The Ones: Rod Wave’s “Counted Steps”
With artists releasing songs at a fast and furious pace it’s difficult for the average hip-hop head to keep track of it all—no matter how tapped in they are. That’s why we created The Ones, a daily post to highlight the song you need to hear curated by the Levels team. We sort through all the new songs—across all the platforms and subgenres—so you don’t have to. Thank us later.
Rod Wave - “Counted Steps”
Despite his best efforts, Florida’s Rod Wave is mostly classified as a rapper. He can rap but he is usually singing, and his golden pipes primarily produce the pure tone of a choir boy. He does, at times, get guttural, yielding a growling croon reminiscent of Kevin Gates. For the most part, though, Wave pens songs about surviving personal trauma that often mirror R&B ballads in mood, structure, and style. Of the songs on his new mixtape, Ghetto Gospel, the heartfelt and rousing “Counted Steps” best illustrates the soul performer living underneath the trap drums and fitful aggressiveness.
He doesn’t yet thrive in that space between rapping and singing; for him, the transition requires flipping a switch. He sounds most comfortable belting out robust melodies that vary in intensity. On “Counted Steps,” those melodies are alternately dejected and uplifting. After a hard-edged verse about his personal struggle not to succumb to loneliness (“I be feeling like it’s no one there to talk/And I be feeling like it’s no one I can call/It be so much on my mind but I cannot get it off”) his voice softens for a hook encouraging listeners to stay the course and never give up. His message, of taking things one step at a time, isn’t exactly novel, but he sings with the passion of a preacher promising his congregation the salvation of better days.
Check out previous Ones, and listen to new rap from Rod Wave and more on our Spotify playlist, Apple Music playlist, and SoundCloud playlist.
Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
