Key Takeaways
- Isaiah Rashad blends confessional lyricism with a laid‑back, sing‑song flow that bridges ’90s neo‑soul and Southern rap.
- His discography traces a turbulent arc: from the acclaimed debut Cilvia Demo (2014) through substance‑filled struggles (The Sun’s Tirade, 2016) to a hard‑won sobriety and introspection (The House is Burning, 2021).
- The latest album, IT’S BEEN AWFUL (2024), reframes sobriety not as a destination but as a continual, painful negotiation with lingering addiction, shame, and self‑doubt.
- Production leans on hazy, sample‑driven beats crafted largely by Keem the Cipher and Julian Sintonia, providing a muted backdrop that lets Rashad’s sharp wordplay and melodic hooks shine.
- Despite moments where the sound feels flat, Rashad’s dynamic delivery and candid storytelling keep the record focused, presenting him as both prophet and junkie, forever caught between death and rebirth.
Isaiah Rashad has cultivated a reputation as one of hip‑hop’s most paradoxical voices. Since his 2014 debut Cilvia Demo—widely regarded as an unsung classic and one of the best rap projects of the 2010s—he has alternated between braggadocio and brutal self‑examination, often delivering both in the same breath. His signature scratchy, sing‑song flow glides over beats that marry the warm, jazzy textures of ’90s neo‑soul with the gritty punch of Southern rap, allowing him to traverse topics ranging from incarcerated family members to late‑night binges on liquor and benzodiazepines without losing a cohesive tonal thread.
Rashad’s relationship with his Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) labelmates has always been somewhat aloof. While peers like Kendrick Lamar and Schoolboy Q chased mainstream acclaim, Rashad positioned himself as the label’s Southern outlier, a “next breakout wunderkind” who preferred introspection over chart‑chasing. This inclination became explicit on The Sun’s Tirade (2016), where he laid bare recent bouts of depression and substance abuse. After a period of relative silence—marked by additional rock bottoms and a stint in rehab—he resurfaced in 2021 with The House is Burning. The album chronicled the fragile optimism of early sobriety, with Rashad proclaiming, “I was dead and now I’m alive,” signalling a hard‑earned sense of renewal.
Yet, the ensuing years have complicated that narrative. On his 2024 release IT’S BEEN AWFUL, Rashad questions the very binary of death versus life that once gave him hope. The opening track, “The New Sublime,” finds him praying for his incarcerated sister, his mother, and himself, fearing another relapse that could plunge him to his “lowest.” Throughout the record, he treats seemingly positive experiences—getting high, falling in love, attaining fame, accumulating wealth, even maintaining sobriety—as potential gateways to suffering. This perspective casts sobriety not as a triumphant endpoint but as a precarious state that demands constant vigilance.
Musically, IT’S BEEN AWFUL leans into a patient, shuffling pace. Apart from the energetic lead single “Same Sh!t” and the closing “719 Freestyle,” which ride trap‑inflected drums, most tracks favor contemplative tempos and muted textures. Rashad’s comfort with R&B‑centric production resurfaces: collaborations with labelmate SZA on “Boy in Red” rekindle their chemistry, while “Supaficial” and “GTKY” showcase some of his smoothest vocal hooks to date. The album’s soundscape, shaped chiefly by producers Keem the Cipher (KTC) and Julian Sintonia, is hazy and sample‑laden—pitched‑down, syrupy percussion slides beneath warm electric piano and brass, creating a vibe that can feel both immersive and, at times, overly lethargic. When the instrumentation threatens to become monotonous, Rashad’s nimble flows and incisive songwriting inject focus, preventing the listener from drifting entirely into the album’s desert‑like weight.
Lyrically, Rashad remains an impressionist storyteller rather than a linear chronicler. He juxtaposes shameful memories, self‑loathing, confusion, and fleeting moments of clarity, allowing these fragments to accumulate into a broader thesis: he is simultaneously dead and alive, a perpetual embodiment of contradiction. The album’s title itself captures this tension—IT’S BEEN AWFUL acknowledges the relentless difficulty of living with eyes wide open, of confronting one’s reflection without flinching, and of accepting that redemption is an ongoing, often painful process rather than a singular event.
In sum, IT’S BEEN AWFUL reframes Isaiah Rashad’s artistic journey as a continual negotiation between self‑destruction and self‑preservation. His music remains a conduit for raw confession, delivered with a laid‑back charisma that makes the heavy themes feel approachable. While the production may occasionally linger in a hazy malaise, Rashad’s lyrical dexterity and emotional honesty keep the record anchored, offering listeners a poignant portrait of an artist who, despite his tumultuous past, continues to search for light amid the shadows.