Ghetto Gospel (album)

Ghetto Gospel is the debut studio album by American rapper and singer Rod Wave. It was released on November 1, 2019, by Alamo Records and distributed by Interscope Records. It features guest appearances from Kevin Gates and Lil Durk. The former also served as executive producer during production. The album peaked at number ten on the US Billboard 200. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Background
On May 31, 2019, Rod Wave released the album's lead single, "Heart on Ice" which would first appear on his fourth commercial mixtape, PTSD. However, following its release, the song began to go viral on social media resulting in it appearing on Ghetto Gospel. The album's second single, "Cuban Links" featuring Kevin Gates was released on October 11, 2019. The album's third and final single, "Close Enough to Hurt" was released on October 23, 2019, just a week prior to the release of the album. Alongside the release of the single, Rod Wave announced the album while also reporting that Kevin Gates would act as an executive producer.

Critical reception
Ghetto Gospel was met with generally positive reviews. At Album of the Year, the album received an average score of 68 out of 100, based on two reviews.

Writing for HipHopDX, Kenan Draughorne described the album as a "summation of all his pain, packaged together" highlighting "his vocal performances [that] shine throughout the album". However, Draughorne wrote that he sensed an "overall lack of ambition" on the project and noted that the trap beats are "bland". Concluding his review, he wrote that his "artistic potential" is "sky-high", though the album in its entirety is a "missed opportunity". Pitchfork's Alphonse Pierre describes the album's sound as "bloodletting over somber pianos and country guitars". He notes that Rod is at the "forefront" of "pain music".

Commercial performance
Ghetto Gospel debuted at number 14 on the US Billboard 200 chart, earning a total of 24.8 millions audio on-demand streams in its first week. In its second week, the album climbed to number ten on the chart, earning an additional 27,000 album-equivalent units, which was a 24% increase from its debut week sales. On May 20, 2020, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the United States.