Rod Wave

“There’s people who could make a living getting in there and talking about they pain, they life, they story, they struggle,” Rod Wave told Apple Music in 2020. “It kinda made me open up more. Like, it’s OK to be yourself; it’s OK to talk about what you go through, because ain’t nobody perfect. Everybody want to get on these songs and s**t and walk around like they perfect. That ain’t what it’s about. That’s just vampire. It don’t even exist.” Born Rodarius Green in 1998 in St. Petersburg, Florida, Wave is part of a pack of younger rappers—including YoungBoy Never Broke Again, NoCap, and Moneybagg Yo—taking the street confessionals of forebears like Boosie Badazz and Kevin Gates in new directions, broadening the emotional range of hip-hop with the vocal catharsis of classic soul and, in Wave’s case, even a touch of country. Wave introduced his raw approach on 2019’s debut studio album Ghetto Gospel. He quickly expanded on that foundation with a string of defining releases, including 2021’s SoulFly, which explored the isolating realities of his newfound fame. He’s continued to refine his vulnerable storytelling over the years, including on 2024’s Last Lap, a project that proves his formula of baring his soul remains as powerful and necessary as ever.