It would be unwise to discount Rihanna's position as a tastemaker. One co-sign shared to her 77.4 million followers can go a long way, especially when she's holding it down for a relatively new artist like Roddy Ricch. Today, on the same day the Compton rapper dropped off his anticipated Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial album, Rihanna gave him a valuable shout-out on Instagram.
Jerritt Clark/Getty Images
In a clip from a story long past, Rihanna flexed a few moves to the soundtrack of Roddy's "Out Tha Mud" track, adding her voice to the chorus' final threat. Ricch himself wasted little time in sharing the clip, sending the love back tenfold in his own accompanying caption. "@badgalriri it’s always unlimited love to u," writes Roddy. "#antisocial album out now."
The importance of the moment was not lost on some of his collaborators, with MixedbyAli, Mustard, and Ty Dolla $ign showing some love in the comments. While it has yet to manifest in a full-blown collaboration (and likely never will, given Rihanna's increasingly elusive nature), it remains a cool moment for one of the game's most promising new voices to cherish.