NBA Youngboy & Rod Wave Should Join Forces for a Collab Album
Within the past month, fans were treated to music from two of the best Hip-Hop artists in the world, Youngboy Never Broke Again and Rod Wave. In the past month, Youngboy released his second and third projects of 2022, The Last Slimeto and Realer 2 after his first project Colors, was released in January. After months of Rod Wave fans asking where the f**k Rod Wave was, the Florida rapper released his first album of the year, Beautiful Mind.
Fans of two of the biggest artists from the south like myself have been more than satisfied by the combined 69 tracks put out. However, one thing their music has left me craving is more of the potential greatness that comes from a song that features both artists. We got another taste of the promise this pairing shows on The Last Slimeto’s track thirteen, ‘Home Ain’t Home.’ The most recent collaboration between the two Hip-Hop goliaths now brings the total to three. Three isn’t a huge number on the surface however, when we look closer at the output of music both artists average each year and the scarcity of featured artists recruited on their albums, three becomes a more astronomical number.
In the span of his last five projects and the accompanying tracks added in each deluxe version, Rod Wave has averaged 2.2 features per project, with the total of features being 11. This number becomes harder to find with a microscope when you add the observation that Rod Wave averages 20.6 tracks per project. With no word on whether there will be a deluxe for Beautiful Mind that number has a chance to grow.
On the other side, Youngboy has also proven to put out quality, lengthy projects without much need for additional vocals. In the span of his last six projects, excluding the collab efforts with Rich The Kid, Birdman, and DaBaby, the number of artists who have appeared on a Youngboy project as a feature is 7, averaging 1.167 features per project. Throughout that span and with the parameters I’ve set earlier in this paragraph, Youngboy has released 123 tracks averaging 20.5 per project.
The success both artists have seen while making music almost entirely by themselves is a testament to their individual talents when put in front of a mic. In today’s era, it is common practice for artists to attempt to increase the chances of reaching a new fanbase by putting as many features as possible on their album, sometimes to a fault. The logic makes sense, if a fan of artist A will listen to whatever song that artist is on, let me put artist A on my album and attempt to endear myself to their fanbase. However, this logic only contextualizes how impressive the consistent growth we’ve seen from Rod Wave and Youngboy Never Broke Again actually is.
There is one big hurdle in the way as Youngboy has announced that he will be “going in hiding till January,” however, this was announced before the release of Realer 2. There’s room for speculation about what the release of Realer 2 means for Youngboy’s immediate musical plans. The purpose of Realer 2 could either be to give fans more music to keep them satisfied until January or a sign of a reversal from the previous “hiding till January” announcement. Either way, Realer 2 has no impact on the release of a collab from Youngboy and Rod Wave that is just an idea belonging to one music fan.
As I mentioned earlier, fans have already sampled what a potential collab project between Youngboy and Rod Wave could sound like. The first track both artists collaborated on was on Youngboy’s 2020 collab album with Rich the Kid, Nobody Safe. Serving as track thirteen, ‘Sorry Momma’ was instantly one of the highest points on Nobody Safe. Throughout the track, Youngboy and Rod Wave trade vocals reminiscing about their lives before they became superstars.
The next collab between the two came in 2021 on ‘Everything Different’ released as the lead single for Kawhi Leonard’s Culture Jam (Vol. 1) album. This track is my favorite of the three because it’s a microcosm of how well both artists complement each other.
The most recent collab is the previously mentioned ‘Home Ain’t Home’ featured on Youngboy’s The Last Slimeto. Throughout the track, both artists trade lyrics about the lack of love in their lives with Rod Wave’s verse seamlessly following Youngboy’s mellow hook.
The prospect of a collab album between Youngboy Never Broke Again and Rod Wave is one of the most realistic speculations with absolutely no credibility a music fan can come up with. It just makes sense. Both artists seem to have a good relationship with each other and whenever they’re on the same song they create magic. If Rod Wave and Youngboy Never Broke Again ever unite to create an album together fans may be looking at one of the best collab albums of all time.
