While Live Life Fast, the second album by Roddy Ricch, has a promising premise—how living to excess can be tempting but isn’t sustainable—Roddy struggles to deliver on this thematic structure.

Live Life Fast features a series of excellent instrumentals, but Roddy Ricch doesn’t add much beyond his vocal presence as he meanders from lyric to lyric, with many of the songs delivering on similar stagnant themes of wealth and women—seldom having much to say at all about either topic. The few moments when Roddy does break away, he maintains an arm’s reach with them as he continues to flex on listeners.

The album opens with a spoken-word thesis of sorts with “llf,” where Roddy describes how tempting and easy it is to take things to the extreme when you get rich and famous, and how that can lead to negative outcomes. He emphasizes the need to take things slow, as he and Ty Dolla $ign harmoniously sing an interpolation of Rick Ross’ and Kanye West’s “Live Fast, Die Young.”

It’s followed by the low, muffled, bass-laden melody of “thailand,” before it drops into a heavy pickup with Roddy Ricch immediately flashing his wealth. “All good,” featuring Future, has tais washed-out, scaling synth melody with a heavy and sustained bass line and rapid snare pairing that’s just fantastic. The song closes out with a chopped-and-screwed renewal of the chorus.

“Rollercoastin” kicks off with the unusual pairing of synth-flute and plucky, Latin-inspired guitar as the bass and snare pick up, with Roddy rapping about his trust with lovers and friends always in flux. Kodak Black and 21 Savage take an aggressive lead on “Hibachi,” with Kodak delivering a layered, harmonious verse, and Savage following suit with a longer verse.

Migos’ Takeoff trades verses with Roddy on “Paid My Dues” as light piano chords and low, shimmering synths  ride alongside some really nice high hats. “Crash the party” explores Roddy’s issues with trust with those around him, following his mounting success. He closes the track out with another spoken-word piece about the importance of maintaining hope even amid difficult circumstances. Piano and organ are paired to deliver another exceptional melody, while a fantastic funky, ’70s-style bass solo kicks off the track.

There’s a grimy drill beat on “murda one” as Fivio Foreign and Roddy tear through the joint. There appears to be some inspiration pulled from Childish Gambino on the production for “everything you need,” which has a warped synth melody and high-pitched vocals leading into the track. The song sees Roddy trying to buy the affection of a woman he’s interested in, swearing that his love is real, but it kind of feels superficial entirely, at least on the surface. There’s more warping synths and pinging tones on “moved to miami,” where Roddy raps about how determined he was to make a successful life for himself.

The album starts to drag out in its last quarter, but the balladic “more than a trend” is a standout that probably could’ve been better served had it taken the place of “everything you need.” Roddy Ricch sings about his desire to provide emotional support to his girlfriend, and the song seems sincerely  genuine and tender.

Follow editor Tim Hoffman at Twitter.com/hipsterp0tamus.