{"id":1922291,"date":"2026-05-07T07:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T04:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1922291"},"modified":"2026-05-07T07:00:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T04:00:36","slug":"isaiah-rashad-its-been-awful-review-woozy-wounded-and-bruisingly-honest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1922291","title":{"rendered":"Isaiah Rashad \u2013 \u2018It\u2019s Been Awful\u2019 review: woozy, wounded and bruisingly honest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Isaiah-Rashad-credit-Christopher-Parsons.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"template-id-3332206\" class=\"post-3332206 tdb_templates type-tdb_templates status-publish post\">\n<div id=\"tdi_65\" class=\"tdc-zone\">\n<div class=\"tdc_zone tdi_66  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div id=\"tdi_67\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_68  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_70  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_71 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_71\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"442\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Isaiah-Rashad-credit-Christopher-Parsons-696x442.jpg\" alt=\"isaiah rashad it's been awful review\" title=\"Isaiah Rashad credit Christopher Parsons\"><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">Isaiah Rashad. Credit: Christopher Parsons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_72\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_73  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_75  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_breadcrumbs tdi_76 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-breadcrumbs \" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_76\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span>Reviews<\/span><span>Album Reviews<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_title tdi_77 tdb-single-title td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_77\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Isaiah Rashad \u2013 \u2018It\u2019s Been Awful\u2019 review: woozy, wounded and bruisingly honest<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_78 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_78\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>On album three, the Chattanooga rapper shows that even when life gets in the way, his talents still shine through<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_review_overall tdi_79 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_79\">\n<table class=\"td-review td-fix-index\">\n<tr class=\"td-review-footer rate_stars\">\n<td class=\"td-review-score\">\n<div class=\"td-review-overall\">\n<div class=\"td-review-final-score\">4<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_80 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_80\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span> Luke Morgan Britton<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_81 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_81\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-05-07T08:00:36+01:00\">7th May 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_82\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_83  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_85  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Isaiah Rashad\u2019s new album title is hardly subtle: \u2018It\u2019s Been Awful\u2019. Then again, his records have always been frank about life\u2019s tough moments. From acclaimed 2016 debut \u2018The Sun\u2019s Tirade\u2019 to 2021\u2019s \u2018The House Is Burning\u2019, Rashad has long been the quiet outlier of Top Dawg Entertainment: woozy, moody and unwaveringly introspective, blending laidback Southern rap with neo-soul and jazz while continuously mining introspective terrain his labelmates only occasionally touched.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: Villanelle are becoming rock\u2019n\u2019roll stars in their own grungy image<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>His last album followed a tumultuous stretch of homelessness and rehab, and after another five-year wait, Rashad\u2019s third full-length arrives out of an equally bruising period: relapses, family fractures and an abrupt loss of privacy after a 2022 sex tape leak. Opening track \u2018The New Sublime\u2019 addresses all of this headfirst: <i>\u201cFeel afflicted, falling over \/ Ask me who I\u2019m fucking, I been fucking up\u201d<\/i>. It goes on to detail anxieties around sobriety and his sister\u2019s return to prison, and the ripple effect felt by everyone around him.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Throughout the record, Rashad\u2019s continued struggles with addiction run deep. <i>\u201cThe pills, the blow, the \u2018yac, the top,\u201d<\/i> he raps on the A$AP Rocky and Skepta-indebted standout \u2018Same Sh!t\u2019, flipping classic Lil Jon bars. \u2018M.O.M\u2019 sees him telling himself to not do a line, only to <i>\u201cpop two\u201d<\/i> pills instead. Elsewhere, he lays bare the physical toll of substance abuse with unflinching honesty: <i>\u201cThe doctor say that shit been fucking with my heart \/ but I can\u2019t barely sleep \/ chasing money, love and all of the amphetamines.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Isaiah Rashad - SAME SH!T (Official Video)\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z_8vbppalKo?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>\u2018Act Normal\u2019 opens an entirely different wound, tracing cycles of inherited pain through family lines (<i>\u201cAcquired secrets \/ Learned to be the best at it\u201d<\/i>), while \u2018Do I Look High?\u2019 pulls back the curtain even further: <i>\u201cLast time that I told you that I was clean, I was lying \/ I\u2019m praying that my sister makes it home by Christmas morning.\u201d<\/i> Some may find the emotional unburdening heavy going, but it\u2019s Rashad\u2019s stark specificity that makes the lyrics cut through.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not all darkness, though. Rashad has prefaced the album with the idea that music holds a transcendent power, and he seems unwilling to be buried by his burdens. Citing Prince and OutKast as touchstones, the record has a sun-damaged feel that envelopes the darker material without washing it out. \u2018Supaficial\u2019 bursts with trumpet flourishes as Rashad drawls: <i>\u201cWhere you going? You a junkie, you been way outside.\u201d<\/i> On \u2018Happy Hour\u2019, he makes a singalong out of lines like <i>\u201cMy side giving up on love \/ I want some more drank\u201d<\/i>, delivered over a tranquilised piano line. When it lands \u2013 and it often does \u2013 it sounds like Southern rap filtered through a roof-down, summer-drive R&amp;B haze.<\/p>\n<p>On penultimate track \u2018Superpwrs\u2019, Rashad laments: <i>\u201cHow I get sober, fucked up, then clean again, I don\u2019t know\u201d<\/i>, before adding, with a wry self-awareness, <i>\u201cHow you be rapping circles around n****s, but you don\u2019t drop, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/i> His talents have never been in question, life has simply, repeatedly, gotten in the way. On the evidence of \u2018It\u2019s Been Awful\u2019, nobody should be sleeping on Isaiah Rashad any longer.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Details<\/strong><\/h3>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3782516 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/isaiah-rashad-its-been-awful-album-art.jpg\" alt=\"Isaiah Rashad It's Been Awful review\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Record label:<\/strong> Loma Vista Recordings<\/li>\n<li><strong>Release date:<\/strong> October 17, 2025<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_tags tdi_87 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_87\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<ul class=\"tdb-tags\">\n<li><span>Related Topics<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Hip-hop<\/li>\n<li>Isaiah Rashad<\/li>\n<li>Rap<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_88\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_89  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_91  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_93  vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_95  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"vc_column-inner\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_97 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>More Stories<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap td_flex_block_1 tdi_98 td-pb-border-top td_module_flex_1--card td_module_flex_1--card--highlight td_block_template_2 tdc-no-posts td_flex_block\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_98\">\n<div id=\"tdi_98\" class=\"td_block_inner td-mc1-wrap\">\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Kanye West claims that \u201ca lot of people try to take advantage of me\u201d at copyright trial<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Posters for Kneecap\u2019s \u2018Fenian\u2019 had to be censored after TfL refused to allow them<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Kneecap in race for UK Number One album ahead of Melanie C and Michael Jackson<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">\u201cSnubbed\u201d musicians seek $500k from Kanye West in \u2018Hurricane\u2019 copyright infringement trial<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">M.I.A. responds to Kid Cudi tour cancellation: \u201cDo not gas light my words, that is the work of Satan\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Kid Cudi drops M.I.A. as tour opener after \u201coffensive remarks\u201d at previous shows<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_99\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_100  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_102  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_104 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>You May Also Like<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/article>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Isaiah Rashad\u2019s new album title is hardly subtle: \u2018It\u2019s Been Awful\u2019. Then again, his records have always been frank about life\u2019s tough moments. From acclaimed 2016 debut \u2018The Sun\u2019s Tirade\u2019 to 2021\u2019s \u2018The House Is Burning\u2019, Rashad has long been the quiet outlier of Top Dawg Entertainment: woozy, moody and unwaveringly introspective, blending laidback Southern rap with neo-soul and jazz while continuously mining introspective terrain his labelmates only occasionally touched.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: Villanelle are becoming rock\u2019n\u2019roll stars in their own grungy image<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>His last album followed a tumultuous stretch of homelessness and rehab, and after another five-year wait, Rashad\u2019s third full-length arrives out of an equally bruising period: relapses, family fractures and an abrupt loss of privacy after a 2022 sex tape leak. Opening track \u2018The New Sublime\u2019 addresses all of this headfirst: <i>\u201cFeel afflicted, falling over \/ Ask me who I\u2019m fucking, I been fucking up\u201d<\/i>. It goes on to detail anxieties around sobriety and his sister\u2019s return to prison, and the ripple effect felt by everyone around him.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Throughout the record, Rashad\u2019s continued struggles with addiction run deep. <i>\u201cThe pills, the blow, the \u2018yac, the top,\u201d<\/i> he raps on the A$AP Rocky and Skepta-indebted standout \u2018Same Sh!t\u2019, flipping classic Lil Jon bars. \u2018M.O.M\u2019 sees him telling himself to not do a line, only to <i>\u201cpop two\u201d<\/i> pills instead. Elsewhere, he lays bare the physical toll of substance abuse with unflinching honesty: <i>\u201cThe doctor say that shit been fucking with my heart \/ but I can\u2019t barely sleep \/ chasing money, love and all of the amphetamines.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Isaiah Rashad - SAME SH!T (Official Video)\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z_8vbppalKo?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>\u2018Act Normal\u2019 opens an entirely different wound, tracing cycles of inherited pain through family lines (<i>\u201cAcquired secrets \/ Learned to be the best at it\u201d<\/i>), while \u2018Do I Look High?\u2019 pulls back the curtain even further: <i>\u201cLast time that I told you that I was clean, I was lying \/ I\u2019m praying that my sister makes it home by Christmas morning.\u201d<\/i> Some may find the emotional unburdening heavy going, but it\u2019s Rashad\u2019s stark specificity that makes the lyrics cut through.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not all darkness, though. Rashad has prefaced the album with the idea that music holds a transcendent power, and he seems unwilling to be buried by his burdens. Citing Prince and OutKast as touchstones, the record has a sun-damaged feel that envelopes the darker material without washing it out. \u2018Supaficial\u2019 bursts with trumpet flourishes as Rashad drawls: <i>\u201cWhere you going? You a junkie, you been way outside.\u201d<\/i> On \u2018Happy Hour\u2019, he makes a singalong out of lines like <i>\u201cMy side giving up on love \/ I want some more drank\u201d<\/i>, delivered over a tranquilised piano line. When it lands \u2013 and it often does \u2013 it sounds like Southern rap filtered through a roof-down, summer-drive R&amp;B haze.<\/p>\n<p>On penultimate track \u2018Superpwrs\u2019, Rashad laments: <i>\u201cHow I get sober, fucked up, then clean again, I don\u2019t know\u201d<\/i>, before adding, with a wry self-awareness, <i>\u201cHow you be rapping circles around n****s, but you don\u2019t drop, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/i> His talents have never been in question, life has simply, repeatedly, gotten in the way. On the evidence of \u2018It\u2019s Been Awful\u2019, nobody should be sleeping on Isaiah Rashad any longer.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Details<\/strong><\/h3>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3782516 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/isaiah-rashad-its-been-awful-album-art.jpg\" alt=\"Isaiah Rashad It's Been Awful review\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\"><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Record label:<\/strong> Loma Vista Recordings<\/li>\n<li><strong>Release date:<\/strong> October 17, 2025<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/reviews\/album\/isaiah-rashad-its-been-awful-review-3944230&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Isaiah-Rashad-credit-Christopher-Parsons.jpg&#8221;] Isaiah Rashad. Credit: Christopher Parsons ReviewsAlbum Reviews Isaiah Rashad \u2013 \u2018It\u2019s Been Awful\u2019 review: woozy, wounded and bruisingly honest On album three, the Chattanooga rapper shows that even when life gets in the way, his talents still shine through 4 By Luke Morgan Britton 7th May 2026 Isaiah Rashad\u2019s new album title [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,78],"class_list":["post-1922291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nme-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1922291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1922291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1922291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1922291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1922291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}