Video: Rod Wave Ft. E-40 – Calabasas

Pushing his career forward while taking an honest account of his past life in St. Petersburg, Florida, Rod Wave announces P.T.S.D., his upcoming mixtape. The mindset of growing up in poverty can cause trauma–even if those who defy the odds and lift themselves out can be paralyzed with anxiety, dreading a moment when all their gains to be wiped out by greedy acquaintances, violence, or dwindling success. On P.T.S.D., Rod acknowledges his accomplishments with pride, but never forgets his humble origins or stops fighting to buoy his friends, family, and neighborhood with his success. The upcoming tape continues the soulful, introspective, and hard-hitting trajectory of Rod’s recent singles, including his mission statement “Popular Loner” (2.5 million YouTube views), the guitar-speckled recounting of his rise “Tru Story,” and the brilliantly-sung “Hard Times” (1.1 million streams on its official YouTube audio), all of which appear on the upcoming project. Featuring appearances from E-40 and G Herbo, P.T.S.D. arrives on June 14th via Alamo Records/Interscope.

With a gently lilting instrumental, mixing strummed acoustic guitars with booming 808s and crisp snares, the song finds Rod contrasting his tumultuous past with his luxurious present–now he can take a spontaneous trip to SoCal just to clear his head. The new single features an appearance from E-40, who attunes to Rod’s sentimental wavelength, using a double-time flow to remind rap fans that before his three decades in the rap game, he grew up with nothing.