Rashad learned the hard way that being signed to a major label, especially as a newcomer, means nothing when you can’t hold up your end of the bargain. Rashad succumbed to crippling alcoholism - a disease he revealed runs in his family - and financial hardships in the form of frivolously spending on himself and his friends to the point where he was forced to move back to his mom’s house in Chattanooga.
A sold-out national tour and festival appearances leveraged his success - and lined his pockets - sooner than he could keep up.Īfter that first taste of stardom, shit hit the fan. In 2016, he released his critically acclaimed debut album, The Sun’s Tirade. With Lamar, Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, ScHoolboy Q (known together as Black Hippy) already leading TDE, Rashad - along with SZA - brought a new perspective and embraced his identity as the lone Southerner among a crew of L.A.
The then-22-year-old Chattanooga native had left Middle Tennessee State University to pursue a rap career and, by 2013, signed to the California-based label TDE the following year, he released his debut mixtape Cilvia Demo. For a certain time, it seemed like Isaiah Rashad might follow in Kendrick Lamar’s immediate footsteps as the newest rap star of the formidable Top Dog Entertainment roster.
