The secret’s out.
After teasing a mysterious drop last week, TDE is set to roll out its first release of 2021 with Isaiah Rashad, who has announced his first album in nearly five years, The House Is Burning.
In a cover story for The FADER, the 29-year-old Chattanooga MC opens up about his time away from the spotlight during which he struggled with alcoholism and panic attacks, which led to a month-long stint at a rehab facility in Orange County, Calif.
“There wasn’t a whole bunch of recovery [after recording The Sun’s Tirade],” Rashad recalled of his 2016 album. “I just went into the interviews and told n****s I fucked my life and health up. Then I went on tour and it ain’t like a lot of shit had changed. If anything it got worse, but it just didn’t look as bad outwardly because I had so much going on.”
After coming off tour in late 2017, he found himself spending his newly-acquired fortune. He told his friends to move in and got accustomed to a plush lifestyle, including $300 shirts and gourmet sandwiches. Before he knew it, he had drained his bank account.
“And then…I ended up sleeping on my homie’s couch for like four or five months,” he said. “It was the quickest fall from grace I could ever imagine.”
In January 2020, he began recording what would become The House is Burning, his soundtrack to overcoming the struggle. “I just wanted this shit to sound fun,” he said of the project, which is scheduled for a June release. “If I’m sad, people don’t need to be able to tell. And this is probably my most depressing album.”
On Friday, he is set to return with the first offering from his second full-length album, “Lay Wit Ya,” which The FADER describes as the “closest thing he’s made to club bangers or radio songs.”