St. Petersburg, Florida rapper/singer
Rod Wave
's songs are rooted almost exclusively in pain and struggle. His 2019 breakthrough song "Heart on Ice" set the template with melancholy piano hooks riding an understated trap beat and a vocal delivery that alternated between gruffly rapped bars and passionate singing. It was a sad lament of heartbreak and hopes for better days, and it set the tone for much of what followed from
Wave
. Second studio album
Pray 4 Love
is a slightly darker continuation of his 2019 debut
Ghetto Gospel
. While that record carried the stamp of
Kevin Gates
as executive producer,
Gates
' influence remains strong throughout the material on
. It's heard most when
switches into his pained singing voice, using his rapped flows about hard times and raw memories mostly as necessary breaks between hooky choruses on tracks like "Girl of My Dreams" and "Ribbon in the Sky." The instrumentals mirror the undercurrents of tenderness that show up in
's vocals, with trap hi-hats low in the mix under emotional piano lines and old-school funk elements.
stays in more or less one gear for its duration, with
expunging himself of his demons song after song. It's a lonely sound, and one
goes mostly alone. The particularly melodramatic "Rags2Riches" is the only song featuring another artist, though the credited
ATR Son Son
doesn't appear to contribute any additional vocals to the track. As with all of his best work,
is firmly in his feelings on
. It's a shade or two sadder than earlier material and all the better for it, offering an even more complete picture of the pain and trauma that molded him as an artist. ~ Fred Thomas