Stoney is the debut studio album by the American rapper Post Malone, released on December 9, 2016, by Republic Records.

Its lyrics generally revolve around money, luxury, drugs, and women, and its instrumentals feature heavy bass and trap snares reminiscent of club music.

Production was handled by a variety of record producers, including Malone himself, Louis Bell, Frank Dukes, FKi 1st, Charlie Handsome, Illangelo, Metro Boomin, Mustard, Roofeeo, Leon Thomas III, Pharrell Williams, and Vinylz, among others.

The album was promoted by six singles, all of which received multi-platinum certifications by the RIAA—"White Iverson", "Congratulations", and "I Fall Apart" were all certified diamond—and the Stoney Tour across the United States throughout September and October 2017.

[3] It became his breakout song,[4] and afterward he began working with high-profile musicians such as Kanye West, Scott Storch, and Justin Bieber.

[13] From September to November 2016, Malone embarked on the Hollywood Dreams Tour with Jazz Cartier and Larry June, and FKi 1st.

[10] Speaking with The Dallas Morning News, he described the album as "a full culmination of [his] work for the past year or so", and simply wanted to have fun and play the type of music he enjoys.

[20] He was also inspired by the music of Hank Williams, Dwight Yoakam, and Fleet Foxes on the deluxe edition tracks "Leave" and "Feeling Whitney".

[19] He did not want "White Iverson" to dictate his sound for the rest of his career, and simply described it as "[allowing] [his] music to be heard on a large scale".

Malone's natural vibrato is shown in the album,[25] alongside lyrics that delve into money,[25] luxury,[22] drugs,[25][26] and women.

[20] For HipHopDX, Eric Diep wrote that on the album, Malone shifts from pop, to country, to "made for radio" hip-hop.

[25] "Big Lie" contains a "booming" Mustard beat that was compared to Rihanna's Anti and Rae Sremmurd's SremmLife 2 (both 2016) by Pitchfork's Matthew Ramirez.

[26] The laid-back[27] pop[22] and R&B[28] "Deja Vu" contains a feature from Bieber; his appearance was called "as buttery as ever" by Matthew Schnipper from Pitchfork.

[22] Yeung wrote that, alongside the album's other guest appearances, River Tiber's background vocals on "Cold" "bolster Stoney with both atmosphere and credibility".

[36] Referencing Stone Cold Steve Austin on "Go Flex",[31] he sings about the challenges that come with pursuing relationships and chasing money atop faint acoustic guitar strums.

[24] "Too Young", a trap song[39] created with ASAP Yams in mind,[40] is about Malone wanting to live long enough to see his success and enjoying the results of his work using his raw sing-song vocals.

[47] "Hit This Hard" is followed by "Money Made Me Do It" featuring 2 Chainz,[48] a trap song that pays homage to Bankroll Fresh.

[9] When speaking on why the album was delayed, Malone commented: "We're just figuring things out […] I think we're making a sound that's super fresh, hip, original, very fly" in an interview with Real 92.3.

[48] The cover was photographed Nabil Elderkin, and depicts Malone in a pensive mood, resting his chin on his hands, against an orange background.

Its lead single, "White Iverson" debuted at 84 and later peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100; it was certified diamond in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

[51][59] The album's final single, "I Fall Apart", was released to radio on October 17, 2017, after video of a live performance of the song went viral on Twitter.

[64] On June 9, 2016, Malone made his national television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, performing the song, "Go Flex".

He mentioned how "Stoney adds to the canon of releases from Kodie Shane, D.R.A.M., and Rae Sremmurd who are redefining its standards through their curiosity and made directly for a younger audience".

He lauded Malone's music, calling it "refreshing" and described him as "an emerging talent who can craft melodic hooks and infectious songs that stick".

However, she also expressed that though "White Iverson" is enjoyable, it seems out of place in the album's context, alongside "Broken Whiskey Glass" and "Leave".

She summarized by saying she did not think that it was one of the strongest releases of the year, but thought that it showcases "Malone's ongoing ability to generate hits".

[25] Writing a review for Newsday, Gamboa said that Malone's style on Stoney "generally pales in comparison to the inventiveness and the surprise" of "White Iverson".

He concluded the review by stating, "I have a perhaps wishfully optimistic hope that Stoney could mark the end of a specific kind of rap album: the spiffy cash-in after the viral hit or mixtape run".

[26] Though Yeung from AllMusic believed that Malone's music is respectful of the hip-hop genre and culture, "there still seems to be something missing in the calculated white-guy-does-hip-hop formula".

[68] In an October 2017 interview with Paper magazine, Malone called Stoney "mediocre",[69] and later told Nardwuar that he thought "White Iverson" was his only "good song" in December 2017.