The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space.
The first song Rod Wave performs in his Tiny Desk concert comes with a bit of a wink. The St. Petersburg, Fla., rapper interpolates Drake's "Over My Dead Body," the delicate intro to
Take Care. Like Drake, Rod Wave makes sad, melodic rap music. But his feels removed from the Canadian superstar's lineage. His cadences are more in step with the full-bodied crooning of Southern rap giants like Kevin Gates and Lil Boosie. It's been said that Rod Wave could be an R&B or blues singer in another era. With this Tiny Desk concert, anchored by the interplay of flute, piano, bass and drums, he seems to suggest: Why not this one?