Chattanooga, TN · hip-hop · soul

Isaiah Rashad

1 upcoming festival

TDE's laid-back Chattanooga voice — hazy, soulful Southern rap that resurfaces every few years to remind everyone nobody does mellow better.

Isaiah Rashad, born Isaiah Rashad McClain, is a rapper from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and one of the few artists from outside California signed to Top Dawg Entertainment. He introduced himself with the project Cilvia Demo, followed by the albums The Sun's Tirade and The House Is Burning, releases separated by long gaps that he has attributed in interviews to struggles with substance use and depression.

His music draws on Southern traditions — OutKast, UGK, Three 6 Mafia — but slows them down, favouring soul- and jazz-tinged production and a conversational, half-sung delivery. The writing tends toward the self-examining, dealing with family, money and sobriety without much posturing.

hip-hopsoul