Isaiah Rashad

Isaiah Rashad Joel McClain (born May 16, 1991) is an American rapper.

Isaiah Rashad Joel McClain was born on May 16, 1991, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

He was raised primarily by his mother, who is a hairdresser.

When he was young, Rashad's father would let him stay up late while they listened to Too $hort and Scarface.

His father left the family when Rashad was three.

Rashad briefly had ambitions of becoming a preacher.

After his stepbrother lent him a copy of OutKast's ATLiens in junior high, Rashad started spending most of his time rapping.

In his youth, Isaiah's mother and stepfather were part of the Five-Percent Nation and he recounts going to a mosque with them.

Rashad first began rapping seriously in tenth grade, while he and his friends would record on laptops.

At one point, the first stage name he used was Zay Taylor.

After high school, he went to Middle Tennessee State University.

Then his friend who went to school for music production introduced Rashad to a friend who had a recording studio.

As it turned out, the man happened to be his cousin and he let Rashad record there for free.

Once his cousin moved on to a different job, Rashad bounced around a couple of local studios.

He stopped going to school and lived wherever he could record.

He began getting industry connects, forging relationships with DJ Z from DJBooth.net and Jeff Weiss who writes for Rolling Stone.

His mainstream breakthrough followed after his performances on the 2012 Smoker's Club Tour alongside rappers Juicy J, Joey Badass and Smoke DZA.

He is a founding member of the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based hip hop collective The House along with fellow Chattanooga rappers YGTUT, Michael Da Vinci (MikeyD), Chris P, and Brian Brown.

From that his music began getting passed around to various A&R's. From July 13 to August 23, 2012, Isaiah Rashad toured with Juicy J, Joey Badass and Smoke DZA among others, on the 2012 Smoker's Club Tour.

In December 2012, Rashad began getting attention from various record labels, most of which he showed no interest in.

He also released many free singles on SoundCloud using beats from well known producers such as MF Doom and Flying Lotus, which helped increase his popularity.

In March 2013, McClain signed to the Carson, California-based record label Top Dawg Entertainment.

In March 2013, Rashad met production team Digi+Phonics' Dave Free, who then introduced him to Anthony Tiffith, the CEO of Carson, California-based independent record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE).

On June 3, 2013, it was reported that Rashad was the recent buzz about signing to Top Dawg Entertainment, home to rappers such as Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and Jay Rock.

However, the label did not release an official statement.

Over the following months the label and Rashad remained coy about the signing, not confirming anything.

Then on September 20, 2013, Top Dawg Entertainment made the signing official with Top Dawg announcing it over Twitter.

However, he revealed he had been signed to the label since March.

Following the signing, Rashad moved to Los Angeles, California, and began living and recording at the TDE Red Room Studio.

To celebrate the signing announcement, a music video for a new song titled "Shot You Down" was released.

It was his first new song released in over a year.

The video had been recently shot in his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

On October 1, 2013, a video was released of Rashad signing his contract with TDE.

On October 15, 2013, Isaiah Rashad made his national television debut when he participated in the TDE Cypher during the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards, alongside his label-mates Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, ScHoolboy Q and Jay Rock.

XXL praised the verse as strong, even through the high pressure Rashad had to impress the masses.

Entertainment Weekly also praised his verse during the cypher.

In January 2014, he released his debut extended play (EP), Cilvia Demo to widespread critical acclaim, also marking his first entry on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

This foresaw McClain's inclusion on the 2014 XXL Freshman cover issue.

In September 2016, he released his debut studio album, The Sun's Tirade, to further wider acclaim and further commercial success—peaking at number 17 on the Billboard 200.

Preceding a series of public controversies, McClain released his long-delayed second album, The House Is Burning in July 2021, as his first major label project with Warner Records.