Beerbongs & Bentleys

About

In 2018, no one could tell Austin Post what to do. The cloud-rap-rock imprimatur and irreverent frat boy persona the Texas-reared singer had cultivated since his initial monolithic breakthrough, the 2015 featherweight trap anthem “White Iverson,” had already drawn in millions of listeners across the world. Singles like the celebratory, Quavo-assisted “Congratulations” solidified his status as a hit maker, with cosigns and collaborators from across pop and rap. <i>beerbongs & bentleys</i>, Post’s sophomore release after his 2016 Top 5 album <i>Stoney</i>, was positioned to not just be a chart juggernaut but his first auteur statement—done on the highest scale and fully on his own term. Outfitted with guest spots from some of 2010s hip-hop’s most celebrated names—Nicki Minaj, YG, Ty Dolla $ign—<i>beerbongs & bentleys</i> is an extensive project that relies on Post’s characteristic dichotomy of stylistic playfulness and ruminations on substance abuse and heartbreak. It feels unfettered and confident, with a greater cohesiveness than his previous recording, gaining him—for the first time—some critical respect. Opening track “Paranoid” launches the listener immediately into a world where every struggle assumes an equal weight, bemoaned earnestly in Post’s plaintive croon. In his delivery, an image of sitting up at night with a gun, fearing for his life, feels as trenchant as his descriptions of granular fallouts of a breakup on “Better Now” (“You’re not even speaking to my friend, no/You knew all my uncles and my aunt, though”). .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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