Isaiah Rashad's Confessions

"It was 2013, and Rashad was a twenty-two-year-old rapper from Chattanooga, Tennessee, who was just starting to build an audience. The review came from Kendrick Lamar, who was on his way to becoming perhaps the most acclaimed rapper of all time. Even then, Lamar generally avoided public pronouncements, so people paid attention when he posted a brief commendation on his Twitter page. The tweet read, simply, “ Raw Talent,” and included a link to “Shot U Down,” a new track by Rashad, which made it clear why Lamar was so excited."

"The rhymes arrive in a joyful cascade of syllables, muscularly enunciated: “They ain't popping shot, these niggas is Papa Doc / Fine as the shine, beam me up, and I'm riding Spock.” (In this couplet, “Papa Doc” is the wannabe gangster rapper from “8 Mile,” rather than the former Haitian President.) In the song's music video, which landed two days after Lamar's tweet, Rashad prowls and poses his way through a boarded-up housing project in East Chattanooga, looking a lot like an emerging hip-hop star."

"In some ways, Rashad has fulfilled that promise. He is signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, known as T.D.E., the record label that nurtured Lamar, and he just released his third or fourth album (the first was officially a demo), which earned admiring reviews and drew a long line of fans to a storefront on Broadway, downtown, where Rashad was selling merchandise. The fans were, of course, thrilled to get a few seconds with a rapper they loved, although many of them had sad stories to share."

"“It's always, 'Somebody died,' or, 'My homie passed away and loved your shit, so I'll buy a CD for him,' ” Rashad told me. He is grateful for these interactions, and is in no way surpri"

In 2013, a 22-year-old rapper from Chattanooga, Tennessee, received a brief public commendation from Kendrick Lamar. Lamar posted “Raw Talent” and linked to “Shot U Down,” a track whose lyrics and video presented Rashad as an emerging hip-hop star. Over time, Rashad fulfilled early promise by signing to Top Dawg Entertainment and releasing multiple albums that attracted strong reviews and fans. Fans lined up to buy merchandise, often sharing personal losses and stories of loved ones who connected with his music. Rashad valued these interactions and described gratitude for the conversations that accompanied sales. His career progress has been accompanied by increasing personal complexity.

Read at The New Yorker