Every Interview I Fall Apart: Post Malone Says It's a Struggle Being a White Rapper

In an interview with GQ, the "White Iverson" rapper was asked "Do you, Post Malone, ever feel anxious about working in a primarily black-identified genre of music?" Post responded by saying "I definitely feel like there's a struggle being a white rapper. But I don't want to be a rapper. I just want to be a person that makes music. I make music that I like and I think that kick ass, that I think the people who fuck with me as a person and as an artist will like." This is all coming from a rapper who just had a #1 hit with his recent single "Rockstar." Malone also cracked into the Billboard Top 10 Country chart with his song "Congratulations" (which I didn't even know was a country song but alright). It seems like being a white rapper is doing wonders for him at the moment. 

This story isn't anything new. We've heard it with Macklemore, Iggy Azalea, and now Post. The white rapper blues. First you get a number one hit and mainstream attention, then all of the sudden you get called out for being problematic and now it's "hard to be a white rapper." Being a white rapper isn't the hard part, the hard part is dealing with the culture you're trying to participate in. Which is black culture. Black people are already defensive about hip-hop because it's something that is 100% created by us. So when people outside of the culture try to step in and profit off of it, they're going to get questioned. We don't need someone coming into and using hip-hop and black culture as a stepping stone and then leaving and insulting us when they didn't pop off and make the profit they were expecting to (looking at you Miley Cyrus). 

It seems as if Post Malone doesn't respect rap music altogether. He said that "I don't want to be a rapper. I just want to be a person that makes music." What's wrong with being a rapper? Rap music accepted him when his heavy metal band attempt didn't jump off the way he wanted to. Rap music is the reason he has all of the success he's having right now. It's as if being called a rapper is a bad thing to him. A label. I understand not wanting to be put in a box with your music but white rappers have the luxury of being able to navigate through different genres with ease. By being a white rapper he's able to have his music played on urban and pop radio. It's black musicians that get typecast as strictly r&b and hip-hop and have a harder time breaking into the mainstream audience. 

Post Malone is having no struggle as far as success. He just doesn't know how to address the culture he's benefiting from.