Roddy Ricch: the antisocial hit machine
hip hop's new daily operation | 6.13.20
The Motto No. 41 feels Compton rap star, Roddy Ricch is not getting the respect for his massive success and impact on hip-hop culture. His debut album, Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial (Bird Vision/Atlantic) dropped December 2019, and this melodic hitmaker is the dominant force of our culture as we enter the halfway point of 2020. The album debuted No. 1 on December 21, 2019, returned to the top three times in 2020 (January 18, February 8, and February 22) and was certified platinum in April. And when you talk biggest rap song of the year? There’s only one answer: “The Box”.
For eleven weeks (Jan 18-Mar 28), “The Box” was No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and, this week, Roddy’s back at No. 1 with his guest feature on DaBaby’s “Rockstar.” Slow down and celebrate? Nah. Today, Roddy let us know he and producer DJ Mustard have plans for the hottest months.
But before Roddy puts more numbers on the boards. Let me get you tune with this young man’s journey.
top billin’:
mood 🔽
it only took two mixtapes (2017’s Feed Tha Streets and 2018’s Feed Tha Streets II) for Roddy Ricch to break thru on the national stage. Recorded the night of XXXTentacion murder, 2018’s “Die Young” is now double platinum and the video has a prophetic moment where Ricch receives a FaceTime call from Nipsey Hussle.
another platinum track off 2018’s Feed Tha Streets II was “Every Season.” This snippet of an early version of the song went viral as Roddy raps over a ukulele.
the final success from Feed Tha Streets II was the Scott Storch-produced “Down Below” which quietly went gold.
Before “The Box,” Anti Social’s roll-out began February 2019 with the lead gold single, “Big Stepper”. No horsin’ around, I’m glad Roddy decided not to get his jockey on.
Roddy chose fellow XXL 2019 Freshman, Gunna to collaborate for his platinum second single, “Start Wit Me”.
the third single, “Tip Toe” is a West Coast-East Coast collab with Highbridge NY’s A Boogie. Gold!
And finally the two Ricch-Mustard collaborations that have us excited for what Summer 2020 could become.
Last year, “Ballin’” was a triple platinum treat off DJ Mustard’s Perfect Ten (10 Summers/Interscope).
unfortunately, there’s not a visual yet for Social’s fifth single, his platinum collaboration with Mustard which is currently running multiple airplay charts.
what more can I say:
Once again, I’m saying that it’s time for the culture’s new leaders to get true recognition. Three times this year, Roddy had the No. 1 song and No. 1 album simultaneously. A helluva feat. So what gives? In the case of Roddy maybe his lowkey demeanor works against him. Like the title of his debut declares he’s truly Antisocial. Today’s tweet was surprising cause Roddy rarely posts and is quick to remove posts on social media. For example, his current IG has 6M followers and only 7 posts. But Roddy doesn’t have to be as animated as DaBaby or as crowd-pleasing as Lil Baby to deserve your attention. The sales certifications prove he has the audience and his cultural impact is already forever immortalized with the Grammy-award winning contributions to Nipsey Hussle’s final single, 2019’s “Racks In The Middle”. Nip knew the kid was special, and Ricch hasn’t stopped validating that belief. Soon you’ll understand.
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Danyel Smith + Elliott Wilson