Rod Wave grew up right here in St. Petersburg and is making some serious noise in the hip-hop world. The rapper, real name Rodarius Marcell Green, started making music for himself in late 2016; a friend and producer began leaking it on the internet without even telling him.
Ghetto Gospel Tour: Rod Wave
Fri. April 3, 8 p.m. $35
Jannus Live, St. Petersburg
local.cltampa.com
The heartfelt lyrics and singing rap style caught on quickly, and Wave started building a solid fan base. The hype's grown so much in the past three years that the local boy done good is averaging 3.6 million monthly streams on Spotify alone—not to mention the millions and millions of views on his YouTube videos.
His latest album, Ghetto Gospel (executive produced by Kevin Gates) features the RIAA-certified gold single “Heart On Ice,” along with other hits “Cuban Links,” “Sky Priority,” and the “Heart On Ice Remix (ft. Lil Durk).”
On Ghetto Gospel, Wave lets all of his emotions out, and that’s what helps connect with people. I love that he’s not following music trends to try and fit in. He’s not making generic, cookie cutter music to fit in on the radio. He's not trying to make viral dance songs or club music. Instead, he’s putting his life stories into his music and it’s paying off.
Wave kicks off a 22-city tour in Augusta, Georgia on March 3, and it wraps with a hometown show at Jannus Live in St. Petersburg on April 3. Tickets are $35.
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