A three-time Grammy nominee, Roddy Ricch attempts to prove he’s not a fluke on his debut album, ‘Please Excuse Me for Being Anti-Social’.
With two platinum-selling singles under his belt, Ricch stormed onto the rap scene with ‘Die Young’, a track that seemed to blow up overnight. But if you were – and still are – an invested fan, you’ll find that, two mixtapes and an EP later, we now find the golden child flourishing.
You can expect that signature Roddy sound with this new album On ‘Perfect Timing’, the Compton-born, Atlanta-raised rapper constantly switches his vocals from laidback to frenzied. Telling his story of stealth to wealth, he sounds like the second coming of Young Thug on the second verse. Yet, in the same engineered-to-death vocals, he oozes turmoil: “Seeing my n****s in a hearse, having nightmares in church / Tryna make sure my momma got a couple racks in her purse”.
It’s not a particularly successful song, which is even more bittersweet because it follows the excellent, effortless ‘Start With Me’, which features Atlanta’s finest, Gunna. The distorted flutes make for a fun, uplifting little track.
But the album does feature a few good’uns. ‘High Fashion’, a floating thug-love song, is one of them. The magic touch of Mustard’s tranquiliser-like piano chords, which float atop lofty 808s and snare, will put you under a spell. Ricch’s high-pitched vocal – used elsewhere on ‘Perfect Timing’ – works a charm on ‘High Fashion’. When you hear his pitchy vocal say, “If we hop in the benz, is that OK? / Is it OK that I call you my Prada baby?”, you kinda have to say: “Yes”.
The super turnt, soon-to-be party anthem ‘Peta’ features a simple, generic trap beat, but when Roddy Ricch teams up with Philly’s beloved Meek Mill, the affluent rappers make the track soar.
It’s been a massive year for Ricch, and this debut album is by no means a failure. It’s full of clever collaborations and interesting vocal performances; Roddy Ricch has placed himself comfortably in his own lane.
Release date: December 6
Record label: Atlantic Records
