Live Life Fast

Roddy Ricch's 2019 studio debut, Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial, and its ubiquitous, billion-streaming single "The Box," took the California rapper to the top of the charts and the upper echelons of mainstream rap fame. His long-awaited sophomore album, Live Life Fast, retains some of the same excitement and charisma that made Ricch's debut so successful, but it also sees some slight experimentation with new ideas and styles. Tracks like "Thailand," the mellow and dreamy Mustard-produced "Late at Night," and the group track "Hibachi," with Kodak Black and 21 Savage, all continue the formula of sinister trap atmospheres with dashes of pop accessibility that Ricch perfected on his last album. There's an unusual combination of floating synths, classical guitar, and echo-soaked production on "No Way" (not to mention an unexpected spoken interlude/pep talk from Jamie Foxx at the end), while the slow, wistfully sung hook of "Rollercoastin" and the song's varied, somewhat unhinged flows are also new territory for Ricch. The live instrumentation and jazzy feel that underscore the Lil Baby-assisted "Moved to Miami" also stand out as welcome expansions of style. While there's nothing as immediate and bulldozingly catchy as "The Box," Live Life Fast is a strong sophomore effort, one that finds Ricch taking a few moderate risks alongside his attempts to repeat the approach that worked so well on his debut. ~ Fred Thomas