Roddy Ricch knows that even people you respect can give you bad advice. “My OG told me like, ‘Man, you should make a song fast,’” Ricch tells Apple Music. “I remember him saying, ‘Fast money, fast bitches, fast cars—make a song like that.’ I knew that wasn't it, even in that time.” Which sort of explains how Roddy Ricch fans were made to wait two years between Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial and LIVE LIFE FAST. The MC knows that quality takes time.
As does securing contributions from some of hip-hop’s most in-demand feature artists, including Kodak Black, 21 Savage, Future, Takeoff, Gunna, and Lil Baby. But even those names only appear in service of Ricch’s vision. His goal across songs like “all good,” “rollercoastin,” “paid my dues,” “crash the party,” and “man made”—to name but a few—is to detail how good he’s already living, and then to express gratitude for the talent that got him there.
It’s almost as if the way the music would be received wasn’t even a concern. “I feel like people think, why he don't put out a lot of music, or why he don't deal with a lot of artists?” he says. “But it's like when I do that song with NLE Choppa, and they go three times [platinum]…or when I do that song with 42 Dugg, and it goes platinum—I could really pop the shit that n***as can't pop. 'Cause it's like, some n***as is just doing songs, getting lucky. I'm shooting my shot knowing I'm a hit.”