Social media and the discourse-sphere throw the phrase “fall off” too frequently. Before contextualizing Roddy Ricch’s recent run, we should note that (in our view) it doesn’t apply to the Grammy winner. However, in terms of sheer quantity, the past few years have been a fallow period. Once the latter hits shelves, four years will separate Live Life Fast from The Navy Album, his recently-announced 2025 record. Three years will have passed following his last full-length mixtape, Feed The Streets III. Yet partially because on GNX, Kendrick Lamar spotlighted his West Coast brethren, including the “Ballin” rapper, we’re primed for a resurgent era. Here’s everything you need to know about the first confirmed single from the Roddy Ricch record, “Lonely Road.”
A Pivot Towards Jazz On “Lonely Road” Pays Dividends For Roddy Ricch
While including Terrace Martin in the song’s header indicates a jazzier spin than usual, a switch in its subgenre categorization isn’t the big headline in practice. Instead, it’s the absence of drums entirely, a far more stark divergence from the Compton crooner’s typical sound than just a simple feature would indicate. A rich, dense tapestry of pads, horns, and synthesizers instead pace “The Longest Road” behind Roddy Ricch, reaching a crescendo in the song’s closing moments that borders on genuinely stadium-worthy.
Even if the percussion-less instrumental marks new territory for him, the flows and cadences he adopts atop it are perfectly harmonious. Two of the best examples come towards the end of either verse — he spits in rapid-fire triplets that almost allow his voice to sub for percussion when he raps: “Onyx to Kadence, and Navy, you know they my babies, they gettin’ whatever they want.” Then, as the beat fades into deep layers of underwater-esque reverb, he adopts a cooler, more staccato tempo to deliver aspirational lyrics: “If you at the bottom or behind the wall, dog / I was just a pedestrian, now I can pull up Rolls up at the Waldorf.”
All told, while it may not be a combination you’d dream up on paper, “Lonely Road” demonstrates the pitch-perfect synergy between Roddy Ricch and Terrace Martin, a hopeful sign for the experimentation that The Navy Album may bring. Catch the song now wherever you stream your music.
Elsewhere in our coverage, Jack Harlow – Hello Miss Johnson ensures we hear from the Kentucky MC before the year closes.
