Post Malone has the No. 1 song in the US, so naturally, he’s been doing some press. In his joyously tone-deaf Rolling Stone profile last week, he talked about his large arsenal and the “pure” feeling of shooting guns just weeks after the Las Vegas mass shooting. He gave another interview to the Polish media outlet NewOnce, where he was asked about modern hip-hop. The results aren’t that much better.
Around the 5:30 mark, Post Malone speaks at length about what you should be looking for in hip-hop.
If you’re looking for lyrics, if you’re looking to cry, if you’re looking to think about life, don’t listen to hip-hop. There’s great hip-hop songs where they talk about life and they spit that real shit, but right now, there’s not a lot of people talking about real shit. Whenever I want to cry, whenever I want to sit down and have a nice cry, I’ll listen to some Bob Dylan. Or whenever I’m trying to have a good time and stay in a positive mood, I listen to hip-hop. Because it’s fun. I think hip-hop is important because it brings people together in a beautiful, happy way
The video edits out the interviewer’s questions, so you only get Post Malone wildly gesticulating with a burning cigarette between his fingers without much context. But some of the other answers he gives throughout the interview suggest he isn’t quite aware about what’s going on in hip-hop. For one, he hat-tips Kanye West and 21 Savage, whose music both mine pain. 21’s “Nothin New” broods about black death and “Wolves” hits the abject darkness of a stolen sandwich.
There’s also Post Malone citing Elvis Presley as one of his favorites: “I think Elvis was just a beautiful singer. Beautiful guitar player. He had the swag. He had the sauce.” It’s a darkly comedic line when you consider the black-appropriative parallels.
And if you truly believe Post Malone cries to “If You See Her, Say Hello”—burning cigarette in hand—that’s on you. Watch the full video below.
