Rodarius Marcell Green, a.k.a Rod Wave, is a 22 year-old singer/songwriter from St. Petersburg, Florida. His soon-to-be illustrious music career started in 2017 when he released his first ever project called, “Rookie of the Year“. He would then go on to release the first part of his, “Hunger Games” trilogy in the same year, which caught the attention of Alamo Records. Under Alamo, he would release the next two parts of the trilogy and then drop his final mixtape, “PTSD” on June 14th, 2019. This project would go on to give him his biggest success of his mixtapes. “PTSD” had hits such as, “Heart On Ice“, “Popular Loner“, & “Hard Times“. The song, “Heart On Ice” is still one of his biggest hits to this day, as it is certified 2x platinum by the RIAA and would later be remixed by Lil Durk alongside Rod Wave. His performance of the song on Genius’s, “Open Mic” series was the video that introduced me to Rod Wave in about September of 2019.
Just under six months later, Rod Wave would release his first studio album under Alamo Records. “Ghetto Gospel” was released on November 1st, 2019. The album would debut at #14 on the Billboard Charts and would peak at #10. A massive success at the time for the St. Petersburg artist. And in only six months the album would sell over 500,000 units, achieving gold status. My favorite songs from that album would be, “Sky Priority“, “Dark Conversations“, & “Poison“. April 3rd, 2020 would then come around and fans would get his second studio album, “Pray 4 Love“. The album went insane, as it peaked at #2 on the Billboard Charts and sold 72,000 copies in its first week. Just 11 days ago, “Pray 4 Love” was certified platinum by the RIAA, selling over 1,000,000 units. My favorites from the album are, “Dark Clouds” (my favorite Rod Wave song ever), “The Greatest“, & “Ribbon In The Sky“. The album would also be my #1 album of 2020.
In the time period between the release of “Pray 4 Love” and “SoulFly”, Rod Wave went on a tear of releasing singles on YouTube. Songs like, “And I Still“, “Through The Wire“, “Freestyle“, & “Letter From Houston” were instant hits, building up the insane hype for his upcoming album. That day would come on March 26th, 2021 where he would drop his latest album, “SoulFly”. The album would fully establish him as a superstar in the music industry, earning him a feat that only a select few can claim. SoulFly would go #1 on the Billboard Charts, earning Rod Wave his first #1 album. I absolutely loved the album and have been listening to it non-stop ever since it dropped. I wanted to fully listen to the album in all aspects and let it marinate for at least a full two weeks. As for now, I might still say “Pray 4 Love” is better but that is definitely subject to change. This is definitely going to take a lot of time to figure out, but here are my rankings for, “SoulFly”.
Favorite Songs:
- Street Runner
- Blame on You
- Pills & Billz
- Don’t Forget
- Gone Till November
- Richer feat. Polo G
- Changing
- OMDB
- Tombstone
- Sneaky Links
- Shock da World
- SoulFly
- What’s Love??
- Moving On
- Believe Me
- Calling
- Invisible Scar
- How the Game Go
- All I Got
Rating: 8.8/10
Rod Wave is someone who I have yet to hear a bad album. Ghetto Gospel, Pray 4 Love, & SoulFly are all incredible. No misses. If he stays true to the title of the second track on this album, then I’m not even mad. As any fan should, I want my favorite artists to be able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor stress-free. They shouldn’t be like machines in the studio 24/7 releasing music constantly. Let them live their lives. With that being said, whenever he releases the list of venues for his upcoming tour it’s a definite that me and my friends are going to be front row. And that is a wrap on the Rod Wave, “SoulFly” review. I have a strong feeling 2021 is going to get a lot more exciting with music so definitely be on the look out for some big releases. This is YSN, signing out.
