The rise of Roddy Ricch in 2020 marked the arrival of a new star from Compton. The 22-year-old rapper has witnessed a tremendous amount of commercial success during the past year including two #1 singles and a Grammy award. Unfortunately, he didn't end up taking away any awards at this year's Grammy ceremony this year but he did leave with something more valuable than any award could offer.
During a recent interview with Nick Cannon, Roddy Ricch explained how his creative process has never been driven by money, or accolades. However, the loss at the Grammys appeared to affect his outlook on releasing new music in the future, which of course, comes at the detriment to his fanbase. “I don’t know. I just had a feeling like I ain’t really worried about it. So, I end up going and I ain’t win, but I wasn’t mad. I ain’t going into it expecting nothing. I'm already a winner," he explained of his Grammy snub. "When I lost all that, I was like, ‘I put a lot of time [into] music, you know? Damn. I just sat back. I was talking to my ni**as. I’m like, ‘Man, I’ma chill back. I’ma kick back on the music for a little while.’”
Now, if that were the case, then we wouldn't have the potential song of the summer, "Late @ Night" on DSPs. Thankfully, Roddy Ricch's run-in with Jay-Z at the Grammys shortly after his loss reminded him of his purpose as an artist.
"I had seen Jay at the Grammys and he didn’t say, ‘What’s up?’ He didn't say -- you know what I'm sayin'? The first time I met him he was like, ‘What’s up young man?’ So I just expected that. And the first thing he asked me was, 'When you dropping music?'" Roddy recalled, admitting that he didn't really think much of it at the time.
"At the time, it didn't really hit me but later on, I just thought of the power of that," he continued. "Like, you know, I manifested, like, just talking about how they did him one year and it happened to me. And the same guy I was saying this happened to ended up asking me, like, when I'm gonna put out more music. It just kind of led me to think for a while, like, 'Damn. I gotta keep doin' this.'"
Despite the #1 singles and the incredible milestones he achieved within a short amount of time, he said that Jay ended up putting that battery in his back. "After that, I kind of wanted to back up but he really gave me the inspiration to kinda like, you gotta keep going. You gotta just see it through," he added. "I just want to publicly appreciate Jay-Z for that and you know, like I said, it helped me keep going."
Peep the interview below.