Young Roddo started his breakout year with a song about school. A few months later, the Chicago-born rapper was releasing an album and bringing fans into a music video inside Roblox.
ALREADY! first introduced him through “No Bad Grades.” This is the next chapter: how that release connects to his partnership with EMPIRE and a campaign built around a game his audience already knows.
START WITH “NO BAD GRADES”
Released May 8, 2026, “No Bad Grades” puts schoolwork at the center of its hook. The official visualizer’s description says Roddo filmed it before school the previous week. It is a small detail, but a useful introduction to an artist making music from the world he actually lives in.
The song’s appeal is direct: good grades, everyday discipline, and a chorus younger listeners can repeat. By September, EMPIRE was describing the nine-year-old as a Chicago-born hip-hop and R&B artist whose school-age breakout had arrived earlier that year.
WHAT THE EMPIRE PARTNERSHIP MEANS
EMPIRE’s September 3 announcement identifies Roddo as an EMPIRE artist and says he partnered with the company. EMPIRE is an independent record label, publisher, and distributor founded in San Francisco in 2010 by Ghazi Shami.
Those roles can overlap, but the public wording matters. The announcement establishes the partnership; it does not disclose a signing date, an advance, or contract terms. Roddo’s releases also carry EMPIRE Distribution provider credits and a 2026 Case Study Agency copyright credit. “Partnered with EMPIRE” describes the documented relationship without guessing at the agreement behind it.
FROM A SINGLE TO AN ALBUM
“Ms. Jackson” followed in May. Then, on August 28, 2026, Roddo released He Is Me, a 14-track debut album with “No Bad Grades,” “Ms. Jackson,” “All I Need,” “Lesson Learned,” and “Robux” among its songs.
That gives new listeners more than one viral clip to explore. The school-first introduction is still there, but the album expands the catalogue into the friendships, interests, and everyday situations around a young artist building an audience.
Listen to He Is Me on Young Roddo’s Audiomack page ↗
ROBLOX BECOMES THE SET
For “Robux,” Roddo and his team took the video into Brookhaven, an experience inside Roblox. EMPIRE’s September 3 release described it as the first official music video filmed entirely inside Roblox and reported an audience of 540,000 attendees at the live shoot. Both the “first” claim and the attendance figure come from that announcement.
Rather than asking fans to watch a finished video from outside, the campaign invited players to take part in the world where it was made. EMPIRE’s announcement said Brookhaven was a game Roddo played almost every day. The choice of setting connected the artist, the song’s subject, and a place his fans could actually enter.
School, music, and gaming are not separate worlds for this audience. Roddo’s rollout brings them together: a school-first single in May, a debut album in August, and an interactive video in September. The partnership is part of that story, but the starting point remains a young artist making songs about things he knows.
WHAT’S YOUR PICK?
Are you starting with “No Bad Grades,” “Ms. Jackson,” or “Robux”? Tell us which track deserves a first listen in the comments.
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