You see him everywhere now—headlining festivals, appearing in Bud Light commercials, and dominating the country charts with F-1 Trillion. But if you ask a casual fan post malone from where, you’ll usually get a conflicting answer. Is he a New York rapper? A Texas cowboy? A Utah survivalist?
The truth is, Austin Richard Post is a bit of all three. He wasn't born with the face tattoos and the Stetson. Long before he was "Posty," he was just a kid in the suburbs trying to figure out how to play Guitar Hero without failing the expert level.
The Syracuse Start: July 4th Fireworks
Austin Post was born on July 4, 1995. Fitting for a guy who has basically become an American institution. He spent the first nine years of his life in Syracuse, New York.
His dad, Rich Post, was a wedding DJ back then. That’s a detail people often skip, but it’s actually the most important part of the story. Imagine growing up with a dad who has crates of every genre imaginable—heavy metal, classic country, 90s hip-hop, and bubblegum pop. Austin wasn't raised on a single "sound." He was raised on a shuffle play of everything.
People in Syracuse still claim him, obviously. You’ll find locals who remember the family before they packed up and headed south. But while New York gave him his birth certificate, Texas gave him his personality.
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Moving to Grapevine: Where the Cowboy Hat Came From
When Austin was nine, his dad got a massive job offer: manager of concessions for the Dallas Cowboys. The family moved to Grapevine, Texas.
This is where the post malone from where question gets interesting. Growing up in the shadow of AT&T Stadium changed everything. He wasn't some outsider trying to "act" Texan. He grew up in the heat, worked at a Chicken Express (where he reportedly spent his first $800 paycheck on a pair of Versace loafers), and went to Grapevine High School.
His classmates actually voted him "Most Likely to Become Famous." Usually, those yearbook superlatives are a joke, but they clearly saw something. Maybe it was the fact that he was already making mixtapes in his bedroom using a free program called Audacity.
The Guitar Hero Obsession
A lot of "serious" musicians hate admitting this, but Post Malone learned to play the guitar because of a video game. He got obsessed with Guitar Hero. He played until his fingers were fast enough to handle the real thing.
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By the time he was a teenager, he was auditioning for bands. He actually tried out for the metalcore band Crown the Empire in 2010. He didn't get the gig because his guitar strings broke during the audition. Honestly, that’s probably the best thing that ever happened to his career. If he’d joined a metal band, we might never have gotten "White Iverson."
The L.A. Leap and the Rap Name Generator
Post Malone didn't stay in Texas for long after high school. He moved to Los Angeles with a friend who was a professional Minecraft streamer. It was a classic "starving artist" setup—living in a house in the San Fernando Valley with a bunch of other creators.
Around this time, he realized "Austin Post" didn't exactly scream "superstar." So, he did what any 14-year-old would do: he went to an online rap name generator. He typed in his name, and it spat out "Malone."
- Fact Check: Many people think he named himself after NBA legend Karl Malone. He’s clarified a dozen times that it was literally just a random internet algorithm.
It was in L.A. that he met producers FKi 1st and Sauce Lord Rich. They recorded "White Iverson" two days after Austin wrote it. He uploaded it to SoundCloud, woke up the next morning, and his life was over as he knew it. Wiz Khalifa was tweeting it. Mac Miller was a fan. The kid from Grapevine was suddenly the biggest thing in music.
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Why Utah? The Great Escape
If you look for him today, he’s not in L.A. or Texas. He lives in a massive $3 million mansion outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.
He moved there in 2019 to get away from the "vampires" of Hollywood. He’s been very open about the fact that the L.A. lifestyle was draining him. In Utah, he can be a "normal" guy—which for him means shooting guns, playing Magic: The Gathering, and hanging out with his fiancée and daughter.
He even designed a Raising Cane's restaurant in Midvale, Utah. It’s bright pink and has his classic 1974 Ford F-250 wrapped in the parking lot.
Tracking the Roots: Quick Facts
- Birthplace: Syracuse, New York (The "Salt City" roots).
- Hometown: Grapevine, Texas (Where he learned to be a "Rockstar").
- Current Base: Cottonwood Heights, Utah (His survivalist sanctuary).
- First Job: Chicken Express (Grapevine location).
- High School: Grapevine High School (Class of 2013).
What This Means for You
Understanding post malone from where helps explain why his music sounds like a chaotic mess that somehow works. You can’t make an album like F-1 Trillion unless you actually spent your teenage years in Texas. You can’t write "Congratulations" unless you have that gritty, New York hustle.
If you’re a fan or a creator, there’s a lesson here: don't let where you're from dictate what you make. Austin Post was a New York kid who loved metal, learned guitar from a video game, and became a country-pop-rap icon.
Next Steps for the Deep Dive:
- Listen to the "Leon DeChino" tracks: Find his old synth-pop parody videos from high school on YouTube; they prove he’s always been a genre-bender.
- Visit Grapevine: If you're ever in the DFW area, go to Napoli’s Italian Café. It’s one of the first places he ever performed live.
- Check the Credits: Look at his early SoundCloud era vs. his current Nashville collaborations. The evolution from New York grit to Texas country is all there in the production.