Post Malone at Rolling Loud

Post Malone and Auto Tune

Post Malone has a pleasant voice and is one of the few people in hip hop who can actually sing. The problem is Post Malone lives a harsh lifestyle. Cigarettes, alcohol, and other substances take a vicious toll on your voice. Just ask Axl Rose. Historically, rock musicians who party hard pay for it later in life. The more you abuse your body, then the more your voice will suffer. Post Malone now relies heavily on auto-tune to get him through shows. Also, he has pre-recorded vocals in the background to help, which is now the norm in hip hop.

Motley Crew

“Motley Crew” is a painfully bad song. The vocals are so auto-tuned that it doesn’t even sound like Post Malone anymore. Granted, he has always flirted with auto-tune, but now, it keeps getting worse. Motley Crew is supposed to be a tongue-and-cheek homage to Motley Crue and racing, but the song feels flat. The performance of this song at Rolling Loud feels even more flat and one-dimensional.

Motley Crue Homage

Modern rap fans love this sound. Motley Crue posted this song on their Facebook and it was getting annihilated in the comments. Older music fans cannot relate to this style of music because they were from a time when the only singers who were getting signed could not rely on technology like auto-tune. Also, older musicians have more integrity about live performances and they would rather go out singing terribly at a live show (Vince Neil) instead of relying on modern technology to help them out.

Rockstar

There is no denying that Post Malone is a Rockstar in every sense of the word. Post Malone seems to idolize rock stars more than rap musicians, but he plays modern rap. It would be interesting to see him take a more traditional approach to his music. It is possible that Post Malone wants to take a more traditional approach, but his record label won’t let him? It is bizarre that he wears “Bikini Kills” shirts and has pictures of himself with King Diamond, yet he hasn’t ventured into a more rock sound. I would truly love to see Post Malone venture into some metal mixed with hip hop.

Congratulations

Congratulations always feels good to me and this was one of the highlights of his set at Rolling Loud. I wish Post Malone would make more songs like Rockstar and Congratulations and stay away from songs like Motley Crew. At one point, Post Malone says he hasn’t performed in over a year, so don’t judge him.

3/5 Performance

Our rating may seem harsh, but we expect more from Post Malone. We’ve been impressed by some of his other performances and this one felt phoned in at some points. It definitely wasn’t a complete disappointment, but the excess use of auto-tune killed it for us. Regardless, we still love Post Malone and can’t wait to see what he does next.