Joe Budden Analyzes Rod Wave’s Post About Selling His Soul

Rod Wave’s latest single, “Cold December,” shocked his fans. The Florida-based singer expressed in the video that he feels like he “sold his soul” because he dislikes performing. In his recent post, Joe Budden speculated on what Rod Wave meant when he mentioned “selling his soul” and possibly retiring from music.

Rod Wave’s comments made their way to the Joe Budden Podcast, where the hosts discussed what they interpreted from the post as Rod’s fans continued to react to the video. Joe Budden speculated on what Rod might have meant when he said he’ll soon be finished “as Rod Wave,” among other things, while speaking about mental health in the music industry.

“At 22-years-old, his interpretation of the music industry is probably different from what he’s experiencing now and he’s a primary act. Which means he’s being exposed to quite a bit and [the label is] leaning on him quite a lot. The weight could get heavy.”

“We just saw Yung Bleu go through it. He dropped, didn’t put on a bad show, then said ‘I’m depressed’ and put out a project that said ‘I’m depressed.’ We saw someone else come out publicly recently and speak to just not being okay.”

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“Mental health has been a thing for artists for the past few years… Big Sean… we can go on and on. But for a newer act– Rod Wave hasn’t been around for so long– for a newer act to pick all this up and feel this way so early, I wonder if he means when he says he’s only here for a little minute as Rod Wave that he’s already trying to figure out a way to get from underneath that.”

He went on to say that at one point in his career, Joe tried to rebrand himself, change his artist name, and start over.

“That was the first thought that I had too when there were some contract issues and my name was Joe Budden as a rapper. I was like, well, I’m pulling a Prince and I ain’t Joe Budden no more and we just gonna rap under something else and start a new group, a new entity, a new something. I wonder if it’s some of that here. I don’t think a 22-year-old is gonna stop making music. I don’t think that.”

They went on to talk about Rod Wave’s situation for about a half-hour, on and off. Listen to what Joe Budden, Ice, and Ish had to say in the video below. To get the latest updates, keep an eye on Thirsty.

What’s your opinion on this one? Let us know in the comments!