Rod Wave, Through the Wire | Track Review 🎵

On the authentic, honest, and raw “Through the Wire,” rapper/singer Rod Wave reflects upon a series of life changing events.

“Through the Wire” ranks among the most important and notable songs in the Kanye West discography.  West was honest about a bad car accident in which his mouth was wired shut.  Rapper/Singer Rod Wave delivers his own “Through the Wire,” interpolating West’s original, where he gets real about substance abuse leading to his own bad accident, one of which he was thought to be dead.  “Through the Wire” is a record that is authentic – real to the nth degree.

Following the brief intro, the chorus, excerpted below, sets the stage for “Through the Wire”:

“...Who got that drank? I’m fiendin’
I need that pure Codeine in, I ain’t been sleepin’
They told me to slow it down, you been speedin’
They told me to slow it down, take it easy.”

Basically, we see that Rod’s demons are inevitably going to lead to destruction.  On the verse, he goes on to detail what led up to his accident – “If I’m sober too long, I get in my feelings” – as well as the actual happenings. Rod seems to capture both the mental and physical anguish.  After another iteration of the chorus, he provides us with a spoken word outro, again, capturing the trauma experienced from this accident.  Worth noting, at the end of the outro, he sings the chorus of West’s song (“Through the wire, through wire / I’d gladly risk it all…”), which flips the Chaka Khan classic, “Through the Fire”.

Final Thoughts 

All in all, “Through the Wire” is an enjoyable, authentic record from Rod Wave.  It’s clear that he made some mistakes that ultimately could’ve cost him his life.  As reflective as he is on the outro, he could’ve expounded even more about the changes he’s made since this experiment – nitpicking, of course. Regardless, I greatly appreciate him opening up here, and really enjoyed this one.

Rod Wave • “Through the Wire” • Alamo • Release: 7.12.20

Photo Credit: Alamo