MYSK - Music You Should Know - Part 2 - Isaiah Rashad

With Compton, California's own, Kendrick Lamar, dropping his third studio album, "DAMN", two weeks ago today, the world as we know it has ended. As expected, KDot's bars have made us question the meaning of life and ultimately realize we are no longer important. But we all saw that coming, so I'm not here to talk about his album, it pretty much speaks for itself. Who I'm really here to talk about is a different member of the Top Dawg Entertainment family. He is often overlooked, I would say grossly underrated, he is our second MYSK artist, his name is Isaiah Rashad.

Top Dawg Entertainment, the record label founded by Anthony "Top Dawg" Tiffith, is home of several of rap's most talented MC's, Kendrick Lamar (KDot, Cornrow Kenny, Kung Fu Kenny, the GOAT), Schoolboy Q (ladies, hes the guy who made "Collard Greens"), and Ab-Soul (the weird looking fellow with the long hair). Over the years, TDE has established itself as one of the most prominent hip hop conglomerates (*vocab snaps*) in the game, but for the fly by night rap fan you probably haven't heard enough of Isaiah Rashad.

Isaiah is a 25 year old wordsmith from Chattanooga, Tennessee who was signed by TDE in 2013. He caught a lot of buzz with his 2014 mixtape, "Cilvia Demo". As of a few weeks ago I hadn't heard the record at all, so as your Our Bad music extraordinaire I decided to give it a listen. Going into this mixtape I didn't really know what to expect. I can't say I had any high expectations for a rapper coming from Chattanooga, but any artist signed to TDE is held in a higher regard in my eyes. So I pop in "Cilvia Demo" and initially I was worried. The intro had me thinking "this sounds like he recorded it in a crowded bathroom of a Long John Silver's", but then the next song dropped.......

"Webbie Flow" was the name of track two (no correlation to Chris Webby, the Good Try of Hip Hop), my ears perked up as I heard the beat. I slowly felt my eye brows raise and my shoulders began to shimmy to and fro. "This is nice... this is real nice", I said to myself as this track progressed. Little by little, track after track, the slow shimmies turned into full on body rolls; TDE had done it again.

The next jam that caught my eye was "Ronnie Drake" featuring SZA (a female rapper/singer who is also a part of TDE, very talented). This was the song that had me convinced I was going to be a Isaiah Rashad fan for a long time. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some hard core, head bussa, "What That Smell Like?", hip hop every now and again, but the boom bap chilled out vibe that he's on in this song was just what I love. A consistent flow and a laid back hook from SZA made for a great song. Other songs from the mixtape such as "Modest" and "Shot You Down" were favorites of mine. I don't want to dive too deep into the Cilvia mixtape, but all in all it was a very enjoyable project.

After a two year hiatus, the real gem came from Mr. Rashad in the Fall of 2016 when he released his first studio album, "The Sun's Tirade". The first time I heard this project I was in a buddy of mine's car (shout out M-Dub, not sure he remembers this but I do), he played a track from the album called, "Wat's Wrong". So we are strolling through Shrub Oak one night with this song playing in the background, Isaiah opens up with a nice verse over one of the dustiest beats this side of the Tigris & Euphrates. The second verse began and I couldn't believe my ears, it was the one, the only, the people's champ, he who must not be named, ya momma's favorite rapper, yes.... Kendrick Lamar.

With my head bobbing and weaving while contemplating my entire existence, I felt my soul trying to escape my body. I successfully place my holy ghost back into my physical being and begin convulsing. Isaiah used the human cheat code. I guess that's one of the perks of being in TDE. You're just allowed to call Pope John Kendrick III at any time you'd please and he'll have a hot and ready verse prepared for any project you might have. Isaiah closed out the song with another unbelievable verse, almost immediately this song was one of my favorites of the year.

Besides just this song, "The Sun's Tirade" was a very well put together album. Various songs discuss him becoming a father, battling addiction, and growing up over the past couple years. The song "Free Lunch" is probably my second favorite, I had my fair share of heart palpitations to that one as well. Notable tracks "4r Da Squaw", and "Park" are also good plays. You can tell this album is a bit more organized and more clean cut than "Cilvia Demo". Regardless they are both projects you definitely need to add to your daily music routine.

Isaiah's brotherhood with TDE is somewhat interesting considering the regime is mostly made up of rappers from the west coast. Nonetheless, TDE's little piece of Tennessee has seemed to hit his stride. Isaiah Rashad looks to be a perfect fit for the California powerhouse.