Song Review: 'The Box' by Roddy Ricch

The Box by Roddy Ricch is the number one song in America. I am curious as to why? What is it about this song that has resonated so deeply with the American people that it has become the most popular piece of music on the market today? In this review I will examine the appeal of The Box, it’s themes, meanings and lyrical elements. We will also examine the songs place in the history and evolution of rap and hip hop as that is far more interesting than the song itself.

Rodick Wayne Moore Jr, aka Roddy Ricch, was born October 22nd, 1998 in Compton, California. Compton is a legendary place for hip hop having been the backdrop for many huge rap artists from the gangsta rap era, most notably N.W.A who named their breakout record Straight Outta Compton a full 10 years before Roddy Ricch was born. In fact, N.W.A were well into legend status by the time Roddy Ricch arrived in the world.

That bit of biography is notable as we dig into Ricch’s massive hit song which, lyrically, reflects an almost complete lack in the change in themes from N.W.A in the 80’s to Ricch today. The lyrics of The Box unerringly make euphemistic reference to sex in a way similar too, but far safer and more sale-able, than N.W.A did back in the late 80’s and early 90s.

Where Ricch raps:

“Shawty call me Crisco 'cause I pop my s***

Got it out the mud, there's nothin' you can tell me, yeah”

N.W.A rapped about "getting a d*** baptized."

(With NWA that’s the safest lyric I could pick out and write about here.)

Ricch is an example of a rapper who came about in the world N.W.A changed more than 30 years ago. It’s a world that many assumed N.W.A would not remain influential in simply because they were so filthy and raw. Many assumed that because N.W.A could not get on the radio because of their lyrics, their influence would be limited but the success of Ricch and so many of his fellow rappers in this day and age is a strong indication that that was a strongly incorrect notion.

That said, Ricch is also an example of how it is possible to water down and com-modify what Dre, Easy, Yella, Wren, and Cube did back in the day. Where the bluntness of N.W.A was unthinkably un-commercial, Ricch has found the way to say what N.W.A said about sex and street violence in a way that can be packaged and sold to mainstream audiences in cleaned up, radio ready packages.

“Took her to the forest, put the wood in her mouth” may not be subtle in metaphor but it is certainly more commercially viable than any lyric in N.W.A’s “She Swallowed It,” a song so ludicrously blunt that it still carries a charge and shock factor nearly 30 years later. Ricch, and rappers of a similar influence have somehow found a way to take that influence and sanded off the edges to climb to the top of the charts with it and I find that a fascinating example of the evolution of music.

Does the historical context of The Box make it a good song? Eh, it doesn’t hurt. There isn’t much to examine about The Box in and of itself. It’s not a particularly clever song, it’s catchy and has a uniqueness to its sound that indicates why it is so popular but drilling down on the song lyrically or culturally doesn’t really get you anywhere beyond the notable historic influences.

What I was searching for in The Box in this review is what makes this song reflect the collective ‘Now?’ Why is this song capturing this moment in our culture? For the life of me, I have no idea what this song intends to say about our modern culture other than it is as disposable as ever. The Box is filled with easy metaphors delivered in a style that is highly reflective of the evolution of a form that has struggled and continues to struggle to find an identity for the past two decades.

In the era after samples became played out and producers of new beats became the dominant form in hip hop, the genre has sought to flatten out the beats and get them further and further away from the influential grooves of 60’s and 70's R & B that defined what N.W.A did back in the 80’s and rappers like Snoop Dogg brought into the 90’s.

The desire to reflect the lyrical influences while charting a new sonic chorus is what brings us to where we are today with The Box. The song reflects either the influence of the culture N.W.A brought to the forefront or a complete lack of evolution in the interests of young men in urban neighborhoods beyond money, sex and the expectation of violent confrontation. I prefer to think it is influence because the alternative is too depressing.

What if things haven’t changed all that much since the 80’s? What if record executives who also grew up in the world N.W.A changed so dramatically have simply found a way to make what N.W.A did more mainstream and profitable? What an utterly horrific thought. Is Roddy Ricch an authentic modern take on gangsta rap under a new headline or is he the evolution of the marketplace that has become more accepting of the kind of themes that nearly landed N.W.A in jail nearly 30 years ago?

That’s not me being nostalgic for N.W.A, I completely understand that their lyrics have not aged well and have always been unacceptably misogynist and ugly. What I am getting at is that Roddy Ricch isn’t all that different. He’s more commercial and mainstream acceptable than N.W.A but The Box reflects an attitude and posture that has not evolved and has instead been streamlined and com-modified.

But is it any good? I don’t think so but tastes are subjective. The Box, as a song, is not nearly as interesting as what it reflects about hip hop, history, culture and an industry built on commodity. A product like N.W.A that fans felt could not be turned into an easy to sell product has now become a product capable of going to number 1 on the Billboard chart. That’s both fascinating and sad.

It always seems to happen like that, the cycle of the music industry remains unbroken. What was once thought to be rebellious is captured by the industry and tamed. The legend is co-opted into the marketplace, assimilated into sale-able elements and mass marketed. It happened to Johnny Cash, it happened to Sabbath and Zeppelin, it happened to Cobain and now it is happening to N.W.A.

It’s also ironic as Ricch raps specifically “I won't never sell my soul, and I can back that.” He surely feels that he is authentic and yet I am pulling that lyric from the cleaned up version of his song intended for radio use. Try as you might, you are not going to be able to clean up “She Swallowed It,” for radio airplay. The clean version of a nineties gangsta rap song is basically an instrumental. Does this make Ricch less authentic? Perhaps but it also makes him successfully adapted to the marketplace and making ‘hunnid bands’ and you can’t really begrudge success.