By 2021, St. Petersburg rap crooner Rod Wave had cemented a trademark sound that was instantly recognisable and ripe for imitation. After his 2020 sophomore album Pray 4 Love, the soulful trap star had little to prove in terms of commercial status, but there remained the question of whether his sound could continue to evolve—whether he could make an undeniable statement that would further grow his reputation. With his ambitious and hook-forward magnum opus SoulFly, the Floridian demonstrated that he was committed to scaling up each of his projects, accessing new emotional heft and inspired musical hybrids. Released in March 2021, SoulFly showed how far Rod had come since his early viral singles. It was his first No. 1 album, backed by singles like the infectious “Street Runner”, a study in toxic relationship dynamics and hard breakups that racked up hundreds of millions of streams. Artistically, too, there are plenty of career highlights, mini-blockbusters that comprehensively embody his singular soul-trap imprimatur. See breakout track “Tombstone”, another of Rod’s finest gospel-tinged moments, which blossoms from skeletal 808s and deadly spare blues to a choir-backed hook that comes across like a pseudo-spiritual. The behemoth, 28-track deluxe version adds more than 30 minutes of music, including high-profile guest spots. The initial version of SoulFly contained only one feature: celebratory bars on “Richer” from Chicago’s similarly sophisticated rap melodic writer Polo G. The expanded album incorporates standout performances from Kodak Black and Lil Durk, both of whom join Rod in reminiscing on their hard-won ascent to stardom and the pitfalls of life at the top. The laid-back, introspective “Get Ready” finds Kodak dipping into a confessional narrative style over a breezy trap beat and a gospel choir: “One day you gon’ wake up with your dreams in your face/And you gon’ been done did everything they said you can’t/The only way they gon’ beat you, n*gga, if you catch a case.”