Rod Wave Talks Launching Mainstay Touring, ‘Sinners’ & Upcoming Album: ‘Taking It to Another Level’

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.

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’s Benchmark International Arena on Aug. 29.

“I built this s—t up from zero, going from gymnasiums to arenas,” Rod Wave tells Billboard in the solitude of the arena’s artist lounge following his performance. “I can’t just put that in somebody’s hands who doesn’t even give a f—k about it.”

With Rod Wave taking a more hands-on role in his touring, he’s planning to announce more shows for an extended North American run in December.

“I’m taking it to another level because there’s gonna be so much other stuff I’m gonna add to it,” he adds. “It’s not just a money grab or a promoter paying me and I’m coming and doing the show. It’s really a way I connect with the fans and give them an experience.”

Rod continues: “I feel the fewer people with their hands in the pot, the better the show it could be. It’s a better bang people get for their buck.”

He could have a new album to perform the next time he takes the stage, as Wave’s Last Lap follow-up is about “85 percent” finished and he’s hoping for an October or November release. “Growth” 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.

Dive into Rod Wave detailing his touring company, the wild story behind him landing a song in Sinners, his upcoming album and that leaked Drake song.

Why did you launch Mainstay Touring?

I’m just taking over my touring business. My initial goal is to teach the artists how to tour, you know, I’m 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’m saying putting it in people’s hands and promoters. I just wanted to be more in control. My destiny is my touring and my connection with the fans.

Where do you see Mainstay Touring going in the next five to 10 years?

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–ked up a— economy to come see an artist, but it’s so hard. If you go see other artists’ shows, their production is shitty. It’s not their fault, because they’re not in control, or they don’t 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. 

Do you want to continue to be hands-on, or is it more about hiring the right people to execute this vision?

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’s gonna be two or three different quotes — and I’m picking the best of the best to bring it to life, cutting no corners.

With the tour coming up, you said you’re going to announce a bunch of dates in December. What else can you tell us about it?

Tonight was just a glimpse of what I’m about to do. So that’s what I’m trying to do in December and forever, give fans a real experience. Whether it’s in the next five or 10 years from now, it’s gonna be the best show and better than the one they came to before. We’re gonna always tweak it and see what we messed up and get constructive criticism. [It’s about] making the best show possible with our budget, with whatever we’ve got.

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?

It’s way more organic. It’s 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’m 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’m just way more comfortable. Whatever felt right, that’s what I did. I’m just smoothly going through with it, like I don’t ever set a time for album drop. 

How far into the new album are you and what can we expect from it?

As far as the new album, I’m 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’m a different version of myself. Every album’s a different chapter. I feel like it’s 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’re all growing up together. People who listened to Ghetto Gospel all the way to SoulFly and Last Lap, these are the same people. From that point to this point, this is what has happened and I feel like that’s why people relate to me so much, because I’m not like a superstar or a fairy tale. We are going through the same thing. We all got some sort of similarity.

For this next chapter, from a business side, it’s wrapping my head around the space that I’m 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, “This is the business that I’m in.” 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’s way darker. So I wasn’t even in a space in the beginning to even understand the business.

When you get 26 or 27 and you’re just different. You really feel yourself growing. When you get 26 or 27, it’s like your frontal lobe is fully developed and we just grow up, even if we weren’t ready. This next album, I understand the hand I was dealt and pain I was going through, but now I’m 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’m in?

When are you thinking for the album?

Maybe October, November. If not, then next year. 

What’s the origin story behind the “Sinners” track and getting in touch with Ryan Coogler for the movie?

People from my label were hitting me about the movie. I’m a movie fanatic. I just know the space that movies are in, it’s weird. Movies be a—. When they were telling me about the movie, I wasn’t filtering it in. He was like, “They’ll bring the movie to you and let you watch it.” That was cool. Even if I don’t want to do this song, that’s a cool experience. I respect that. I respected the effort, I’m not an a—hole. 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–king [brain explodes]. 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—t was so good. I had my engineer with me when we watched it, then I went home. 

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—t. And I woke up and my girl was like, “What the hell is you doing?” I was recording it on my phone. Then I called my engineer, “Can you get here?” 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’s on L.A. time, so by two or three o’clock my time, they were texting in the group chat, “Oh s—t! This is it, this the one!” I was like, “I need to watch it again so I can make a second verse.” 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—t was so hard. 

How do you feel about this run you’ve been on?

I always tell people, I remember just thinking in my head, “I just need one shot, one chance.” When I got with Alamo with Todd [Moskowitz] and them, it was a great partnership and everything was working and moving, I was like, “This my one shot, man, I’m going for it. And I’m not gonna stop.” 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.

Will the Drake collab “Best Friends” ever have a home on streaming, or will it exist as a leak online?

I don’t know, man. Drake sent it to me. I did it and sent it back. So it’s his song. It’s a great song, though. I’m pretty sure he’s working on an album. 

What are you looking forward to for the rest of the year?

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’m saying I appreciate all the support on every level, from the beginning to all the way up until now. I’m looking forward to touring and dropping an album this year.