Rod Wave brings the best in rap & hip hop to St. Louis

Rod Wave recently crashed the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, with a star-studded lineup of hip hop and R&B artists. The show lasted well into the night, with six different performers taking the stage throughout the course of the concert. It seems like no coincidence that the last person to play this stadium was Jelly Roll, whose album Beautifully Broken narrowly edged out Rod Wave’s Last Lap and Charlie XCX’s Brat for the top spot on the Billboard 200 back in October. Now, just a few short weeks after Jelly’s takeover, Rod Wave made his case for why he should be considered the biggest artist of 2024.

Full disclosure, this show was rescheduled by the tour due to unforeseen circumstances.

Because it was pushed back a week, there was a mix-up with press credentials and I ended up missing the first opening act while getting things straightened out. I’m sure Eelmatic was super lit, though. By the time I got down to the floor, Lil Poppa had taken the stage and was well on his way to getting the stadium warmed up for the rest of the show. Alternating between rapping and singing, the Florida-born artist did a great job of keeping the crowd engaged and incrementally bringing up the energy in the venue.

Hot on the heels of Lil Poppa was St. Louis-born rapper Dess Dior, who made one hell of a homecoming after relocating to Atlanta to pursue her music career. As someone who has been rapping since the age of 12, Dess looked quite at home onstage in the biggest venue in St. Louis.

Following Dess Dior was an artist who I had the pleasure of shooting at The Pageant last year — but now on a much bigger stage. Toosii, a rapper/singer-songwriter who got his start in North Carolina, once again had all of the ladies falling out of their seats, leaning over the rails, and screaming the words to every song he performed. Moneybagg Yo was next and definitely raised the energy from Toosii’s more low-key set.

The rapper from Tennessee was joined onstage by a whole squad of dancers who really helped get the crowd excited for the final performance.

Rod Wave, with his massively successful summer release of his 7th consecutively top ten album Last Lap, was highly anticipated. After a marathon of opening acts, Rod Wave came out to a roaring crowd. No expense was spared on his production: the set featured a huge 360-degree stage, with equally large circular jumbotron suspended above. The massive circular screen was also fitted with pyrotechnics, blasting flames down from the sky towards the stage. 

My favorite moment of the show was towards the end, when Rod made his way to the far end of the stage. After a moment, the stage began to rise, lifting Wave high up into the air right in front of the crowd. Yet another experience in the show where production was topnotch. If you like hip hop and rap, this is definitely not a tour you want to miss.

Photography by Sean Rider

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