50 Fun Facts About Rod Wave

What is Rod Wave's real name?

Rodarius Marcell Green. He was too shy to post his own songs, so a classmate filmed him singing in a school hallway and put it on Facebook, where it took off.

Rod Wave was born and raised in which Florida city?

St. Petersburg. He was barely a week into his first headlining tour in March 2020 when the pandemic shut it down, which he described as his dream being 'shut down just like that'.

One album review and Rod Wave's hometown paper both describe his sound as what?

Pain music. One review said nobody sings about their pain like him, and fans in his hometown put it simply: his pain is their pain, his success their inspiration.

Which record label signed Rod Wave in 2018?

Alamo Records. The label was only two years old and taking a chance: its boss had noticed the millions of plays Rod Wave's self-released early mixtapes were drawing.

Fans began recognising Rod Wave at the drive-thru while he was working for which chain?

Krispy Kreme. Too shy to admit it, he would deny being 'that Rod Wave guy', and he later sang about selling doughnuts in 'The Greatest'.

'Heart on Ice', the song that broke Rod Wave, first appeared on which 2019 mixtape?

PTSD. The song then spread so widely online that it was carried over to his debut album months later, where a remix became the lead single.

'Heart on Ice' went viral on which platform before peaking at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100?

TikTok. He had no idea it was happening: he said he didn't even know what the app was until his little sister and several interviewers urged him to download it.

Which rapper took Rod Wave on tour as a supporting act in 2019 and executive-produced his debut album?

Kevin Gates. Rod Wave had been a fan since middle school, and says Gates was the artist who made him believe someone like him could make it in rap at all.

Rod Wave's first paid show, on a school night when he was 17, was at what kind of venue?

A strip club. It paid $500, and the crowd from his city sang every word back, so the promoter rebooked him every week for about two months.

Where does Rod Wave say he recorded most of Pray 4 Love, alone with his engineer?

In hotel rooms. He called the music too personal for a studio full of people, which is also why the album has almost no guests and came together in about a month.

'Rags2Riches', from Pray 4 Love, features which artist on the original version?

ATR Son Son. Asked for his own biggest rags-to-riches moment, Rod Wave picked paying cash for a house a few years after being evicted from one.

Which streaming service made Rod Wave the first artist in its 'Up Now' emerging-artist programme in April 2020?

Audiomack. He said the service had been 'helping me get my music out there from the very beginning before people really knew who I was'.

Which album, released in March 2021, gave Rod Wave his first number one on the Billboard 200?

SoulFly. Weeks earlier he had told fans he would not release his next album until his label paid him; days later he apologised, and it went straight to number one.

Which two Rod Wave singles from 2021 both reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100?

Street Runner and Tombstone. He even turned Street Runner into an arcade-style video game of the same name, launched a week after the single to promote it.

Which rapper features on Rod Wave's 2021 single 'Richer'?

Polo G. Rod Wave planned an album with no guests at all until he bumped into Polo G at a jewellery store and learned he was a fan.

Rod Wave's 2022 single 'Alone' borrows lines from 'U.N.I.', an early song by which British star?

Ed Sheeran. Rod Wave calls him one of his favourite artists, and a radio host who learned of it had introduced the two the year before.

'By Your Side', released in November 2021, was the lead single of which Rod Wave album?

Beautiful Mind. He declared it his 'last sad album', explaining that the old trauma he sang about looked different now that he was older.

The chorus of Rod Wave's 'By Your Side' borrows from which 2000s acoustic hit?

Hey There Delilah. He swaps the Plain White T's greeting for 'Hey there everybody', turning a long-distance love song into a hello to his fans.

Rod Wave guested on 'Home Ain't Home', a 2022 track by which rapper?

NBA YoungBoy. Critics had long paired them as Southern rappers who sing about their struggles, and Rod Wave was one of only three guests on the 30-song album The Last Slimeto.

What was the name of the eight-track EP Rod Wave released in November 2022?

Jupiter's Diary: 7 Day Theory. It was his second release of 2022, dropped a week into an arena tour and three months after the album he had called his last sad one.

Which song was the lead single from Rod Wave's album Nostalgia?

Fight the Feeling. Out in March 2023, it peaked that April, then climbed again in September when the album arrived and all 18 of its tracks reached the Hot 100 in the same week.

Which three artists guest on Rod Wave's album Nostalgia?

Wet, 21 Savage and Sadie Jean. Only one of the three is a rapper: Wet is a Brooklyn indie-pop group heard on the title track, and Sadie Jean a pop singer-songwriter.

Whose album did Rod Wave's Nostalgia knock off number one in September 2023?

Olivia Rodrigo. Her album Guts had spent one week at the top when Nostalgia beat it by a few thousand units, and the New York Times called him a 'stealth rap star'.

Which classic American novel gives its title to a song on Rod Wave's album Nostalgia?

The Great Gatsby. On the love-drunk 'Great Gatsby' he recasts himself as the novel's doomed romantic, and the song went top 30 in the album's first week.

Which rapper said she'd 'tweak out' when Rod Wave's Last Lap took her album's release day?

GloRilla. He kept the date anyway, replying with a photo of the two of them in the studio captioned 'La twin drop same night', and both albums arrived together.

What was the lead single from Rod Wave's 2024 album Last Lap?

Passport Junkie. The title is his name for a woman hooked on trips abroad, and in the song he offers to fly her whole family to Paris.

Which Memphis rapper supported Rod Wave's Last Lap Tour?

Moneybagg Yo. The arena run later soured: dates were cancelled, and the promoter took Rod Wave to court over its advance.

Which of these artists features on Rod Wave's 2024 album Last Lap?

Lil Yachty. A month before release Rod Wave previewed a song with an even bigger star, but it was missing when the track list came out.

Rod Wave co-wrote and performed the title song for which 2025 film?

Sinners. The song earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media, where it was up against two other songs from the same film.

Which two artists did Rod Wave name as inspirations in a 2020 Billboard interview?

Tupac Shakur and Adele. He said 'Pac 'laid the blueprint' for music that carries a message, and that he loves Adele because 'you can just hear her pain'.

What sport did Rod Wave's father push him into in high school to keep him out of trouble?

Football. He sang constantly around the team, and he recalls a teammate asking him at practice to perform at his birthday party.

Which 2020 mishap led Rod Wave to borrow a Kanye West song title?

A car crash. He nearly died in the wreck and, like Kanye West after his own accident years earlier, called the song he made about it 'Through the Wire'.

Rod Wave's 2022 freestyle 'Sorry 4 The Wait' was recorded over a hit by which rapper?

Future. Rod Wave used the freestyle to promise an album for that June; despite the title, it then slipped two months and fans had to wait again.

Rod Wave pulled out of a collaboration with which superstar because he wanted his verse to be perfect?

Drake. Far from taking offence, Drake publicly praised the decision as a sign of 'real artistry'.

Which two Nostalgia singles came out on consecutive days in the week of the album's release?

They peaked at 25 and 55 on the Hot 100 respectively.

Who directed the video for Rod Wave's 2020 single 'Thief in the Night'?

Cole Bennett. It was their first time working together, and Rod Wave said he came away from the shoot having made a friend.

Rod Wave said he picked his 2020 publishing deal because he eventually wants to write what?

Movie scripts. He said he has stories from his life that go beyond songs, and that film, like music, would be him telling his own story.

Which single from Rod Wave's debut album features a guest verse from his idol?

Cuban Links. The guest verse took about 30 minutes to record, and Rod Wave later handed the song's 19-year-old co-producer $3,000 to buy his own studio gear.

With touring shut down in 2020, Rod Wave played a stripped-back set for which concert series?

NPR's Tiny Desk. The slot is coveted, but it was a comedown after the crowds he had been drawing: lockdown had just ended his first headlining tour.

Which 2026 album gave Rod Wave his fourth number one on the Billboard 200?

Don't Look Down. It arrived the day after his 28th birthday and put 16 songs on the Hot 100 at once, taking him past 100 career entries on that chart.

Which Chicago rapper features on the 2019 remix of Rod Wave's 'Heart on Ice'?

Lil Durk. Rod Wave had listened to him since middle school; years later, as label-mates, he texted Durk to say so and got back 'You hard, too!'

Rod Wave's 'Cold December' samples 'O.D.'d in Denver', a song by which country singer?

Hank Williams Jr. Rod Wave had said he would probably never release the song, and told fans he put it out only because his record deal required it.

Rod Wave's 'Already Won' is built on 'Can You Stand the Rain', a hit by which R&B group?

New Edition. The video opens with Rod Wave admitting that his childhood dream was to be a drug dealer, and that what it cost him turned him to music instead.

Rod Wave's 2021 tour was the first staged by Live Nation's touring venture with which festival brand?

Rolling Loud. A co-founder said many doubted Rod Wave could fill amphitheatres, and that he answered by selling out most of the dates.

Which Baton Rouge rapper said in 2023 that Rod Wave had reworked one of his songs without paying him?

Boosie Badazz. Rod Wave grew up loving his music; Boosie said he liked the tribute in 'Long Journey', which reworks his 2010 song of that name, but wanted his cut.

In 2025 Grizzly Touring sued Rod Wave over unrepaid tour advances worth how much?

$27 million. The promoter says it advanced $57 million for the 2024 arena tour, that he played 26 of 35 shows, and that the unearned balance was never repaid.

What is the name of the independent label Rod Wave's father helped set up to back his music?

Hit House Entertainment. His family built it around him as their 'franchise player', and it stayed on as a partner when a bigger label signed him.

Which Bay Area rap veteran guests on Rod Wave's 2019 single 'Calabasas'?

E-40. The exchange went both ways that year: the veteran also put Rod Wave on 'Made This Way', a track from his own album Practice Makes Paper.

Which fellow 2020 XXL Freshman guested on Rod Wave's song 'Yungen'?

Jack Harlow. 'Yungen' is one of only two guest spots that Rod Wave, who mostly records alone, allowed on his 24-track album of 2022.

Rod Wave's track 'Crazy' samples which Paramore song?

Ain't It Fun. The original won Paramore their first Grammy, as Best Rock Song; a decade later it resurfaced inside a rap ballad that reached the Hot 100.