<\/p>\n
After being forced to cancel his tour at the top of 2025 due to production and routing issues, Rod Wave <\/a>is taking matters into his own hands with the launch of his Mainstay Touring company.<\/p>\n The Florida rapper-singer gave fans a first taste of the Introduction to the Redemption Experience with a sold-out hometown show taking over Tampa Bay\u2019s Benchmark International Arena on Aug. 29.<\/p>\n More from Billboard<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI built this s\u2014t up from zero, going from gymnasiums to arenas,\u201d Rod Wave tells Billboard<\/em> in the solitude of the arena\u2019s artist lounge following his performance. \u201cI can\u2019t just put that in somebody\u2019s hands who doesn\u2019t even give a f\u2014k about it.\u201d<\/p>\n With Rod Wave taking a more hands-on role in his touring, he\u2019s planning to announce more shows for an extended North American run in December.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m taking it to another level because there\u2019s gonna be so much other stuff I\u2019m gonna add to it,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a money grab or a promoter paying me and I\u2019m coming and doing the show. It\u2019s really a way I connect with the fans and give them an experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Rod continues: \u201cI feel the fewer people with their hands in the pot, the better the show it could be. It\u2019s a better bang people get for their buck.\u201d<\/p>\n He could have a new album to perform the next time he takes the stage, as Wave\u2019s Last Lap<\/em> follow-up is about \u201c85 percent\u201d finished and he\u2019s hoping for an October or November release. \u201cGrowth\u201d is the first word out of his mouth when describing the album, which will be a far cry from the darker themes of his earlier work.<\/p>\n Dive into Rod Wave detailing his touring company, the wild story behind him landing a song in Sinners<\/em>, his upcoming album and that leaked Drake <\/a>song.<\/p>\n Why did you launch Mainstay Touring?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m just taking over my touring business. My initial goal is to teach the artists how to tour, you know, I\u2019m saying how to be more in control of a touring business. What even pushed me to want to be more hands-on with touring is just the fact that my last tour had to get taken down because of the routing. I\u2019m saying putting it in people\u2019s hands and promoters. I just wanted to be more in control. My destiny is my touring and my connection with the fans.<\/p>\n Where do you see Mainstay Touring going in the next five to 10 years?<\/strong><\/p>\n I just see this bringing more of an experience back to shows, and an artist actually connecting with his fans on the concert level and painting a vivid picture. People stand out in the cold, stand in line for an hour and spend $200 a ticket in this f\u2013ked up a\u2014 economy to come see an artist, but it\u2019s so hard. If you go see other artists\u2019 shows, their production is shitty. It\u2019s not their fault, because they\u2019re not in control, or they don\u2019t have enough [of a] budget, which puts so many hands in the pot. In the next five to 10 [years], I just see myself turning my touring business into something more vivid, more extreme and taking it to another level. Every year, if I make more money, I put it back into the show.<\/p>\n Do you want to continue to be hands-on, or is it more about hiring the right people to execute this vision?<\/strong><\/p>\n Initially, that is kind of like being more hands-on. I want to go get the best people to do that. For example, I want to get the best production manager and the best lighting company. There\u2019s gonna be two or three different quotes \u2014 and I\u2019m picking the best of the best to bring it to life, cutting no corners.<\/p>\n With the tour coming up, you said you\u2019re going to announce a bunch of dates in December. What else can you tell us about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n Tonight was just a glimpse of what I\u2019m about to do. So that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do in December and forever, give fans a real experience. Whether it\u2019s in the next five or 10 years from now, it\u2019s gonna be the best show and better than the one they came to before. We\u2019re gonna always tweak it and see what we messed up and get constructive criticism. [It\u2019s about] making the best show possible with our budget, with whatever we\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n How does it feel to be a star that operates in the mainstream but not have to deal with a lot of the antics that other stars seemingly walk into?<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s way more organic. It\u2019s way more sincere and passionate. A lot of these fans saw me from the very beginning, and they helped support me, so it feels great. I\u2019m probably way more comfortable than another artist who is in this kind of position. I just kind of went and did it my own way. To quote Todd Moskowitz, I did it my own way. I just went with the flow. So I\u2019m just way more comfortable. Whatever felt right, that\u2019s what I did. I\u2019m just smoothly going through with it, like I don\u2019t ever set a time for album drop.<\/p>\n How far into the new album are you and what can we expect from it?<\/strong><\/p>\n As far as the new album, I\u2019m about 85 percent done with it. Growth. I feel like every album, as I grow older, is different. I paint a different picture, because I\u2019m a different version of myself. Every album\u2019s a different chapter. I feel like it\u2019s all real life stuff. We all can agree that life goes up and down. So every year, what I basically do is I just talk about where life has taken me up to that point, and people connect with it. We\u2019re all growing up together. People who listened to Ghetto Gospel<\/em> all the way to SoulFly<\/em> and Last Lap<\/em>, these are the same people. From that point to this point, this is what has happened and I feel like that\u2019s why people relate to me so much, because I\u2019m not like a superstar or a fairy tale. We are going through the same thing. We all got some sort of similarity.<\/p>\n For this next chapter, from a business side, it\u2019s wrapping my head around the space that I\u2019m in. In the beginning, I had so much on my chest. I wanted to just get this stuff off my chest. From my past and everything I was going through. So now, six years later, I can step back and say, \u201cThis is the business that I\u2019m in.\u201d In the beginning, it was all just my real story that I was going through. If you listen to some of my earlier music, it\u2019s way darker. So I wasn\u2019t even in a space in the beginning to even understand the business.<\/p>\n When you get 26 or 27 and you\u2019re just different. You really feel yourself growing. When you get 26 or 27, it\u2019s like your frontal lobe is fully developed and we just grow up, even if we weren\u2019t ready. This next album, I understand the hand I was dealt and pain I was going through, but now I\u2019m older and I know how to go through it and how to balance it. Now I understand the business. With my back against the wall, how can I make the most out of it to another level? How can I control the space I\u2019m in?<\/p>\n When are you thinking for the album?<\/strong><\/p>\n Maybe October, November. If not, then next year.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the origin story behind the \u201cSinners\u201d track and getting in touch with Ryan Coogler for the movie?<\/strong><\/p>\n People from my label were hitting me about the movie. I\u2019m a movie fanatic. I just know the space that movies are in, it\u2019s weird. Movies be a\u2014. When they were telling me about the movie, I wasn\u2019t filtering it in. He was like, \u201cThey\u2019ll bring the movie to you and let you watch it.\u201d That was cool. Even if I don\u2019t want to do this song, that\u2019s a cool experience. I respect that. I respected the effort, I\u2019m not an a\u2014hole. I know how it feels to want to do something so bad. They were saying they had other artists, but were pushing it back to see what I thought about it. I watched and the movie f\u2013king [brain explodes<\/em>]. I had to tell them I need to watch it again. Even though I understood it, I wanted to see it again and show my girl. That s\u2014t was so good. I had my engineer with me when we watched it, then I went home.<\/p>\n If I watched the movie at 11:00 p.m., I want to say at 4:00 a.m. I woke up out of my sleep and I got an app on my phone that I can record music to, so I just found the beat and I recorded it on my phone. I was dreaming. I swear to God, dog. This is no bulls\u2014t. And I woke up and my girl was like, \u201cWhat the hell is you doing?\u201d I was recording it on my phone. Then I called my engineer, \u201cCan you get here?\u201d He got there by 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. and then we recorded the song. I wanna say by 11:00 a.m. I sent it. Ryan Coogler\u2019s on L.A. time, so by two or three o\u2019clock my time, they were texting in the group chat, \u201cOh s\u2014t! This is it, this the one!\u201d I was like, \u201cI need to watch it again so I can make a second verse.\u201d That movie was so amazing and so inspiring, dog. I knew when I saw the movie that I could make anything. The fact that it was so deep it inspired me. The movie actually inspired the song. S\u2014t was so hard.<\/p>\n How do you feel about this run you\u2019ve been on?<\/strong><\/p>\n I always tell people, I remember just thinking in my head, \u201cI just need one shot, one chance.\u201d When I got with Alamo with Todd [Moskowitz] and them, it was a great partnership and everything was working and moving, I was like, \u201cThis my one shot, man, I\u2019m going for it. And I\u2019m not gonna stop.\u201d A lot of people came and went and faded. I just felt like God gave me the strength, gave me the vision, put a team together and put a fire up under me. I came and I just went for it all, and I never stopped.<\/p>\n Will the Drake collab \u201cBest Friends\u201d<\/a> ever have a home on streaming, or will it exist as a leak online?<\/strong><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know, man. Drake sent it to me. I did it and sent it back. So it\u2019s his song. It\u2019s a great song, though. I\u2019m pretty sure he\u2019s working on an album.<\/p>\n What are you looking forward to for the rest of the year?<\/strong><\/p>\n Looking forward to launching the rest of the tour. Going out there and killing it. Knocking it out the park and connecting with the fans. Redeeming myself from the last tour with the routing and all the stuff that got messed up. To the fans, I\u2019m saying I appreciate all the support on every level, from the beginning to all the way up until now. I\u2019m looking forward to touring and dropping an album this year.<\/p>\n Best of Billboard<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Billboard’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After being forced to cancel his tour at the top of 2025 due to production and routing issues, Rod Wave is taking matters into his own hands with the launch of his Mainstay Touring company. 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