songs that 2017 has produced, Billboard points out, half have been rap songs, and each of those has been the first Hot 100 conquerer by the artist that produced it (Migos, Kendrick Lamar, DJ Khaled, Cardi B, and now Post Malone). He’s an R&B singer and rapper, making hazily melodic hits during a commercial boom for hip-hop. He is not, by many definitions, a rock star. Its lyrics read like a checklist of references to its title genre’s history: “Rest in Peace, Bon Scott,” “Light a fire like Morrison,” “I’m with the band.” For the oozing, weightless chorus, the 22-year-old who goes by Post Malone croaks that he “feels just like a rock star.” 1 songs, from Elton John’s “Crocodile Rock” in 1973 to Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” in 1982 to this week’s new chart-topper: Post Malone’s “Rockstar” featuring 21 Savage. In the history of the Billboard Hot 100, the word rock has appeared in the names of 12 No.
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