Rapper Rod Wave puts pain and pathos on display a packed Capital One Arena

Emblazoned across Rod Wave’s forearms is a simple but striking tattoo, the phrase “hard times” carved onto a brick wall. The inked phrase is as indelible on his skin as it is in his music: soulful rap tracks that drip with pain and pathos. The 24-year-old rising star’s approach has garnered him two Billboard-topping albums and arenas full of fans singing his words. On Tuesday night at a packed Capital One Arena, Wave might have felt alone, but he sure wasn’t lonely.

The St. Petersburg, Fla., talent is certainly not the first rapper-slash-singer to imbue his songs with melancholy and melodrama, but he is one of the most notable to be so dedicated to dejection. Instead of obfuscating his vulnerability behind hip-hop bluster, he nakedly exposes his emotions in his songs as he grapples with all the things that can make hearts ache and break.

On Tuesday, Wave emerged on a stage decorated to look like the Florida neighborhoods he grew up in, from the yellow stucco house with a terra cotta roof down to the palm trees and street signs. Dressed simply in a bold polo shirt and jeans, he was comfortable onstage but not yet at home on it, despite the familiar trappings — an understandable unease, considering the rapid pace of his rise.

At first, Wave seemed content to let the recorded songs and the audience sing for themselves, picking his spots and piping in a cappella verses and hooks for emphasis. He warmed up as the night went on and the set dug deeper into his catalogue, rewarding the crowd with a gentle voice. Wave had no problem handling full-throated melodies that are pop not in the way rap has subsumed culture, but pop in the sense of being familiar and approachable.

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That pop sensibility extends to Wave’s pen, with lyrics that often lean on cliche and obviousness; on his breakthrough hit “Heart on Ice,” he literally sings, “I wear my heart on my sleeve.” Still, cliches are cliches for a reason, and the universality of young love, loss and loneliness will never go out of style. Plus, Wave’s gift for small details — an ex’s headband on the floor, an overdue bill in a blue envelope — ground his diaristic songs in the real world.

About halfway through his set, Wave took a breather and exited the stage while a short video played. Composed of childhood photos, tour videos and interview clips, the video charted his transition from Rodarius Green to Rod Wave and documented his rags-to-riches come-up with the familiar images of sold-out shows and handfuls of cash. But despite his success, Wave knows that hard times could be around the corner.

“Hopefully I don’t run out of luck,” he said in the video. “I hope the love they say they have for me is real.”

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