In the Instagram post announcing the arrival of PROTOTYPE: ETERNAL, Moncton, New Brunswick-hailing MC Roderick Porter made it a point to thank “everyone who has stuck with me while I figured myself out and refined my sound.” Before PROTOTYPE, songs like “I Didn’t Realize How Empty My Bed Was Before You Left,” “Baby,” and the one that beckoned Noah Cyrus into his DMs, “You,” painted Porter as a lovesick kid who likes singing over guitar samples. PROTOTYPE, though, is the MC shedding any notion of who fans thought he was, while leaning into a conspicuously more self-assured, if not completely self-indulgent, persona. Songs like “PIPEDOWN,” “PICK IT UP,” and even “THOUGHT OF YOU” reference the wealth of romantic options at his disposal, while tracks like “NUMB / MIDNIGHT” and “NEW PROBLEMS” explore a not altogether regretful relationship with drugs. Notes of the old Porter pop up on tracks like “HOLOGRAPHIC,” but in love or out, Porter is his own man on PROTOTYPE: ETERNAL, something he clearly believes is the key to staying power.