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In XXL's Fall 2021 issue, Isaiah Rashad discusses his musical comeback, what he's been up to for the last five years, his faith, parenting and much more.

TWEET Feelin The Love Isaiah Rashads latest album has those who doubted him thinking twice. After going ghost for the last five years, the Top Dawg Entertainment MC is back on his bully. Interview: Kemet High Editors Note: This story originally appeared in the Fall 2021 issue of XXL Magazine, on stands now. Isaiah Rashad is back. Its been half a decadesince the 30-year-old Chattanooga, Tenn. native released his sophomore album, The Suns Tirade, and blessed his fans with a ruminating project. Isaiah spent a good amount of that time cooking up his third album, The House Is Burning , released in July, and parenting his three kids. The five-year gap that Isaiah took gave him a chance to restart, recalibrate and rebuild. The Top Dawg Entertainment artist admits he didnt think that many people liked me in the first place, and it took him making a return to rap to find out. The 16-song album features assists from artists like Lil Uzi Vertand Smino, plus his TDE familia Jay Rock and SZA, among others. Isaiah was once one of the rookies coming up under his fellow label signees, though now, hes established deference as a big bro to the younger acts around him. Similar to what made his presence felt on his cult classic debut LP, Cilvia Demo, The House Is Burning finds Isaiah in his position as a middle child, threading the beats produced by the likes of Kenny Beats, Kal Banx and Hollywood Cole with conceptual storytelling that would be applauded in any generation. Isaiahs signature drowsy flow fluidly connects his words like an apostrophe. Checking in from L.A., Isaiah opens up to XXL about thrusting himself back into the rap game, the sound coming from his city, setting the right tone for his children, the change in his faith and the pivotal moment he experienced with TDE. XXL: How did you find your zen when putting yourself back into the forefront? Isaiah Rashad: I trust my management. They trust me to make the songs, I trust them to put it together at the end... This is my third time doing it with TDE, with the fam. So, its like, I just got shit to do. What would you say is most different about your mindset 10 years ago compared to now? Im 30. I was 20 then. I dont even know how to compare those two people. Theyre so vastly different, but theyre like very much the same nigga. I do the same shit. I like the same kind of TV mostly. I watch less cartoons than I used to watch or the ones I watch are way more gorier. I just like darker comedy and Im OK with uncomfortable truths more. And, I get up early and I clean my room when I get up. If I did something last night, I usually fix it if I didnt fix it the night before. Im trying to cut lazy out and just work, to be honest. What was the process like of putting your new album The House Is Burning together? Its not like a magical thing for me. I really just go to the studio, make some shit and go home. Its like an ego thing versus a moment for me. Its like, I need to get this off. Or, I cant think about other shit I be thinking about because I got these raps I want to hear or this beat Ive been holding onto. So, its like clearing out my head. Only seldom does it turn into going to work to do some shit. I just be needing to do this shit. Whats the Chattanooga, Tenn. hip-hop scene like now and how is it different from when you were coming up? Chattanooga, Tenn. grew my appreciation of what I would call the local sound and counterculture rap where I started to understand that every city or every state has a distinctive sound versus necessarily the radio. So, I think it reflects sonically some of that shit. But, its like, pureness. It sounds like people are rapping for their friends and not for the world. I try to make sure that my shit sounds like that no matter how expanded shit goes. Which artists have you been bumping lately? Everybody. I listen to a lot of shit. I keep listening to this nigga Cico P Tampa. I dont know why that shit so hard to me. Of course, like Kodak and shit. I been listening to Billie Eilish.I been listening to Vince new project. I been actually listening to Biabefore the shit with Nicki . I went back and tried to listen to Savage Mode 2 because I thought I missed something. And just everything, dawg. A lot of Boosie, just going back on that type of shit. When Ive been here in L.A., that shit made me feel like back home. But you know, Keem, Lil Baby shit like that. I listen to Lil Keed. I like Lil Keed a lot. A lot of Thugga . A lot of Gunna. You have this affinity for R&B as well as hip-hop. Who are some of your favorite artists of all time? Anthony Hamilton, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Im a huge Usher fan, Isaac HayesHot Buttered Soul, thats a really good album. James Brown. Bootsy Collins, Rick James, all of them. I listen to a lot of muthafuckas. My absolute favorite, though, is Frankie Beverly. Why is that? My mom and my grandma. Is that how you got your Read more