NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts – Take 2 with Post Malone and Cypress Hill
Intimate Video Performances, Recorded Live at the Desk of Bob Boilen
By Richard S. Green, Sr.
Explicit Content warning… the language can be offensive here. If you are delicate or have an issue for other reasons, please admire from a distance.
I found myself interested in creating a follow up post, when Post Malone himself came to play at the Tiny Desk on Aug 15, 2023. Is that a pun? Not sure by definition, but yes intentional nonetheless.
Austin Richard Post, known professionally as Post Malone, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Known for his variegated vocals, Malone has gained acclaim for blending genres and subgenres of hip hop, pop, R&B, and trap. Wikipedia
Per my previous post, NPR’s Tiny Desktop Concerts, I have three main loves in this world, outside of family/friends/gf/etc., of course., and those are music, whiskey and cycling. So, I wanted to further butcher the Whiskey Library section by adding more music references.
Also, if you read my last post the reference to my day job boredom continues. I just returned from a week off at the beach in Virginia Beach, Virginia. So, coming back to work was fraught with little fanfare, and much remorse.
To quote my last article “Because of the NPR section, I successfully got through work for another week!” Well, its only Tuesday this time, so I’m hopeful this will be true.
On to Post Malone
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Well this was a short, but outstanding performance. I had to listen to it twice. I’ll attempt to post this on DatingRefinery.com as well so you can watch and listen to it here.
I have to encourage you to read the commentary surrounding the NPR post by Stephen Thompson, as it references statements such as “Before, during and after the show, Post Malone was a joy to have around.” He was super excited and surprisingly nervous to play there in person, so I found it particularly interesting.
For me, I didn’t really know much about this man, but I was familiar with some of his music from the “radio.” This performance let you see the talent behind the pop-like music mixture you would typically get in a pop song. I had to do a little research on Post to find something that I thought was interesting.
In the IMDB article, he was cited as having an interesting past set of experiences, such as getting rejected as a member for the band Crown the Empire in 2010, when his guitar stings broke during the audition.
My favorite quote from the article goes like this, “According to Post, he chose Post Malone as his stage name when he was 14 or 15. The name was rumored to be a reference to the professional basketball player Karl Malone, but Post later explained that while ‘Post’ is his last name, he used a “rap name generator” to get “Malone””
Since I went to college at Louisiana Tech University, the ‘Mail Man,’ Karl Malone was a very famous alumnus of my beloved University. Well, along with my favorite Pittsburgh Steelers hall of fame Quarterback, Terry Bradshaw, and Trace Atkins, country artist, Kix Brooks, country singer, and Uncle Si from Duck Dynasty.
Anyway, for Post Malone, he has a foot in a lot of different genres of music, from hip-hop, to Rap, to Pop to R&B. Many articles cite that he combines sub genres to include trap. He began learning the guitar after watching the video game ‘Guitar Hero.’ What I find interesting is that he writes his own songs and doesn’t rely on the industry.
The very evident tattoos under his eyes says “’Always Tired!”
In his younger years, Malone was introduced to music by his father, who was a D.J. in his youth.
According to National Today, “He left Tarrant County College to move to Los Angeles with his friends, where they formed the music group BLCKVRD. Malone has also ventured into other activities, such as owning his own line of French rosé, Maison No. 9, named after his favored tarot card, the Nine of Swords. The wine was such a hit that it sold out in two days. He has also starred in a few films, most notably, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and “Wrath of Man.” 2022 saw Malone’s release his fourth studio album “Twelve Carat Toothache.”
I would recommend that you watch the following videos, as I really feel that he isn’t tied to a particular music genre. I was pleasantly surprised that I was familiar with a lot of his work and really enjoyed listening to it at work today….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkCpiFc2olE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzInC0lHIMM
Post Malone – Psycho ft. Ty Dolla $ign – YouTube
Post Malone ft. 21 Savage – rockstar (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Post Malone – Circles – YouTube
Post Malone – Better Now – YouTube
Post Malone – Chemical (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Post Malone – I Like You (A Happier Song) w. Doja Cat [Official Music Video] – YouTube
As I stated previously, The Tiny Desk Concerts are brought forward by Bob Boilen, who directed the show, All Things Considered for 18 years, before hosting All Songs Considered stating in 2000.
I wanted to note that the article for NPR was written by Thompson, who gives himself equal billing for the Tiny Desk concerts. According to Stephen’s BIO, in 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen’s desk.( “To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)”
Cypress Hill
Note: See aforementioned explicit content warning…
Another notable concert for this take 2 article is for Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill: Tiny Desk Concert : NPR from July 20th In 2023 See article by Bobby Carter.
Not going to lie, this made me a little Insane in the Brain for a Tuesday.
According to Cypress hill, this is their contribution to 50 years of Hip Hop culture. Again, another artist that I am probably more cursory aware of, rather than full on fan of on this take. But again, I was surprised here. Accordingly, the band brings its music to two genres of music, Alternative and Urban (Hip-Hop or Rap) markets.
So it makes sense that I am aware of them via the Alternative market. But this is the first Latino hip-hop group to achieve platinum and multi-platinum status.
B-Real, Sen (and producer DJ Muggs) and Touring members Eric Bobo and DJ Lord joined the duo along with Money Mark from Beastie Boys fame on keys joined the Tiny Desk.
Per Carter, between each song, B-Real took his time to shed some historic light on the group’s journey thus far.
According to B-Real, their theory for music that was to be put out into the market, was to get darker rather than brighter. They credit Sony for pushing their biggest hit, despite their best efforts to put out something darker. Sony push for them to put out Insane in the Brain and they are forever grateful.
