Ronnie Riggles is no stranger to the more downbeat emotions, both in his music and outside of it. A 10-track showing of vulnerability, his last album Nothing to Show takes as its subject his own feelings of inadequacy. His Broadway debut was in Good Grief, a play written by the Nigerian Ngozi Anyanwu, a light-humored exploration of the nature of loss: a young woman must learn how to find the color in life after the death of a close friend. Co-directed by Zuhairah McGill and Phillip Brown, the play was first staged by Hedgerow Theatre Company last February in Philadelphia. In Riggles’s new album Something to Cope, the despondency of the previous album yields ground to optimism. Significant progress has been made on the road to self-discovery, with the rapper demonstrating that he has acclimatized to dealing with the vicissitudes of life. He has described the new album as “an ode to a more cathartic era for me.”
Something to Cope comes a year after the release of Riggles’s last album. He released his debut EP Prep School Negro in 2015, which was followed by the albums Nebula (2019) and (The) Cost of Living (2021).
In the new album the rapper shows a willingness to collaborate, the list of guest artists including Cooligans, Sariud, Jordan Plain, Irk and Ren Cinema. It is a collaborative instinct he has demonstrated in the course of his nine-year music year; he has worked with notable acts like Conway The Machine, CurrenSy and SZA, as well as fast-rising Philadelphia-based acts Ben Thomas, Digital Crates, Tierra Whack and Nic Hanson. He has also worked with Boldy James and Raekwon of the Wu-Tang Clan.
In Something To Cope, Ronnie draws from his personal experiences:
“One thing I remember for sure is on my way to Miami for Art Basel 2022, I was driving a Tesla and that jawn got a nail in the tire on alligator alley so we were on and off exits filling it up till we could get to the next rental store. It took 8 hours instead of 4 to get from Tampa to Miami. I was pissed. But ultimately we reached our destination and everything worked out. I just remember when we got back to Tampa I woke up, smoked an L and threw on the beat Crates made that ended up being “Sunshine.” It was right after I had talked to a few homies and my mom about it and I remember going from so angry to so happy after enjoying that Tampa sun, hearing that beat, writing about my Mama, and recording. I couldn’t even be mad no more.”
Something To Cope begins with a voiceover-esque intro, Leroy’s Love, and moves briskly to the meditative Paths and chorus-powered Carry On. On tracks like All We Know and Sacrifices, the artist alludes to his passion and hard work he has put into his musical craft. “I can’t really sing but I wrote a good rap for you,” the artist raps in Sacrifices.
The album sees the artist’s talents in full bloom; he presents a rich buffet of double entendres, wit and colorful storytelling. But what makes it truly shine is how Riggles poeticizes his own personal experiences.
Listen to Something to Cope here: