“Heart on Ice” by Rod Wave

During the 2010s we witnessed a phenomenon which some people refer to as emo (i.e. emotional) rap. Operating under this subgenre, hip-hop artists would tuck away the strap and stash all the M’s in a bank account to rather render tunes about their own personal issues, in other words how they are respectively depressed. 

And such is what we’re dealing with in “Heart on Ice”. The title of the track alludes to the fact that that artist at hand, Rod Wave, has made a conscientious decision to turn off his emotions, so to speak. 

And the reason he has done so is because he’s had his heart broken so many times.

And that reality points back to the vocalist experiencing a rough childhood. He has dealt with deceit and heartbreak. However, he kept the associated frustrations within, as he wasn’t keen to exposing his feelings like that. 

Rather he put his faith in a higher power that one day he would truly achieve “piece of mind”. But in the meantime, he resorted to a life of crime. And he also focused his mind on generating a rich man’s level of income, as he perceives such may be a way of overcoming the blues.

Meanwhile his moms thinks that he’s too soft, if you will. That is to say that she’s under the impression he tends to get his feelings hurt because he ‘wears his heart on his sleeve’. 

Or said alternatively, his honesty makes him more vulnerable to getting his feelings hurt.  And that is why Rod has opted to put his “heart on ice”. Or let’s say that he can’t just change his naturally-sensitive personality like that. 

So for him, the more-realistic option is to instead close himself off from the world from a sentimental standpoint.

When did “Heart on Ice” come out?

This track originally came out, on 22 May 2019, as a music video and as part of a Rod Wave’s mixtape entitled “PTSD”. And later it was also featured on his first standard album, the name of which is “Ghetto Gospel”. And in both cases, the label that supported the project was Alamo Records.

As such “Heart on Ice” is the first official single Rod Wave ever put out. And heading into 2021, it remains his most-successful in terms of sales. It has actually been certified multiple-platinum by the RIAA.

A major part of this song’s success is attributable to a remix of the tune that Rod Wave, hailing from St. Petersburg (Florida) put together in collaboration with Chicago-based rapper Lil Durk. 

Additionally the year after its release, “Heart on Ice” achieved viral status on TikTok, which buttressed the tune’s overall popularity. In fact it was said virality which ultimately contributed to the song breaking the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100.

Its most-impressive chart showing though was on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where Heart on Ice peaked at number 13.

According to popular music website Genius, Rod rendering the song during one of their “Open Mic” sessions also contributed to it blowing up.

Rod Wave

Rod Wave is a rapper/singer who self-released a couple of mixtapes, “Hunger Games” (2016) and “Rookie of the Year” (2017), before becoming an artist under Alamo Records circa 2018. 

Between then and early 2021, he also dropped three mixtapes on their behalf – “Hunger Games 2” (2018), “Hunger Games 3” (2018) and “PTSD” (2019). During the aforementioned period, he also released a couple of standard albums, “Ghetto Gospel” (2019) and “Pray 4 Love” (2020). 

It was with the success of the latter which helped Rod to really establish himself, as the record reached number one on Billboard’s Top Rap Albums list. 

Additionally it peaked at number 2 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart as well as on the Billboard 200 proper. 

And the year 2020 also witnessed Rod Wave becoming a member of that season’s XXL Freshman Class, meaning that at the time he’s considered one of the top up-and-coming hip-hop artists in the game.

Unfortunately along the way Rod Wave and Alamo Records developed some beef over artist’s compensation. However, that tiff was reportedly resolved expeditiously.