More than any other rapper outside of Drake, Roddy Ricch is portable; he has a natural gift of synthesizing various influences into a single, pleasant-enough song. This is why he sounds equally at home being down bad with Polo G as he does mud walking alongside Gunna as he does yelping next to 42 Dugg.
Like Young Thug, his voice is emotive and agile, effortlessly snapping between different flows and melodies. Like Lil Baby, he’s a charismatic short king with an iced-out Patek instead of a crown.
Over the last three years, only a handful musicians—let alone rappers—have been as successful as Ricch, who has released 11 songs that have gone platinum (including the diamond “The Box”) and been featured on another eight more. So why does it still feel like he’s fallen off?