The wait is finally over for The Sun’s Tirade, the proper full-length debut from TDE’s Southern delegate Isaiah Rashad. We’ve already heard “Free Lunch” and “Park,” and Rashad revealed a struggle with Xanax and alcohol as the reason for the two-year wait after his promising Cilvia Demo. Though the excellent one-offs “Smile” and “i mean” didn’t make the cut, there is plenty of heat to go around on the 17-track behemoth.
R/hiphopheads: Everything hip-hop, R&B and Future Beats! The latest mixtapes, videos, news, and anything else hip-hop/R&B/Future Beats related from. The rapper has not released an album since 2016, when he dropped The Sun’s Tirade. Journalist Jeff Weiss recently sat down with Rashad for the May 2021 Fader cover story. Isaiah Rashad McClain (born May 16, 1991) is an American rapper from Chattanooga, Tennessee.His first big break would be performing on the 2012 Smoker's Club Tour with rappers Juicy J, Joey Badass and Smoke DZA among others. He is also a founding member of the Chattanooga hip hop collective The House along with fellow Chattanooga rappers YGTUT.
Rashad could function as the sole Southern rep of Native Tongues just as easily as he fills the role for TDE. Retro jazzy vibes meet Dirty South sensibilities as he flexes his malleability by singing, sing-song rapping, and spitting slick, introspective, skillful bars. He’s nestled even deeper into the dark, somber mood of Cilvia Demo. Rashad is more comfortable in the shadows, and he doesn’t offer much in the form of redemption or hope, only allowing brief glimpses of light and hope into his space. His sadness is palpable all over the album, but he expresses it beautifully. Tracks like “Stuck In The Mud,” “AA,” and “Don’t Matter” take you all the way to the edge, and the only solace afforded you is knowing Rashad is doing better now.
Within the melancholy are frequent flashes of brilliance. I haven’t heard anyone come close to getting the best of Kendrick Lamar on a track, but Rashad goes bar for bar with him on “Wat’s Wrong.” He recalls the sounds of “B.O.B.”-era Outkast, prime UGK, the pinnacle of Cash Money, and other Southern gems excellently and effortlessly. Yet the Chattanooga rapper is just as comfy rhyming over some A Tribe Called Quest-esque 6/4-metered jazz riffs, classic DJ scratches, or celestial underground grittiness. For a rapper firmly rooted in the South, his fluidity moving through the different eras and regions of rap is impressive.
Zay came correct. He acknowledges the wait, and the pressure it put on him, but it didn’t break him. Top-five rap album of the year — easy. Listen.
The Sun’s Tirade is out now on TDE.
Isaiah Rashad The Sun's Tirade Lyrics
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Last week, Top Dawg Entertainment posted a cryptic announcement saying “THE WAIT IS OVA!!,” prompting quite a bit of speculation that some TDE heavy-hitters like Kendrick Lamar or SZA might be dropping new projects. Well, it’s neither of them — at least not yet — but we do have a new album from Chattanooga rapper Isaiah Rashad on the way. Rashad’s proper full-length debut and most recent album, The Sun’s Tirade, came out way back in 2016. His new album, as revealed in a Fader cover story, is called The House Is Burning and seems to be close to coming out.
In that same Fader story, Rashad talked about his struggles with addiction in the wake of the release of The Sun’s Tirade and how that impacted the development of his new album and resulted in a stint in rehab. “I was doing whatever I could to escape. I admittedly liked the feeling of being numb,” he said. “Everything that ain’t good for me. Being out in LA without anything anchoring me down fucked me up. You can float off out here. You can get lost in this bitch.”
Today, he’s releasing The House Is Burning‘s first single, “Lay Wit Ya,” which features Duke Deuce. Listen below.