Case Study Posts by

Bio Post - 2

lilleyca1 — 2023-09-13 18:01:45 UTC

Rodarius Marcell Green (25)
From St. Petersburg, FL
Genre - HipHop/Rap/R&B (Trailblazer of soul-trap) Started music in 2016.

Rod's parents split while he was in elementary school, shortly after this his father went to prison. In Rod's early teenage years his family slowly inched closer to poverty so he turned to the streets in an effort to keep his family on their feet. He was in and out of juvie due to drug dealing, robbery, and breaking/entering. During that time he was arrested twice, both for carrying a weapon, once on school grounds. His father got out of jail and became determined to set his son on a better path. Knowing Rod had always had an affinity for music he bought him a microphone, His brother also bought him a computer. These supplies got him started with music providing motivation for things such as school, allowing him to graduate which had previously been up in the air. In 2021, he won the Top New Artist award provided to him by the Billboard Music Awards. His current and most recent list of awards and achievements is as follows: 3 number 1 albums released in a row, 4 platinum albums.

#TopNewArtist #Struggle #Motivation #Nostalgia #2023/24TOUR

Musical Influences - 8

lilleyca1 — 2023-09-27 18:04:13 UTC

Rod Wave stated that hip hop and progressive rap artist, Kanye West, was a huge inspiration to Rod's music. Rod had an accident in early 2020 that was very close to resulting in his death. He came across Kanye and described him as a "kindred soul". A similarity between the 2 artists was that West had also been in a traumatic accident early in his career. His song "Through the Wire" broadly inspired Rod to write a song, also called "Through the Wire". Kanye's version of the song was written as an explanation of his accident, Rod's was written as a homage to Kanye, speaking about his near death accident. Two other artists, Kevin Gates and E-40, also inspired Rod and eventually reached out to him to do collaborations. Rod had a large appreciation for 2Pac, he believed he was a wonderful storyteller in the hip hop world and he liked how 2Pac used his music to send messages to the general world. A last artist that Rod admired is Adele, he sees how she is able to portray her emotions through her lyrics and voice, specifically he feels her pain through her music.

#Nostalgia #Inspirations #RodWave #TopNewArtist #Understood

Lyric Analysis (Lyric 1) - 4

lilleyca1 — 2023-09-27 18:11:56 UTC

HG4 by Rod Wave
"This rap s**t was just my dream, but I'm finally here / As soon as I bumped into the millions, bought my sister a whip / She used to let me borrow her bike to go hit me a lick"

A simple analysis of these lyrics: Rodarius had never imagined his dreams would turn into a reality. He is happy that he's gotten as far as he did and was able to make a better life for himself than where he had come from. The next lines are saying that as soon as he had gotten his money up, he purchased a car for his sister as a way to repay her for all of the times she let him borrow her bike when they were younger.

#RodWave #Family #Viral #Florida #Siblings

Inspiration to Me (Lyric 2) - 4

lilleyca1 — 2023-09-27 18:56:48 UTC

Losing My Cool by Rod Wave

The first time I had heard this song, I immediately felt some sort of connection to Rod and his music. I think this was one of his first songs that had really drawn me into his music. Below, I will list a few lines from "Losing My Cool" and give a short explanation on how they inspired me or why I related to them.

"Tryna balance my pain became my struggle / I was already deep off in my thoughts, and feelin' funny / How the ones that I love the most just can't keep it a hunnid?"

When I was around the age of 12, I was finally able to fully comprehend the things that I had gone through as a child and had continued to go through. I was trying to constantly keep myself happy and distracted but in doing this, I blindsided myself and ended up bottling everything up even more than I had already done. Around this age I had also begun to start struggling with fake friends and getting into the wrong crowds. I relate specifically to this line: "How the ones that I love the most just can't keep it a hunnid?". I feel I related to this line the most because I am a very genuine and forgiving person, but with those traits, I tend to put others before myself and blindside myself from who people really are and their intentions.

"Later I would come to find that was just the beginnin' / I still gotta cross all these oceans, these mountains and rivers"

These 2 lines inspired me because they're a prime example of one of my favorite quotes. "Faith is knowing there is an ocean when you can only see the stream". There will be times in life where you feel you've overcome one thing and then another unexpectedly comes flying towards you, but the reality of it all is that you need to be strong and believe in yourself in everything you do.

#Believe #Awareness #Inspiration #Relatable #RodWave

Environmentally Impacted (Historic Events/Influence) - 1

lilleyca1 — 2023-10-04 17:36:15 UTC

The main contribution to influence Rod's music was his hometown. He was inspired by the heartbreak and trauma he endured growing up, from being a child all the way up until his late high school years. A lot of this trauma brought social anxiety onto him. Many of his lines speak about getting away from the struggle, mostly where he came from. A lot of times his music is compared to 20th century segregation. Oftentimes, you'll see a lot of Generation Z relating to and supporting his music, simply for the fact that he is extremely open about mental health struggles. His home town, St. Petersburg, was a huge inspiration to him. This includes the community growing up, who he considered family whether that was blood or not. The violence in his home town inspired him greatly.

#RodWave #OutTheStruggle #MadeIt #StPetersburg #Inspiration

MY Story - 5

lilleyca1 — 2023-10-13 17:15:04 UTC

My story is painful, challenging, and the beginning of it is something I'd never wish on anyone, especially being as young as I was. My parents got divorced while I was one year old. Of course, a one year old doesn't understand the concept of divorce. A one year old doesn't exactly understand the concept of anything. Growing up to witness the things I had witnessed, I eventually started to understand it a bit too much. You get to see behind the scenes, things that you may not ever think a family could be going through if you saw them out in public. I'll give some context on the things I went through. From years before I was born up until 3 1/2 years ago, my father had extreme problems with alcohol abuse and being able to control himself and his anger. Following my parents divorce was so much that I could've never prepared myself for. My dad ended up with a woman that he'd cheated on my mother with. That woman and my father had a son together who ended up being my half brother, he is now 10 years old. I was 6 at the time when he was born. My dad and the woman's relationship was never good, it was always toxic. The cops were constantly at their house, yelling 24/7, things being thrown and broken. And my brother and I were put right in the middle of it all, literally. The woman my dad was with would have her oldest of her 4 kids take them to the basement and leave out of the basement door to take them to the park, meanwhile my older full brother and I always stayed at the house while they argued. I remember one night, it got so bad that her kids had been gone for hours at this point, it was dark by this time. All I can remember is my brother and I back to back in the center of the living room, my dad in front of my brother and the woman in front of me. Yelling, cursing, all of it. At the time my brother was going through treatment for Leukemia so his immune system was compromised and any of the slightest thing could affect him dangerously. The woman my dad was with knew that he was undergoing treatment, but had no cares about it. She pretended she cared but that woman is the most selfish human being I have ever met. The way the house was set up, you walked in the front door and directly in front of the door was the stairs to go up to the second floor. When you get to the top of those stairs, there is a small general living area with a balcony looking down at the living room and the rest of the house. On the left at the top of the stairs was my father and her bedroom. One day they were in an argument and my dad was downstairs yelling and she was upstairs yelling from their room. They stopped yelling but there was still obvious tension. She heard my older brother walking through the house and grabbed a poster frame that belonged to my dad, it had glass in it but no poster. The part of the house he was coming from was a hallway that was directly under the balcony where her door is. She came out of her room onto the balcony above the hallway and the second she saw my brother's foot, she dropped the frame and it shattered less than an inch away from him, glass flying everywhere. That was the DAY I knew I would never feel safe or comfortable around that woman. Keep in mind the fact that I was between 6-7 years old. A 7 year old shouldn't ever have to go through these types of things or witness them first hand. The woman my dad was with also had extreme anger issues. She was a manipulator and gas lighter. She would tell the cops all of the bad things that my father had done and my dad would never speak up about the things that she did or put him through. My mom didn't have enough money to get a lawyer and take full custody of my older brother and I, my father wasn't paying child support either. We experienced this loop of them breaking up, getting back together, the same anger and violence but worse each time it happened for 5 years straight. From the time I was 6 up until I was 9. She was first a part of my life because of my father since I was 2 years old. 4 years later is when they began the arguing and fighting. This eventually ended when he finally stopped seeing her. Between when they stopped being together and he met the woman he is currently with later on he ended up meeting a wonderful woman named Jackie. He was still drinking at this time and Jackie was also quite a heavy drinker. About a year went by and in 2020 they moved into a house in Scranton, PA together. On Christmas Eve of 2020, they were drinking and got into an argument which turned to a physical altercation. I can't remember if he had held her up against a wall or thrown something at her but it was one of the two. There was yelling the entire argument. One of the neighbors ended up hearing them and decided to call the police. Once they showed up, they took both statements and ended up taking my dad to jail. He was there for the next day and into the night a bit, so he was in jail for the entire Christmas day. This caused a bit of distance between my father and all of his children. When he was released from prison, him and Jackie decided it would be a good idea to sober up. They are now 3 and 1/2 years sober, completely clean of alcohol. After my life story, I'll elaborate a bit about how I relate to Rod and his music, and why I chose him to do my project on. I chose him because I feel like the majority of his lyrics in almost every one of his songs match up with my life or a piece of it, something that I had gone through. After his parents divorced, Rod changed. He chose another path, a more troubling and consequential one because the majority of things in his life were taking a wrong turn. This became a heavy and dark time for him, he didn't think he'd be able to find the light in any of the situations. His cousin, Deijha, had cancer and due to that, passed away. He also had to witness his mother go through drug addiction and struggle with mental health, all while his father was imprisoned. From the time that I was 13 up until I was 15, I was convinced things were NOT going to get better. It took me so much learning and maturing too early. As a kid I had to parent my own parents, it was not a good time. My older brother raised me half of the time so it was just him and I. We were all each other had. He went off to college and I had to make my mind up and make life changing decisions all by myself. Like Rod had his uncle and brother, I had my aunt and my brother. To this day, they are still my rocks. Rod now has a better relationship with his parents as well as I do.

#Unique #Strong #Struggle #Brave #Perseverant

Fashion Post 2016 - 6

lilleyca1 — 2023-10-25 17:19:51 UTC

2016's biggest fashion trend was the bomber jacket. More big fashion trends in 2016 were velvet, old school logos, ripped jeans, and puffer jackets. Rod Wave often wears ripped jeans or jeans with designs on them, he has many different puffer jackets, and many t-shirts and hoodies with old school logos on them. Some frequented clothing brands from 2016 were Forever 21, Off-White, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, and Zara. Rod Wave owns many Gucci clothing/designer items. His outfits mainly consist of Gucci, Off-White, North Face, Ralph Lauren, and Louis Vuitton. To this day, many of these brands are still extremely popular amongst many.

#RodWave #Fashion #Brand #Popular #2016

Geographical Location - 10

lilleyca1 — 2023-10-25 17:21:17 UTC

The Tampa Bay area which St. Petersburg is located in was home to generations and generations of Indigenous tribes prior to the first white settlers. Spanish explorers came and left in the 1500s. The area started to begin accumulating a larger population around the 1830s/1840s. The population became even larger after the Civil War. A man named John Constantine Williams bought 2,500 acres of land in 1875. This land is now what is known as St. Petersburg. That area of Florida was named after Saint Petersburg, Russia.

#StPetersburg #TampaBay #History #1800s #Hometown

Genre Post - 9 (My choice)

lilleyca1 — 2023-10-25 17:22:00 UTC

Rod Wave falls under a Hip-Hop/R&B/Soup-Trap type genre. The artists who inspired him to get into this type of music are E-40 who was featured in Wave's song "Calabasas" and Kevin Gates who was featured in Wave's other song "Cuban Links", along with Boosie Badazz, Chief Keef, and Kanye West. He recently collaborated with Sadie Jean who falls under the Pop Genre. The people he's most commonly featured in his songs are Lil Baby (Hip-Hop/Trap), Lil Durk (Hip-Hop/Drill), and Polo G (Conscious Hip-Hop/Drill/Trap). These people all contribute to genre of Rod Wave's music.

#HipHop #Genre #RodWave #Collab #Music

Art/Imagery - 3

lilleyca1 — 2023-10-31 17:21:06 UTC

The way that rod wave sets up his stage/background reflects things from his childhood to make the performance feel more understandable and relatable. It gives a better understanding of his songs and lyrics, it almost makes you feel like you were there. The visuals are amazing, that's really what makes you feel like you're there.

#RodWave #Visuals #Art #Personal #Understood