Isaiah Rashad

Isaiah Rashad Joel McClain is an American rapper and singer from Chattanooga, Tennessee, whose early national exposure came through the 2012 Smoker's Club Tour alongside Juicy J, Joey Bada$$ and Smoke DZA. Born May 16, 1991, he began taking rap seriously as a high-school sophomore, working with friends in Chattanooga before reaching a wider audience.

Rashad is a founding member of TheHouse, the Chattanooga hip-hop collective formed with YGTUT, Michael Da Vinci, also known as MikeyD, Chris P and Brian Brown. He and YGTUT released his first mixtape, Welcome to the Game, also known as Pieces of a Kid, in 2013. That same year, Rashad signed with Top Dawg Entertainment, the Carson, California label that released his debut EP, Cilvia Demo, in 2014.

Cilvia Demo earned universal acclaim, became Rashad's first release to enter the Billboard 200, and led to his inclusion in XXL Magazine's 2014 Annual Freshman Class. The EP featured fellow Top Dawg Entertainment artists SZA, Jay Rock and ScHoolboy Q. Its songs also addressed struggles that Rashad later described in connection with depression and drug addiction.

His debut studio album, The Sun's Tirade, arrived on September 2, 2016. It was met with continued praise and peaked at number 17 on the Billboard 200. The record included appearances from Zacari, Kendrick Lamar and SZA, with Mike WiLL Made-It among its producers. In 2018, Rashad said he was working on another album, though he later said he wouldn't provide updates on its progress.

Rashad signed with Warner Bros. Records for his second album and major-label debut, The House Is Burning, released in 2021 after a lengthy delay. Following another five-year hiatus, he released his third studio album, It's Been Awful, in May 2026. The album was met with critical acclaim.