RODDY RICCH “LIVE LIFE FAST” REVIEW

Roddy Ricch exceeded expectations in 2019 with his debut studio album Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial, a record that many fans hold in high respect due to its diamond-certified chart-topping hit “The Box” and its general artistic ambition. High hopes for LIVE LIFE FAST were hence instantly raised when Roddy Ricch revealed that his follow-up to his spectacular double-platinum debut will be released not long after its second anniversary.

The extent to which the album satisfied listeners’ expectations relies heavily on what they expected to hear from the Compton rapper. Both “Thailand” and “Hibachi” are undeniably bangers in their own right, but neither of them compares to the quirky ingenuity of Roddy’s runaway hit single—which, keep in mind, was originally an album cut—so those hoping for a spiritual successor to “The Box,” for example, will be disappointed. Additionally, since LIVE LIFE FAST doesn’t completely surpass Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial, some fans who expected it to be a step up may feel disappointed with his sophomore attempt.

Fans have every right to be unhappy that the elusive rapper has failed to deliver on either of those fronts, but it does not imply Roddy Ricch has succumbed to the dreaded “sophomore slump.” He is actually quite far from it. Roddy chose to defy expectations rather than releasing a lackluster follow-up to Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial that merely expanded on its themes. Therefore, individuals that go into LIVE LIFE FAST expecting nothing but a strong effort from the 23-year-old performer may be more likely to like the new full-length album.

With 18 tracks, Roddy Ricch’s latest album finds the Grammy Award-winning rapper at a crossroads as he chooses whether to press pause and take a minute to reflect on what he has achieved or slam the throttle and ride the momentum that he established with his debut album. He says, “I have realized I have lived fast, I want to take my time,” in the LIVE LIFE FAST entrance, “llf.” The most expensive luxury on earth is time. You can never get it back, but you never know how much of it you have left.

Roddy Ricch makes numerous references to topics like taking one’s time and slowing down in LIVE LIFE FAST. On the surface, he appears to have delayed the publishing of a follow-up to Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial by literally two years, a professional decision that many of his most successful peers would not even consider. On songs like “Rollercoastin” and “Crash the Party,” Roddy specifically addresses the stress associated with adjusting to the fast-paced life of a multi-platinum superstar.

The Compton rapper also embraces the underlying subject by introducing a sound shift in the album’s second half, when he adopts substantially slower production and works in a much more experimental setting. Over the final 10 tracks, Roddy Ricch performs a soulful ballad alongside Ty Dolla $ign and Alex Isley, bodies a Nils and Kenny Beats-produced drill beat with the assistance of Fivio Foreign, delays the start of his melodic Lil Baby collaboration “moved to miami” by opening the song with a minute-long jazz break, and tries his hand at a spaced out, alternative R&B instrumental reminiscent of Drake’s “Race My Mind” on “more than a trend.”

In addition to his own ideas, it is evident from all of Roddy Ricch’s artistic choices on his sophomore album, LIVE LIFE FAST, that he was highly influenced by one particular musician during the recording process. This artist is Kanye West. After publicly voicing his concerns with Kanye West earlier this year, Roddy Ricch selected My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as his choice for the greatest album of all time. The two musicians later collaborated to produce the Donda track “Pure Souls.”

A few months later, Roddy’s sophomore album is jam-packed with Yeezy-inspired moments, from Jamie Foxx’s recreation of his iconic “Slow Jamz” feature on “no way” to the “llf” interpolation of Ye’s hook on Rick Ross’s Teflon Don track “Live Fast, Die Young.” Beyond the much-appreciated doses of nostalgia, it is incredible to hear Roddy pay tribute to one of Hip-Hop’s best musicians. Those tributes may provide some insight into one of the young artist’s objectives with LIVE LIFE FAST. Ye is renowned for continually reinventing himself in order to create albums that are inimitable, and judging by the new, quiet tone that Roddy employs on his most recent album, he may have directly consulted the work of his Donda collaborator.

With an exceedingly understated album, Roddy Ricch masterfully defies expectations. It takes several listens to properly appreciate the superb production, avant-garde tunes, and original wordplay hidden beneath LIVE LIFE FAST’s surface. Due to the success of “The Box” and all of the achievements it brought the Compton-born artist, some fans will still be quick to dismiss his sophomore album as a dud that is not as “exciting” as its predecessor, but it is easy to look at Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial through rose-colored glasses. Fans should heed Roddy Ricch’s advise and take their time when listening to his gloomy sophomore album since even that album required listeners to get used to it.