Lil Baby has some heat on the way with his Who Hard As Me (WHAM) album and he’s previewing some of the guest features for it.
On early Wednesday morning (Nov. 20), he posted an Instagram Story of him in front of a whiteboard with up to two dozen song titles and potential featured artists for the album.
Oddly, though, Baby’s “hardest verse ever,” according to Baby himself, isn’t represented on the board: 21 Savage. His guests are Young Thug, Future, GloRilla and Rod Wave.
Rod Wave is working on his next album and he wants his fans to expect nothing but a body of work that will trigger their emotions. The Florida rapper recently took to social media to reveal that the forthcoming project will reflect on his pain, just like all his previous releases.
“This fuckin project hurt so bad bra,” he wrote on Instagram stories. “But ima give it ta y’all.”
Rod delivered his previous album Nostalgia last September to commercial success. It opened atop the Billboard 200 chart with 137k album-equivalent units earned in the first week.
Rod Wave is one of the most popular rappers of his day, but he probably wouldn’t be where he is now were it not for an ex-girlfriend who was a staunch NBA Youngboy fan.
“One of my girls I used to fuck with, she was so fucking in love with NBA Youngboy,” Rod told his Instagram followers during a livestream. “I was like 17 years old living in my own crib. I remember she was just so fucked up about bro. And I just used to be in my living room watching bro’s videos and shit and I used to be like damn, he’s turned up. So I tried to turn it up. That’s real shit.”
He added, “And now we here. It’s crazy bruh how much a n-gga took and just used it. Like damn. That’s what made me take shit serious though, like just seeing other n-ggas. That shit inspired me.”
NBA Youngboy believes Rod Wave is a great artist, but he has his reservations when it comes to the prospect of collaborating on a joint project with the Florida rapper.
During an exchange with the Bootleg Kev, Youngboy said as much as he admires Rod, he can’t drop a project with him since the former and latter have dark and bright images respectively, and he doesn’t want to leave a stain on Rod’s career.
“That’s somebody who will be forever winning in the game,” Youngboy said of Rod. “I think he love what he do. I think he’s so positive. I think he’s so taking in to the people of how he feel.”
Speaking on whether he could make a joint album with Rod, YB continued, “I think that would be a setback for him. My image fucked up. I think I gotta stay in my own lane.”
Rod Wave believes his career is not going to get bigger than it is already. In a recent tweet-and-delete, the Florida rapper declared that he has already enjoyed his peak of his rap career. “I done reached my peak artistically,” he wrote followed by a butterfly emoji.
Rod Wave has seen a fair share of success in the music business. His last album Beautiful Mind, released last August, debuted atop the charts with 115K equivalent album units earned in the first week. It became his second consecutive No. 1 album after his March 2021 release, Soulfly.
Rod Wave is not done dropping new music in 2022, he unveiled the official tracklist for his forthcoming EP, Jupiters Diary: 7 Day Theory late Tuesday (November 15). The rapper shared the 8-song tracklist on Instagram that contains songs like, “Got It Right,” “Love Overdose,” and “Just Sing.”
Wave first announced the project last week and released the song, “Break My Heart,” which also appears on the upcoming EP.
Amid the forthcoming release, Wave is on the Beautiful Mind Tour which began on November 11 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 29-date trek features Tosii and Mariah The Scientist.
The 24-year-old rapper released his No. 1 album, Beautiful Mind, in August with features from Jack Hallow and December Joy.
Rich The Kid and NBA YoungBoy have known each other for five years. Through their various collaborations, they’ve become brothers, and now they’re offering an entire alblum. ‘Nobody Safe’ features Lil Wayne, Rod Wave and Quando Rondo.
Nobody Safe tracklist:
Rap media outlet XXL has released this year’s Freshman Class of rappers. They enlisted Jetsonmade for the production for this year’s XXL Freshman List rollout. Polo G, Jack Harlow, Rod Wave, Mulatto, Baby Keem, NLE Choppa, Lil Tjay, Chika, Calboy, Fivio Foreign, and 24kgoldn round out this years list. The reactions to this year’s list have been mixed.
It started back in 2007 and many rappers have been included over the years. Past alumni include J. Cole, Nipsey Hussle, Jay Rock, Freddie Gibbs, Wiz Khalifa, and Big Sean, all of whom were part of the 2010’s list. Other notable artists featured on previous years of the list are Playboi Carti, Vince Staples, Fetty Wap, Lil Uzi Vert, Wale, Lupe Fiasco, Kid Cudi, Chance the Rapper, and more. Over the years the XXL Freshman List has become a subjective measure of who’s hot and who’s hype in the world of rap.
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