Five years after The House Is Burning, Isaiah Rashad returns with IT’S BEEN AWFUL, a 16-track descent into his own psyche. Released via TDE and Warner Records, this 54-minute project acts as a raw diary. It strips away the polished layers of modern hip-hop to expose his struggles with substance abuse, intimacy, and mental burnout.
The album functions as a melancholic, slow-burning dream state. It shifts Rashad’s signature Southern bounce toward a hazy fusion of alt-pop and bedroom-pop. The introductory track, THE NEW SUBLIME, immediately establishes this grim, atmospheric universe. Rashad’s delivery is famously laid-back, but here it carries a heavier, more exhausted weight. On AIN’T GIVIN’ UP, which brilliantly samples Khruangbin, he confronts his rehab stints with jarring honesty.
While past projects relied heavily on a vibrant community of TDE vocalists, this record belongs strictly to Isaiah. The guest features are highly selective and deeply integrated. SZA injects a deceptively upbeat energy into BOY IN RED, offering a brief sonic contrast. Meanwhile, Dominic Fike provides ethereal, melodic backing on CAMERAS, enhancing the album’s floating, detached texture.
However, the record’s greatest strength is also its main flaw. By diving so deep into a singular mood, the pacing occasionally stalls. The production by KTC and Julian Sintonia is cohesive, but certain middle tracks blur together into a sonic fog. This structural drift is what polarized critics, leading to mixed reviews like Slant Magazine’s harsh critique.
Ultimately, IT’S BEEN AWFUL is not built for radio playlists or casual listening. It is a dense, deeply therapeutic body of work meant to be absorbed in the dark. It proves that Isaiah Rashad remains one of rap’s most fascinatingly vulnerable poets, even when his world is crumbling.
Notre note : 7.0 / 10