Post Malone is tackling the internet, XXL, and XXL’s editor-in-chief Vanessa Satten head on following an onslaught of criticism and his noticeable absence from the publication's "Freshman" cover.
Post Malone addressed comments Satten made on the Breakfast Club about him leaving hip-hop behind. "We were told by his camp that he wasn’t paying attention to hip-hop so much," she said. He was going in more of a rock/pop/country direction."
Post vehemently denied these claims in an Instagram caption. "I never have once said that," he wrote. "I have a hip hop album coming out in August. I made a HIP HOP mixtape promoting my HIP HOP album," Post said, referencing his recently released August 26 mixtape.
Then, Post explained that the real reason he wasn't on the recent XXL is exhaustion. "I didn't want to do the cover because I was tired and didn't want to take the 6 hour flight to NY," he said. "From the horses's mouth, no he said/she said." It's understandable Post feels exhausted, considering he's been traveling everywhere with Justin Bieber lately as the opener on the Purpose World Tour.
Post goes on to say if he wanted to take on "a silly alter ego of Leon Dechino or make a fucking acid polka project," that it would be his choice as an artist. There's no doubt that Post has a unique sound that melds blues, funk, and hip-hop, but as he aptly puts it, "I shouldn't be chastised for expressing myself in whichever way I see fit." You can read Post's full message below.
UPDATED 2:45 p.m. ET: XXL’s editor-in-chief, Vanessa Satten, responded to Post with her own Instagam addressed directly to Post Malone, which basically restated her claim that she was only repeating what his team told her. "I hear you and respect your message but we can only go off information we are given," she wrote. "Your publicity team told us you were moving away from hip-hop and didn't want to be boxed into being a hip-hop artist because you were working on other genres of music such as rock, pop and country so you didn't want to meet with us." Satten clearly lays the blame on thick on Post's camp and notes that if he didn't like the answer, his team "should've told us something different." She ended the post with a seemingly icy, "I wish you all the best of luck with your hip-hop album."
