Key Takeaways
- Rod Wave’s seventh album, Don’t Look Down, arrives August 28 via Alamo with 24 digital tracks, 20 on physical editions, and just two guests: Summer Joy and Luv Von.
- Singles “Feed the Streets,” “Piece of Your Love,” and “Hustle” preview Rod’s familiar mix of piano-led soul, emotional balladry, and hard-earned reflections on success.
- The rollout includes a funeral-themed Mainstay Films trailer, a 34-date arena tour with Fridayy, and a renewed dispute with Boosie Badazz over Rod’s use of lyrics and samples.
If you look at it through the numbers, Rod Wave is one of the most dominant artists in hip-hop: He has five straight Top 3 debuts on the Billboard 200, he regularly sells out arenas, has a Grammy nomination, and he pulls close to 7 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
But he's still somewhat underrated as a star rapper, seen as more of a cult figure than a peer to the artists at his level.
And his fanbase is rabid. Rodarius Green has spent seven years building a powerful catalog, centering his songs on the male loneliness epidemic—grief, paranoia, loyalty, the specific unfulfillment that comes with getting everything you asked for.
His new album is Don't Look Down, out August 28 via Alamo. The album, his seventh, arrives almost two years after Last Lap, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. And it seems like it'll be very much in the same mold as the rest of his catalog.
Here is everything you need to know about Rod Wave's Don't Look Down.
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Official Tracklist and Release Date
Don't Look Down hits streaming platforms at midnight ET on Friday, August 28, 2026. The digital edition will be 24 songs. The physical versions—2LP vinyl and CD, both available for pre-order—trim that to 20.
Rod revealed the tracklist on Instagram on August 25, just three days out. Here's the tracklist:
1. "Summer Joy Intro"
2. "I Am"
3. "Piece of Your Love"
4. "Hustle"
5. "Look at Me Mama"
6. "Feed the Streets"
7. "Mainstay"
8. "War Wounds"
9. "Venusian"
10. "TP"
11. "Keep Dancing"
12. "La Cosa Nostra"
13. "One More Time"
14. "Now New to It"
15. "The Inspo"
16. "Overrated"
17. "2017 (Streamer U)"
18. "Lost & Insecure"
19. "Florida Boy"
20. "Kiss Me (Interlude)"
21. "Dope Girl"
22. "Take Care"
23. "All I Ever Had"
24. "Toast"
The physical versions drop "Summer Joy Intro," "All I Ever Had," "2017 (Streamer U)", and "The Inspo."
Who Is Featured on Don't Look Down?
Despite the fact that there are 24 songs on the album, there are only two features.
Summer Joy: The singer opens the album on "Summer Joy Intro." She is from Columbia, Tenn., and released her debut EP, Lessons in Love, in March.
Luv Von: Luv, who is from Columbus, Georgia, joins Rod on "Mainstay," which shares its name with Mainstay Touring and Mainstay Films, the touring outfit and production company attached to this rollout.
Rod not depending on features isn't new for the artist. Last Lap only had a handful of guests, and Nostalgia was also nearly feature-free. Rod's approach speaks to what his fans want with a new album: the Rod Wave experience.
The Singles: "Feed the Streets," "Piece of Your Love," and "Hustle"
"Feed the Streets" came first, arriving as a video on Christmas Day 2025 before hitting streaming that January. Cam Grey directed the video, which features private jets and backstage corridors. But the song underneath is the piano-led Rod Wave people already know. It charted, peaking at No. 86 on the Hot 100, without ever turning into a runaway smash.
"Piece of Your Love" followed on June 26, 2026, though unofficial versions had been circulating for months.It's the big ballad of the three, paired with a short-film-style video Rod directed himself.
"Hustle" dropped on July 31, also with a video. It's the hardest of the three—electric guitar cutting through the production, tight hi-hats, and a chorus all about embracing the hustle.
The Rollout: A Funeral, a Fake-Out, and Mainstay Films
Rod Wave officially announced his latest album with a death.
In June, he released a trailer that opens at a funeral. In the clip, he's plotting with his crew when someone asks what's next. His answer: "Album." Then a snippet of a new song drops.
The video came via Mainstay Films, Rod's own production company. Historically, Rod has been more low-key about rolling out an album, so the fact that this one has been this involved suggests there's something bigger at stake.
Where Rod Wave Stands Going Into This
Despite not dropping an album in 2025, Rod Wave was the third most-streamed artist in the US on Audiomack and ranked inside the top 15 among all on-demand audio artists.
He sold out every date of The Redemption Experience arena tour. And he picked up a nomination at the 2026 Grammys for Best Song Written for Visual Media for "Sinners," the title track from Ryan Coogler's film, which itself won two Golden Globes at the 83rd ceremony.
The Don't Look Down Tour: Full Dates
Rod Wave is going on tour, and he's using his own company, Mainstay Touring, to execute it. The run is a 25-city, 34-date arena tour that opens September 12 in Philadelphia and closes November 19 in Atlanta, hitting the South, Midwest, and both coasts along the way. Fridayy opens every single date.
Here are the dates:
09/12 — Philadelphia, PA @ Xfinity Mobile Arena
09/14 — Philadelphia, PA @ Xfinity Mobile Arena
09/15 — Raleigh, NC @ Lenovo Center
09/17 — Birmingham, AL @ Legacy Arena at the BJCC
09/19 — New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
09/21 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
09/22 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
09/23 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center
09/26 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
09/27 — Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
10/01 — Inglewood, CA @ Intuit Dome
10/04 — Phoenix, AZ @ Mortgage Matchup Center
10/07 — San Francisco, CA @ Chase Center
10/08 — Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
10/12 — St. Louis, MO @ Enterprise Center
10/14 — Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
10/16 — Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena
10/19 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
10/20 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
10/22 — Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
10/23 — Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
10/25 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
10/27 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
10/28 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
10/31 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
11/01 — Chicago, IL @ United Center
11/03 — Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
11/06 — Columbia, SC @ Colonial Life Arena
11/09 — Orlando, FL @ Kia Center
11/10 — Orlando, FL @ Kia Center
11/14 — Sunrise, FL @ Amerant Bank Arena
11/15 — Sunrise, FL @ Amerant Bank Arena
11/18 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
11/19 — Atlanta, GA @ State Farm Arena
What's Happening With Rod Wave and Boosie Badazz
Rod Wave and Boosie Badazz are both artists from the South who share, if anything, a real soulful approach to making music. But it seems like they're in the middle of a tiff.
On Thursday, August 27, on the eve of the release, the two went back and forth on social media.
This all starts in 2023, when Boosie called Rod out for using lyrics from "Long Journey," his song with Webbie, on a track that shared the same title. Rod publicly offered to pay him in cash, but Boosie instead replied with a preview of a diss song. He also threatened to take him to court.
During this rollout, Rod talked about the tension on Club Shay Shay, saying, "I just was showing love. I guess he didn't [take it as that]. But it's so crazy because like I said, growing up, my adolescence—the people that I looked up to, the real guys in my life like my dad and my uncle, them boys were gone."
Boosie then responded with an all-caps rant on X, telling him to "stop playing victim" and saying this was the fourth or fifth time he took a record without going through the proper channels. He also noted that he never actually sued, and that Rod should "let it go" because he had moved on.
Rod then responded by pointing to songs Boosie had sampled the same way. "I ain't letting sht go," he said. "You threaten a n***a with a lawsuit like the f*****g police. I knew from the jump I done sampled so many of the Trill Family record label's property. I sampled so much and interpolated so much of their music, [but] I already had the relationship with your label so I knew from the jump you didn't own the music."
He also brought up the fact that he offered Boosie $100,000 and was turned down. "So when I reached out and I offered you $100,000 fam, you said that wasn't enough. You got me f****d up. I ain't going for nothing," he said. "F**k you n***a. I ain't giving you nothing."
