Leaders of the New School: How This Generation’s New Breed of Rappers are Setting the Tone for Black Fatherhood, Mental Health and More
Year after year, we get a batch of young, new rappers that are skilled and ready to change the game with their music. Hailing from different cities and states with different subject matter, they all have one thing in common: they’re Black and face unique but similar strugle within the realm of race and the package deal that usually comes with that, but they also show their audience very human sides of themselves and set standard for hip hop and the culture.
Roddy Ricch, DaBaby and Rod Wave are 3 of the most idiosyncratic new rappers that I’ve come across, each for something different.
22 year old rapper Roddy Rich, aka Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr, was raised in southern California between Los Angeles and Compton and like most rappers, had a tumultuous childhood and coming of age episode in his teen years. Therapy for anger and antisocial mannerisms, robbery by way of fitting in with his peers, wrecking his car and a potential gun charge made him re-evaluate his circumstances, which led him to writing and releasing a 2017 mixtape,Feed the Streets and eventually his 2019 debut, Please Excuse Me I’m Antisocial.
He has a sound tinged with AutoTune and melodic R&B rap that sounds more like Atlanta and Chicago rap sound than anything that’s come from Cali in the past decade. It’s a feat that helped him get Grammy nominated, landed a collaboration on “Racks in the Middle” by community activist, rapper and late legend Nipsey Hussle and more.
What’s special about Roddy Ricch besides his piercing emerald green and acorn colored eyes is how his chaotic life is used as a catalyst for his storytelling- he has a very distinct way of going the extra mile of illustrating his new luxurious life with gut wrenching lows of his past life and even recent deaths and attributing that survival paranoia to his songs.
“I been through a lot,” he says in a Rolling Stone interview. “Going through shit like bullets flying, it’ll fuck you up a little bit. It triggers something else in you. This fame shit is new to me. Being in rooms where you don’t have to worry about shit, I don’t get that side of life yet. I’ll be in the room with millionaires and billionaires and still be like, ‘What’s going on? Who’s that at the door?’
On War Baby, arguably the album’s emotional centerpiece, in a desperate yelp, Ricch glides over the beat singing “I’m a war, war, war baby/Post-traumatic stress, I know the war changed me.” It’s a macabre contrast as he uses a choir in the background singing about violence and death, but Richh has a way of making you feel his music in your soul.
On an exceedingly similar but completely different spectrum is rap-singer Rod Wave.
20 year old Rod Wave, legally known as Rodarius Marcell Greene, hails from St. Petersburg, FL and is a heavy hitter when it comes to lyricism. Unlike most rappers, Rod can sing-actually sing. His sound is standard rap but there’s a soul twisting bluesy aspect to him as he sings about very traumatic topics with pain, but also an air of matter of factness. Even when he raps, he’s still singing because it’s that melodic.
He began making music after his dad got out of prison in 2018 and bought Rod a microphone, which coincided with his brother giving him a second hand computer to begin on. He started doing big YouTube numbers and signed to Alamo Records in 2018, releasing his debut project Ghetto Gospel not long after.
Rod Wave is only 20 but raps and sings with a cadence and sad wisdom of a man twice that age.
He sings about deep-seated pain: “He’s been abandoned his whole life… he’s been broken, traumatized.” He sings about depression, loss, toxic traits, life lessons, poverty, violence and trauma. It’s sad music but relatable and inspirational. It’s venting music, like you’re having an intimate parked car conversation at night with a trusted person and your heart is about to burst or worse, you’ve experienced so much that you’re desensitized.
“I just love making music, bruh. The shit that's goin' on in the music shit, that shit ain't gon' last too long,” says Rod. “Poppin' Percs everyday gon' kill ya ass and going to the club every night gets tiring. But life comes with ups and downs. Life comes with pain. That's what I give the people, what I go through. I really don't wanna talk about none of that other shit. We talk about love, pain, everyday struggles and I feel like that's gonna last the longest."
Rod Wave’s singing ability, combined with his wanting to talk about mental health and trauma and deviating from typical stories of glitz and glamour and vulnerability when singing strictly about inner demons makes him a presence among his peers.
The last of the group is arguably the most commercialized, but he’s not only versatile as an artist and rapper, he also gives a tender example of what young Black fatherhood should look like.
28 year old Da Baby aka Jonathan Lyndale Kirk was born in Cleveland OH but raised in Charlotte, North Carolina and is the definition of “started from the bottom now we’re here.” He went from an Internet curiosity to dominating the charts in 2019 and has a very charismatic, Southern charm that’s rooted in good nature- a vast difference from the drug filled, money flashing abyss of rap nowadays. Da Baby makes rapping look friendly and easy despite sometimes lyrically discussing the opposite.
His persona is larger than life, as evidenced by his creative chops in videos like Walker Texas Ranger and Suge. Amid fighting a gun case, the death of his father and rising fame, Da Baby doesn’t shy away from the most important role he plays, which is being a father.
Da Baby does have a son, another son on the way and an infant daughter. Although fans don’t know her name as Da Baby does an excellent job of shielding her from the dangers of social media, Da Baby has shared some very tender moments via social media of him and his daughter.
In one video, he is seen laying down as his daughter is feeding him grapes. In a squeaky voice coated with innocence only a curious child can possess, she asks, “Is it yummy Daddy?” to which Da Baby replies, “So yummy.” Other videos include him kissing his daughter, playing dolls with her and tying a Durag around her hair to protect her hairstyle.
Da Baby takes parenting his children seriously and has spoken on how he protects them at all times, especially after an altercation at a hotel where a hotel worker recorded the star and his daughter on Snapchat after DaBaby politely refused, stating it would compromise the safety of his family.
“"Being a celebrity and being liked by the public is cool & all but ima father before anything and my number 1 priority is providing for and protecting the interest of my child. And anybody that don't respect that, I don't want your respect,” laments DaBaby.
This is vital and a heartwarming example of what Black fatherhood should be. We live in a time where regular and celebrity men alike are faced with child support and tabloids saying these artists don’t take care of their kids, but DaBaby is a Black father who takes the role and responsibility of parenting seriously, loves his children out loud and will always safeguard them no matter what-a soft contrast to his social media persona. We love to see it.