Roddy Ricch’s uncanny ability to blend in with almost any style of rap is his calling card, for better or worse. Being able to get in where you fit in is great for variety. But there’s always the risk of the music becoming indistinct, another identity flashing briefly in the scramble suit before being quickly replaced. At its best, like on his chart-topping single “The Box,” his vocal range can make a song crackle with unpredictable energy. At its worst—“Faces” from his 2018 mixtape Feed Tha Streets II or “Boom Boom Room” from his 2019 debut Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial—his music is grist for the same playlist mill churning out Future and Young Thug clones. When his personality and versatility work hand-in-hand, it’s easy to see why he’s become one of the biggest rappers on the planet.
But Roddy’s second album LIVE LIFE FAST lacks the spark that once helped him block a certain pop star from a No. 1 Billboard spot. Antisocial was a chance for him to find his place within contemporary rap. LIVE feels more like an obligation, an 18-track checklist of tropes to ensure maximum streamability. The Flex Anthems (“thailand,” “hibachi”) slot comfortably next to the Introspective Ballads (“crash the party”); the Trendy Features serve the same purpose as the Glorified Celebrity Cameo. It’s all perfectly serviceable, but competency is the problem. At least when artists like Trippie Redd try and fail to diversify their sound, they take bigger and more interesting swings. LIVE LIFE FAST is static, a rollercoaster operating on a straight track.
It doesn’t help that so many of the scenarios Roddy recreates are dull retreads. Some barely evolve past basic clichés. “Gotta watch out for these snitches, gotta watch out for these bitches/Gotta whisper to you niggas ’cause all the hatin’ niggas might just hear me,” he says on “crash the party,” sounding only half-committed. The hook for “all good” is a rundown of all the positive things in his life, delivered like a hastily written grocery list. The malleability of Roddy’s voice backfires when he settles into this faceless posturing. His attempt at Brooklyn drill on “murda one” is hollow compared to guest Fivio Foreign’s effortless verse on the backend. He channels Juice WRLD’s wails on “more than a trend” and Young Thug on several songs that sound more like the Great Value brand versions of other artists’ styles.
The missteps are frustrating because a handful of moments on LIVE showcase the magic Roddy can make. The occasionally clever turn of phrase (“I got some niggas that go by Murder, why they sip red rum?” from “rollercoastin”) or catchy melody (“late at night”) work overtime to hold the record together. The voiceless drum and bass interlude that starts off “moved to miami”—produced by Lexx Deathstar and Lucas Padulo—deserved a verse to compliment it. Second track “thailand” is the closest the album comes to having a hit as undeniable as “The Box”: the bars aren’t great (“Open up her tonsils like she at the dentist”), but the melody is bouncy, the flows are erratic, and Roddy fits into the pockets of Southside’s beat like water filling an ice cube tray.
Yet the isolated moments of greatness across LIVE LIFE FAST only call attention to how flavorless the rest of the project feels. At the end of “no way,” Jamie Foxx shows up to congratulate Roddy on his success. It would be a touching move if the actor-musician didn’t follow it up by asking Roddy to slow down the tempo, quoting his own hook from Kanye West and Twista’s 2003 hit “Slow Jamz”: “I don’t think these motherfuckers know about Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, or a little Anita.” Roddy follows the request with a 54-second interlude called—what else—“slow it down.” Most of LIVE LIFE FAST plays out with this kind of energy: forced, obvious, its best ideas obscured in a haze of self-satisfaction.
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