INTERVIEW: Isaiah Rashad Talks 'It's Been Awful,' M.O.M, Sobriety & Career Journeys, Sexuality; Sex-Tape Leak + More

Summary

The Breakfast Club – Interview with Isaiah Rashad

Episode Date: May 5, 2026
Podcast: The Breakfast Club (The Black Effect Podcast Network & iHeartPodcasts)
Hosts: Charlamagne Tha God, DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious (Lauren LaRosa sitting in)
Guest: Isaiah Rashad

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Episode Overview

This episode features an in-depth conversation with rapper Isaiah Rashad, diving into his new album “It’s Been Awful”, his personal journey through addiction and sobriety, the impact of his sex-tape leak, explorations of masculinity and sexuality, family dynamics, healing, and resilience. Throughout, Isaiah Rashad shares candidly about his struggles and growth, offering vulnerability and insight into issues often left unspoken in hip hop and Black culture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Album Title & The Meaning of “It’s Been Awful”

• The title is described as a confession, a culmination of his experiences navigating the music industry, public scrutiny, and his personal challenges.
• Isaiah Rashad:
  “I went through some shit to an extent, but it was, you know, between being an artist and the expectations of that, and I guess my deconstruction of my masculinity has been a lot of getting to know myself.” – [03:52]

2. Navigating Sexuality, the Sex-Tape Leak, and Public Disclosure

• On his experience as a bisexual Black man:
  “They don't make a manual for being like, a bisexual black dude, you know, or any of that type of shit.” – [05:02]
• Rashad shares how the leak forced him to confront narratives about himself and take control of his story, noting both the pain and blessing of its aftermath:
  “I'm blessed to how everything happened with me and the reception of everything because it allowed me to, like, step back and really re-examine what I was doing....I put myself in a irresponsible situation for anybody to be able to control my narrative.” – [04:25]
• On public versus private healing:
  Charlamagne: “I don't like when things like that happen to people, because I feel like your personal life is yours to unpack when you want to unpack it.” – [06:18]

3. Masculinity, Family, and Healing

• Talks openly about family discussions regarding his sexuality, and how his friends knew before his mother.
• On family conversations:
  “My homeboys, like, they know everything about me, my brothers.” – [07:57]
• Culture’s reaction and internal masculinity deconstruction:
  “The main thing was, like, what was masculinity to me. It made me confront a lot of stuff that I was saying about women and a lot of stuff. A lot of ways I was expressing myself that was really coming just from a place of insecurity.” – [07:09]

4. Addiction, Sobriety, and Generational Cycles

• Honesty about addiction:
  Rashad identifies as being in recovery and discusses his relationship with substances, family predisposition, and ongoing maintenance.
  “I go to AA and shit, bro. And I'm comfortable with being called a junkie from another junkie... It's just how I'm genetically built too, you know what I mean?” – [13:53]
• Charlamagne and the hosts share their own family histories of addiction, emphasizing the importance of awareness and discipline.

5. Environmental & Generational Impacts

• Discusses the heavy influence of environment and upbringing, specifically hypersexualization in youth and generational patterns.
  “The men that she would take me to go cheat on their wives or whatever that would... I could take what happened to me in the past or what I saw, but I got to be responsible for that, and I got to give them grace.” – [10:33]
• On hypersexualization:
  “You end up hypersexualizing your kid in a fearful, preventative type of thing. You make them worse. Low key.” – [11:34]

6. Artistic Expression & Album Creation

• Rashad describes the creative process behind It’s Been Awful, the thematic approach (“underground radio”), and brotherly collaboration (his brother produced half the album).
• Referenced tracks: Act Normal, Happy Hour, Do I Look High, Get To Know You, Nothing to Hide.
• “A message of resilience for sure. But it's just for my junkies out there, my addicts... it's my hug back.” – [27:15]

7. The Sex-Tape Incident: Response & Aftermath

• Personal impact:
  Rashad details his initial shock, family and label reactions, and long-term perspective.
  “If you don't fuck up my bread, I'd be straight. Be all right.” – [25:05]
• On industry reaction:
  “I don't know. I ain't seen nobody in five years... There were no difference on that.” – [26:00]
• Discusses internet negativity and how most people only see it if they look for it.
  “What's crazy is you won't see negativity unless you seek it out.” – [55:29]

8. Resilience and Responsibility

• Rashad frames his journey as a source of strength for listeners facing addiction, mental health struggles, or identity challenges.
• “My music is my opportunity to hug people, you know? I mean, it's the closest I can get to, like, ministry.” – [27:55]
• He states that healing takes more than music: “I had to cut out being a know it all sometimes and just, you know, the one thing I gotta do is quit smoking weed... maintaining myself is the main thing.” – [39:35]

9. Evolving Views on Masculinity, Relationships, & Power

• Rashad discusses the transformation in how he sees relationships, power dynamics, and intimacy:
  “It made me really re-examine how I treat people... Stop fucking with people I don't really fuck with because I'm abusing them by doing that, to a certain degree.” – [42:18]
• Speaks to the transactional nature of music industry relationships and being honest about his feelings.

10. Owning One’s Story & The Cost of Vulnerability

• On being a role model for “the little niggas who need to hear it,” Rashad says:
  “That's the only people I owe is the people, you know, in the ministry. That's really it.” – [55:07]
• The importance of not letting a single incident (“setback”) become his identity:
  “That's not my identity. It's just something that happened. And I feel like how I behave with it, it determines more than anything else.” – [38:39]

11. Legacy, Message, Acceptance

• Rashad comments on legacy and the ongoing evolution of hip hop regarding sexuality and vulnerability.
• On moving the culture forward:
  “I think it was predated a little bit when we was with Frank and the... Tyler did and all that kind of shit... I just hit it in a nice little soft cushion.” – [56:56]
• Core message:
  “Buy my album so I can take care of my family... It's been awful. The bills are high, the government's weird... do something positive for your mental. And either you gonna love it and feel seen, or you gonna put it up until you need it, but it's gonna come back around.” – [60:07]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I put myself in an irresponsible situation for anybody to be able to control my narrative.” – Isaiah Rashad [04:25]
• “They don't make a manual for being like, a bisexual black dude.” – Isaiah Rashad [05:02]
• “Real men cry. Real men feel things and real men question themselves.” – Isaiah Rashad [12:29]
• “My music is my opportunity to hug people, you know? I mean, it's the closest I can get to, like, ministry.” – Isaiah Rashad [27:55]
• “This is the best project ever made. And if that shit wouldn't happen, who knows if me and my brother would be working together in this capacity?” – Isaiah Rashad [39:04]
• “That's not my identity. It's just something that happened. And I feel like how I behave with it, it determines more than anything else.” – Isaiah Rashad [38:39]
• “The main thing I gotta do is quit smoking weed...maintaining myself is the main thing.” – Isaiah Rashad [39:35]
• “For every action, there's a reaction in my life.” – Isaiah Rashad [62:21]
• “You are who you are.” – Charlamagne Tha God [59:59]
• “Buy my album so I can take care of my family... It's been awful. The bills are high, the government's weird.” – Isaiah Rashad [60:07]

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Key Timestamps

• [03:52] – Album title “It’s Been Awful” discussed
• [04:25] – On public vs. private processing of his sexuality
• [05:02] – Experience as a bisexual Black man
• [06:18] – On being forced to explain oneself publicly
• [12:29] – What masculinity and manhood truly mean to Isaiah
• [13:53] – Discussion of addiction, AA, and family predisposition
• [25:05] – Sex-tape fallout story: Rashad’s immediate reaction
• [27:15] – “Message of resilience” and support for others in struggle
• [39:04] – On turning adversity into collaboration and inspiration
• [55:07] – Serving as a mentor/role-model for vulnerable youth
• [60:07] – Final takeaway: legacy, survival, and the album’s purpose

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Episode Tone & Flow

The conversation is raw, candid, and sometimes humorous despite the heavy topics. The hosts and Rashad crack jokes—even in discussions about addiction or sexuality—but always return to empathy, honesty, and real talk. There’s a spirit of vulnerability, emotional intelligence, and mutual understanding throughout.

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Conclusion

Isaiah Rashad’s interview is a therapeutic, insightful journey through personal and artistic evolution. The episode covers deep challenges—addiction, public humiliation, family wounds, masculinity, sexuality—while championing self-reflection, acceptance, and creative healing. Both Rashad and the hosts frame this openness not as a burden but as essential ministry for listeners facing their own battles.

Charlamagne Tha God: “I respect anybody who's not afraid to be who they are. Yeah. That is it. Like, I don't. I don't care. You know what I'm saying?” – [58:25]

Isaiah Rashad: “You are who you are.” – [60:00]

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For Further Listening

Listen to the full episode for more on Isaiah Rashad’s journey, detailed track stories, and his hopes for the next generation—plus some trademark Breakfast Club banter.

Transcript

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[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hold up.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Every day I wake up.

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Wake your ass up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The Breakfast Club. Do y' all finished or y' all done? Yep, it's the World's most dangerous morning show. The Breakfast Club, Charlamagne, Tha God, DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Envy and Jess on here. But Lauren LaRosa is. And we got a special guest in the building. He's got a new album out. It's been aw. The good brother, Isaiah Rashad. How are you, sir?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I'm great, man.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

How you feeling, man?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I feel good.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Skin looking luxurious.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I'm trying to follow you.

[Host 1]

Oh, no. He had to go through too much for that.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Look, I'm on the same shit. I did a whole bunch of bad shaving in college and stuff. I've been having to do laser and all this other stuff.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Chemical pension.

[Host 1]

Do you get your eyebrows done? You get your eyebrows done? Cause he does.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I do not get my eyebrows done.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I was born like this.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You said that. Me, too. The haters don't even listen to her.

[Host 1]

He goes through a lot.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And y' all act like men can't do maintenance on themselves.

[Host 1]

You can, but you be not trying. You be running from it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who be running from what?

[Host 1]

You always tell me you don't get your. That's.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't get my eyebrows.

[Host 1]

Welcome the conversation.

[Isaiah Rashad]

You look pretty manicured.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay. In no way, shape or form the

[Host 1]

arch at the end, right? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay, well, to be honest. Listen, no, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen. Back in the day, when I was in. I don't even think I was in high school. I think I was, like, early 20s. Some girls told me that Tupac got his eyebrows arched. And so they convinced me to get my eyebrows arched. And I think when it grew back, it just had a permanent arch.

[Host 1]

Okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's what I believe.

[Isaiah Rashad]

That's a good way to look at it.

[Host 1]

It's the truth.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What, you mean it's been awful?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What's. What's been awful? Isaiah Rashad. Because when I hear the album title and I listen to the album, but really the album title, it sounds like a confession, like. Like, what's been awful? The industry, your personal life.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I mean, an amalgamation of everything. You know, I'm just. I'm just a human being at the end of it. You know, I went through some shit to an extent, but it was, you know, between being an artist and the expectations of that, and I guess my deconstruction of my masculinity has been a lot of getting to know myself.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who had. Who deconstructed it, though? Did you deconstruct it, or did you let the court of public opinion deconstruct it? Cause I wonder, did you. Did you Face it, before that became public, or were you already dealing with it privately?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I was already dealing with a lot of my own stuff before. I guess it was. I'm blessed to how everything happened with me and the reception of everything because it allowed me to, like, step back and really re examine what I was doing. Because regardless of, you know, how much I love myself, I still had to be like, I put myself in a irresponsible situation for anybody to be able to control my narrative. Yeah.

[Host 1]

But at the time, because listening to the project and then hearing you say that, like, you felt like it was kind of like a blessing of how everything happened. When did you get to that point? Did you instantly feel like, okay, this is a blessing?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. I mean, at some point in time, I accepted that. They don't make a manual for being like, a bisexual black dude, you know, or any of that type of shit. They don't have a. You know.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

And it was less like hiding myself from anything or more so like not knowing how to not be ostracized. You know what I mean?

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So also, you got to control your hoes, regardless if they're men or women, because who the hell was recording you? Me.

[Isaiah Rashad]

If you listen to the album. If you listen to the album, I go into a great amount of detail about where I was at and the. The influences I was under.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, you was on. You said you was on a lot of shit.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I was on everything under the Sun. But that's no excuse for the behavior. But. And that's the main thing for me was like, I'm responsible for myself, responsible for my family and all that type of shit. And that's the only if I have any regret of anything. It's just like not being ahead of it because I thought about talking about this stuff on my last album. Because all that tape shit happened before the last album came out, before House of Burn. Yeah. That's why, like, on this album, I talk about how I wasn't being honest with. I guess what I owe the most, like, is my audience because they seem to love me pretty genuinely.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't like when things like that happen to people. And I'll tell you why. Because I feel like, you know, your personal life is yours to unpack when you want to unpack it.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And I think sometimes when things like that happen, you know, publicly, you're forced to try to explain things when you may not be ready to explain them yet.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I feel like I've always been under some type of divine guidance. I grew up in A church. And, you know, I kind of grew out of wanting to go as much. But my life has definitely been led. Like, I put it, like, I feel like it's purposeful. I don't feel like I'm an artist just to make money. Like, I'm here to affect change in some type of way. So I feel like, you know, it happened, it was supposed to happen, and my life is better for it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Did that moment break you or free you or both?

[Isaiah Rashad]

It's a little bit of both at the same time. You notice anytime you don't get the control how you want to, you know, how you want to introduce. Yeah, yeah. You perceive. And again, it was like, me understanding again, like, what was for. The main thing was, like, what was masculinity to me. It made me confront a lot of stuff that I was saying about women and a lot of stuff. A lot of ways I was expressing myself that was really coming just from a place of insecurity, you know? I mean, I feel like I've gotten a love myself a little better. And my family, man, we way better. Open conversations. We were pretty open before, but now it's like, all on the table all the time.

[Host 1]

Had you had talked to your family, like, your mom and different people before all of this stuff? Cause you said you were kind of dealing with it.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, I definitely like my homeboys more than my mom. I talked to my homeboys about everything I was going through. So they were the ones who released. Like, they was like, what the fuck are you doing? Like, why are you. You know? But my homeboys, like, they know everything about me, my brothers. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, so they knew beforehand.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. You know, you have conversations on tour just in life, and, like, especially when we was drinking all this type of stuff, you end up talking to your homeboys like, bro, I gotta talk to you about duh duh. And they be like, all right. And so when you like that, it's more so, you know, respecting my own privacy to my life. It was just being irresponsible with, you know, being under this shit and allowing things to go out.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

My only thing was why you had to let Dr. Umar down, though. Why they had to be white. Like, why?

[Isaiah Rashad]

What are you talking about?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

On the table, I saw.

[Isaiah Rashad]

How can I let. I don't know. Dr. Umar probably will fuck with me anyway.

[Host 1]

It's cool.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Respect to that, brother.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Do you feel like the culture gave you grace, or were you forced to heal in public whether you wanted to or not?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I feel like if you listen to my music on the back half of it, it's always been kind of fluid. You know, it's always been pretty emotionally emotion. Emotional and romantic and, you know, and everything that rap usually isn't on the front. On the front. On the front side of it. Yeah. So I feel like it was. Prepare for it. I live in a pretty whimsical life anyway, how people perceive me, you know, So I feel like only people who are upset with people who viewed me just because I'm like. I don't know how to put it, like, more feminine. That they were surprised. And that was the whole deconstruction thing of, like, what does that mean to me? Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Did it make you realize that the Illuminati not real? Because, you know, they say when you get in the industry, you got to do strange things and then you blow up. They told me, like, Drake level. If that's the case, I heard that

[Isaiah Rashad]

I passed my own humiliation. They told me I got another 10 years off that. So, you know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, I love the Act Normal record, too.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Thank you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know what I'm saying? Cause you talk about how your whole family was sex addicts, and I don't think we don't have enough.

[Isaiah Rashad]

You listen to this shit, you think

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'll just have you up here to talk to you about, hey, man, sex addicts. We got.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Nah, pre. No, no. That's cold. That's an important record for me because

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I feel like we don't have enough conversations about environment and how environment shapes us. Men don't have enough conversations about their formative years and how those formative years turn us into the people that we become. And sometimes we got to unlearn a lot of that.

[Isaiah Rashad]

You know, that's been a main thing. It's been the heaviest thing, like. And to do it without blaming. To do it and realize that the men that she would take me to go cheat on their wives or whatever that would. I would call, you know, my uncles or whomever, and my. My dad or whatever. They. When I look at their fathers and the lack in their lives, it's like, I can't. I can only be so upset. You know what I'm saying? I. I could take what happened to me in the past or what I saw, but I got to be responsible for that, and I got to give them grace because, you know, they don't. A lot of them don't have the same opportunities to see the world and experience it. As open as I am to have the growth. So, you know, it's my responsibility to at least Give them that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But what's crazy is you talking to. You talk on the record about how when you was 12, you know, they said, you want to see some nasty shit and your daddy kept his stash. So they basically were showing you things. A lot of times guys show the sons that.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Because they don't want their sons to end up.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. You end up hyper. Hypersexualizing your kid in a fearful, preventative type of thing. You make them worse. Low key. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Did y' all have. So when you finally. When you came out, did you have a conversation with those men that introduced you to that? They.

[Isaiah Rashad]

My uncle passed. My. I don't really talk to my dad, so no. But I talked to the men who's still in my life about it. Luckily, most of them are pretty positive influences. But it was good to just talk about what happened to. To people I look up to.

[Host 1]

Did they understand when you went back, like, having that conversation, Are they understanding or are they just positive? Because they know me.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Just knew, like they. They know. Exactly. But they were like, this isn't that surprising.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What did this experience teach you about masculinity, especially in a genre that rewards a certain image of what a man is supposed to be? It.

[Isaiah Rashad]

What did it teach me? I guess, like, the most. Most characteristics that are pushed are like, negative, you know, the promiscuous nature and how that's promoted. And being cold. Being a good dad isn't like, promoted. Being, like, responsible isn't promoted. Being a leader of your community without having to. Without getting the accolades. Just being a leader via motion and how you treat people. That's not really there. And real men cry. Real men. You know what I mean? Real men cry. Real men feel things and real men question themselves. But to go through life is like just sure of yourself and. And being. And coming off invincible could just lead a kid down the wrong way, feeling like he gotta insulate himself from that type of character, you know? I mean. So. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So what are. What are your superpowers? That's another record I like on that.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Oh, man. I got crazy empathy. And as a somebody who's a. Who's in constant recovery. Like I said, I mess up. I'm not perfect. Nobody know a junkie like a junkie, bro. Man, I feel like that's what I'm here for.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You feel like he was a junkie. I know.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I go to AA and shit, bro. And I'm comfortable with being called a junkie from another junkie. Don't you don't. If you ain't never did drugs. Don't talk to me about it. But if you an alcoholic, like just cause I don't drink today, I'm still an alcoholic. Like, you know what I mean? That's some shit that's gonna stay with me for the rest of my life. And it's just how I'm genetically built too, you know what I mean?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You come from a family of em.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, I'm already, you know, predisposed to it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, my mom used to tell me that all the time. My mom used to always tell me and my brother watch that alcohol because you know, alcoholism runs in both sides of your family.

[Host 1]

My mom be saying that to me too, and my grandma.

[Isaiah Rashad]

It's real.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You an alcoholic?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I can't handle my liquor.

[Host 1]

I try to be a lot more disciplined now. Like, I do challenge myself. Like I'll fast, I'll set days and times just to make sure that I can control it a bit. Because you. You get to like socially doing it so much and then you start depending on it for certain things, like, oh, I gotta take a shot before I do this. And. And then once you get around people that will call it out, like, he be on me. And then I started to notice, like, all right, well let me try and challenge myself to like not. Cause I would come in here in the morning and be like, yo, I need like two shots before the show start.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

Just to feel like really as hell.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You see what I'm saying?

[Host 1]

And wouldn't give two, you know what I mean? But even like I'm thinking about college. Like we would drink before we went to class.

[Isaiah Rashad]

That was a drink too.

[Host 1]

And I thought regular because it's college. And then you get in real life and you like.

[Isaiah Rashad]

But college ain't real. Real life.

[Host 1]

It's like a simulator.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. It's a bubble.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. I felt the same way. Yeah.

[Dr. Maya Shankar]

On.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So what do you think you were trying to run from or escape when you was getting drunk? Like, what, was you numbing yourself to something?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, definitely, man. I got without. You know, I don't like going down my. The list of stuff, but you know, I have unresolved parental stuff on both ends. Like respect to my relationship with me and my mom. We still have stuff to work out and you know, I just. My father's stuff. I feel I don't like getting too heavy into it. In my 30s I'm like, handle that versus complaining about that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't think it's complaining.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. But that, you know, and then just substance Going from college, I immediately, like, I got signed when I was 21, so. And getting signed and. And getting thrust into this world, especially then during the blog era, was just. And partying was normal. Like, we used to. In college, we used to drink Everclear and set it on fire.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Damn.

[Host 1]

No.

[Isaiah Rashad]

For fun.

[Host 1]

That was a challenge. When you first got to my college, like, if you could drink it and get through it, your first thirsty Thursday, like, you had. It was kind of like almost like

[Charlamagne Tha God]

a hazing just hearing the word everclib.

[Isaiah Rashad]

We was doing that. We was doing that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And Cardi 151 Jaeger.

[Host 1]

What school did you go to?

[Isaiah Rashad]

MTSU. Middle Tennessee State University.

[Host 1]

I was so off of that. Right. On superpower. I mean, not super power. On happy hour. That's the. You do, like, the radio skit. Yeah, right. So you do the radio skit. Then you talk about your addiction. You talk about your mom and how she's, like, crying and still not helping. And. Are you. Tell me if I'm wrong. Are you comparing what you're experiencing in the entertainment industry, like, that being your escapism, but then also comparing that to, like, drug use being your escapism, too, and how both of them are kind of like, feeding the fire?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Oh, happy hour.

[Host 1]

Yeah. Because I thought I'm like, why bring in. Why Started with, like, the radio and, like, the. You know, unless you're signaling, like, oh,

[Isaiah Rashad]

I just be making shit.

[Host 1]

Oh, okay.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, I just be making stuff. A lot of stuff that I do isn't necessarily, like, planned. They just. I have patterns that I recognize, and I'm like, well, this will sound good on the same project together. But the radio theme was just something I wanted to do anyway. I've always been interested in radio because

[Host 1]

I heard that part. And then I just. The name of it, I'm like, it's because.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Not to cut you off, but it's because of the variety in the album.

[Host 1]

Got you.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Is like, to set it up thematically. Because I don't really do concept albums, but it's like. It's an underground radio. It's a smorgasbord of different kinds of sounds. So it was like, that got you. And it's just. It set me up pretty good. When I heard the Beat doing that, it's easy for me to come up with shit off that.

[Host 1]

How is Mom? You talk a lot about her on the album, but you start out. I know she's on the. She's on the final.

[Isaiah Rashad]

She just. She just went back to Tennessee. She was out In Cali with me last week.

[Host 1]

Okay.

[Isaiah Rashad]

She's working with special needs kids.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We good, Man, I love the acronym you have from man on a Mission, right?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You made me think you got a Ghost Rider, man.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I'll be writing this. I'll be. I write this, man. I just be doing it in passing. It's writing is just kind of second nature for me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Why that acronym? Why you? You're the man on a mission. Why is that, Mom?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I just thought it was cool.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Okay. Yeah, it's now you. I guess I can make it deeper. It was just cool and it. I was the first verse. I kind of talk about my mom a little bit, so it was like that, and I just thought it looked cooler than a man on a mission.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Do you have a deep mother wound?

[Isaiah Rashad]

No, not like deep. I think it's. I empathize with my mom's desire to have changed her life at some point where, like, when she see what we. We do or like. My brother produced most of this album.

[Host 1]

Oh, that's so funny.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Tim right there. He produced half of it. I empathize with her desire to. You know, she kind of. I know she wished she could have done different things after, Especially after seeing what we've been capable of doing, which is determination. So I empathize on that. I wouldn't say I have, like, a crazy mother woman. I have a desire to take care of her, though, more than I. I used to. I didn't used to feel like I needed to besides, like, helping pay bills that I needed to take care of. But now I do. I feel like it's my responsibility to take care on this ride with me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Who took care of you the last five years?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Him.

[Host 1]

Your brother?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, he my sober buddy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Was it. What else kept you away, or were you just working the whole time? I was working. Okay.

[Isaiah Rashad]

The first, like, after we put out, you know, all this shit happened, like, right when I put out an album, like, right after. So I was still in the rotation of a creative drought to an extent, but it definitely, like, refueled me to just talk about my shit, every aspect of it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

How did. How did your team at TDE show up for you during that time?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Brandon was just like, don't start wearing purses. That was it. He was like. He was like, I love you, nigga. Just don't. Don't come up here wearing purses.

[Host 1]

Straight men wear purses.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I got a big ass back right there right now. Yeah, I still. But, you know, who am I? I can't speak on straight.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, you

[Isaiah Rashad]

are.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, I don't know, man. I don't know.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I feel like. I feel like how much like, you know, like a ship. Like if the. The. Like if you bought a ship and then you change the sail and then you change the floor, and then you change the metal in it. Is it the same ship?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I don't think that's what you that bright. I think you can be in the ship, but it's a different path. So you can be going straight, then veer off to the left a little bit when you want to.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I feel like I am. I am my experiences more than anything. Yeah, you know, same thing with anything else.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The reason I asked about tde, because Q was on the album real brief, right?

[Isaiah Rashad]

No, no, he. Not on this one. He just did Heavenly Promotion. No.

[Host 1]

Who's that talking to you in the car? It's your brother.

[Isaiah Rashad]

It's him.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I swear. I thought you said Q at some point. No, no, that's your brother. Oh, I don't know why I thought that was Q. Okay, okay, okay.

[Isaiah Rashad]

No Q not on it, but okay. He. He was supporting. He was talking to me the whole time about it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Do they make jokes?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Nah, they pretty. They kind of know where to draw the line.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Mac probably will next time I see him. You know, top do top will be about some shit.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What top be saying.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I can't quote that man. He just said, keep your hand out the cookie jar. I'll leave it at that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right, kids.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Keep your hand out the cookie.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, I get you.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

I was trying to understand. Oh, never mind. Maybe.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, if you know, you know.

[Host 1]

Okay. All right. Okay. Nothing. I had a nothing. You go.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Stop making this awkward, man. If you got a question, just ask the man. The man's here to have a conversation.

[Host 1]

The cookie jar. I thought cookies was for, like, the ladies.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, I mean, I thought she had something serious to say.

[Host 1]

No, that's what I'm thinking about. Like, keeping it out of the cookie jar. But they always be like the cookie, like the punini, you know? But why you can't be there.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You like cookies, too.

[Host 1]

I know. That's what I was trying to say. And I don't understand why you can't have your hand in the cookie jar then.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Just don't be greedy. Don't be greedy. Don't be out here doing shit, putting yourself in compromising situations just cause you.

[Host 1]

Cause you are who you are.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Faded and horny like. Don't do that.

[Host 1]

You know what I Mean, but you don't be faded like that no more. For real. Right. Cause you want to go Journey.

[Isaiah Rashad]

No, no. But it's still, you know.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Addict Going attic man. I'll be having to talk to people every day and, like, do a lot of personal maintenance. That was another thing about even doing, like, the media stuff that it was like. I didn't want to sound like a broken record, but I did lie last time I did my media stuff. I did act like I was okay, and I wasn't.

[Host 1]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But that's what I mean about having to heal in public. Like, I don't think that's fair to anybody.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, but like Prince said, like, you signed up for this.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Did you, though? I don't know if you did.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I kind of you. I mean, just because you didn't know, you didn't do all the studying that you were supposed to do to know what could and couldn't happen. You signed up for it, but I

[Host 1]

don't know if you could study enough to avoid what happened to you because you were in a different space. Like, you are. You're, you know, you're doing. You're doing drugs, you're doing these different things. So you're not thinking as, like, straight as you.

[Isaiah Rashad]

You still responsible for yourself.

[Host 1]

Very much true.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. Regardless, you're still responsible for yourself.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think about how so many of our greats probably died depressed, you know, dealing with high levels of anxiety, probably were driven to do more drugs and more drinks because they couldn't be free to be who they were. Yeah, I think that's more of a prison than anything. I think that's more of an indictment of us than it is them.

[Isaiah Rashad]

It's, you know, man, the black spaces are so at their best, like, so beautiful and so celebratory of everybody. But at the same time, there are pretty rigid rules. It's pretty archaic stuff that, you know, and nobody wants to be ostracized. You know, at the end of it, I think that's really it. And we just slowly. We slow to change on the front. But black people, it's a million versions of us with community and with love. I feel like it's just the mainstream idea of black. That takes a while.

[Host 1]

You were. When everything happened, you were in a relationship at the time, Right. Are you still in a relationship now?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I'm not talking about my personal life.

[Host 1]

We were getting real personal.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I'm not talking about dating at all.

[Host 1]

No more. I get you. I was only wondering because at the time when it happened, I just wondered how it affected.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Oh, man. She was pissed. She was pissed that it was. Yeah, she was just pissed that it was out. She was like, what was like, why are you recording that? And I'm like, I don't even remember that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Damn.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, I was sitting there. You ever been to Zaxby's?

[Host 1]

Yeah, I was sitting.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, I was sitting in Zaxby's eating a chicken salad and a fry. Don't know why I was eating them together.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That made you do all that?

[Isaiah Rashad]

No.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What?

[Host 1]

I don't know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The.

[Isaiah Rashad]

So Matt. No, that's when it happened. Matt, he called me. I was. I'm sitting eating a chicken salad. He's like, don't go online. I'm like, what? And him and Top facetime me together. And that's very rare. So I'm like, what do you mean? So I went. And I was like, oh, fuck. But it was, it was. I mean, I don't know, bro. I'm pretty. I pretty. I accept things for the most part outside of my initial reaction of like, what am I going to do? It was like, well, if you don't fuck up my bread, I'd be straight. Be all right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, listen, you weren't committing a crime. You just had your private life exposed.

[Isaiah Rashad]

But that's another thing about our community. It felt like a crime to some people. Like, so, you know, what am I to do with that?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Did the industry treat you different after that moment or was it just behind the scenes? Was it business as usual?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I don't know. I ain't seen nobody in five years. You know, on that, on like industry things, I do these rounds and then I kind of go be a little country boy afterwards. So, you know, I couldn't tell. No difference. Yeah, everybody sent the verses back. There were no difference on that.

[Host 1]

You know, you mentioned your money. Did it mess up money at all during that time?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I don't think so. We're we straight?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let's talk about that. Being from the country, because I'm from South Carolina, I don't think people give us credit for how progressive we can be.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know what I'm saying? Of course you have your. Your closed minded people, but for the

[Isaiah Rashad]

most part it's everywhere though.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, but for the most part, I'm sure you got love back in the crib.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Hella love is. It's way more positive community than people like to think. And people in the country are just curious versus closed minded. They have a desire to leave. You know, people want to see stuff, people be Proud of you. When you go do some other shit we do to get a bad rep for that type of stuff, I think,

[Host 1]

because people think, like, slower, lower. Like, the lower you go, things like slow down. So, like, people.

[Isaiah Rashad]

No, it's just priority of work. I feel like in those places, you know, it's more grounded versus being slow.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Is this album more of a cry for help or a message of resilience?

[Isaiah Rashad]

A message of resilience for sure. But it's just for my junkies out there, my addicts, and my. Or my people going through any of that type of stuff, it's a hug. It's my hug back, like, you know what I'm saying? I appreciate y' all sending messages and sending mail and stopping me in the store. And the weirdest one, the funniest one, is when an older dude come up to me in Target and be like, don't worry about the people, man. And I'm like, I'm just looking for socks, but you know what I mean? Thanks. You know what I mean? It's like that. But my music is my opportunity to hug people, you know? I mean, it's the closest I can get to, like, ministry.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Do I look high? Is that a feeling you felt before?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Do I look high right now?

[Host 1]

Really?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. Nah, I'm just bullshitting.

[Host 1]

You don't.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Nah. Yeah. I mean, that was probably the. The most personal one for me about everything I was going through.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Was it tough to write?

[Isaiah Rashad]

No, it was refreshing. Anytime I don't have a problem writing, like, honest stuff, I have a harder problem just occupying space with bullshit. I mean, being honest is easy.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And that's. That's what I got from the album. When I'm listening to the album, I'm like, he got a lot more issues than that. Sex tape. Like, sex tape? Not even. It's really. Not really an issue.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Honestly. But you got a lot of other things going on.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know. And you reference your sister a lot.

[Host 1]

Yes.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I couldn't. I didn't understand. Is she missing or. Y'. All.

[Host 1]

She's locked.

[Isaiah Rashad]

She was. She was in jail.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay. Okay.

[Isaiah Rashad]

She got out recently.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay.

[Isaiah Rashad]

But she was gone for the past, like, four or five years. And I ain't realized how much, like, not being able to talk to my sister on that level would be. And especially talking to her when she's in a pretty down situation and, like, it's hard for me to be like, shit's going great or going whatever when she's not doing well. That was a. That was a big part of it and having my connection with my sister, despite, like, my relationship with my dad is super important. All right. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What, what did. I mean, you've always been open about your. Your mental health as well. What did. What does. What did rock bottom actually look like for you? Even after everything happened with.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Oh, man. Going to shout out to the people at Thelma McMillan in Torrance, I went to outpatient for about a year. So it was like that. That's what it looked like for me. It was building myself back up and just learning to love myself and realizing, like, the re. Loving myself. Realizing the only thing I did wrong was how I did it or how I was, like, behaving. Of course the substance issues, but who I am isn't a problem. It's just sometimes how you do it ain't right

[Host 1]

on. Do I look high? You talk about loving yourself and somebody saying to you, or maybe you saying to yourself, but don't do it too much. Don't love yourself too much.

[Isaiah Rashad]

No, love yourself, but don't do too much. Like, you know what I'm saying? Don't. Don't, like, don't go overboard with all this. Basically. Really just don't get up just because you in a. In a zone of trying to immediately numb out and, and. And, you know, catch that euphoria. You know, it's more. It's on that. On that type of zone. Just don't do too much. Don't. Don't over drink. Don't overdo it. Don't over ego. Just don't do too much over.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Ego is very important. Very important. People don't talk about the ego enough. There's a great book I love that I actually recommended to everybody called Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I have to have it, Tim. Right to them.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. No, for real. It's a really, really good read. What did you learn about your ego in that moment? Because that's it. Feel like the ego would be completely stripped away from you.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

In that moment.

[Isaiah Rashad]

What I learned about my ego in that moment. Shit that it had, like, ballooned to the point that my safety wasn't a priority.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You thought you could get away with anything, man.

[Isaiah Rashad]

And I was just being a trashy person, really, honestly, like being on all that type of shit and over sharing myself. Like, I pray for anybody I've trespassed on in the past in. In those moments, anybody I've, like, offended in that, like, not being myself. And I appreciate the grace that those people in my life have given me. You know what I'M saying and forgiveness is there.

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[Isaiah Rashad]

have opinions, you can have like a

[Podcast Promo Voice]

strong stance, and then there's your body

[Host 1]

having its own program.

[Dr. Maya Shankar]

I'm Dr. Maya Shankar, a cognitive scientist and host of the podcast A Slight Change of Plans, a show about who we are and who we become when life makes other plans. We share stories and scientific insights to help us all better navigate these periods of turbulence and transformation. There is one finding that is consistent and that is that our resilience rests on our relationships.

[Host 1]

I wish that I hadn't resisted for so long the need to change.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We have to be willing to live with a kind of uncertainty that none of us likes.

[Dr. Maya Shankar]

Listen to A Slight Change of plans on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Podcast Promo Voice]

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and your twenties, they can feel like a lot on the psychology of youf 20s podcast, we unpack the the anxiety, the overthinking, the heartbreak, the identity crisis, all of it that comes with being in your 20s. Because if you've ever thought, is anybody else feeling this way? They definitely are.

[Dr. Maya Shankar]

I feel like my 20s was a process of checking off everything that I was not good at to get to what I was good at. Oftentimes we take everything a little bit too seriously and we get lost in and things that we later on decide weren't even important to us to begin with. There was a large chunk of my twenties that I like was just so wanting to like be out of that phase, out of my skin. And I just like really regret not living in the present more.

[Podcast Promo Voice]

Each week we break down the science behind what you're going through and give you real tools to navigate it. Your 20s aren't about having it all figured out. They're about understanding yourself just a little bit better. Listen to the psychology of your 20s on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jared Onno]

Hey, I'm Jared Onno. You might know me as that loud guy who yells Out Help on the Internet.

[Host 1]

Help. Somebody, please.

[Jared Onno]

But there's so much more to me than that. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sages advice and thoughtful solutions.

[Podcast Promo Voice]

Psych.

[Jared Onno]

I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Cream of chicken soup.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Hey, Cream.

[Podcast Promo Voice]

Cream of chicken soup.

[Jared Onno]

This is Help from a Hypocrite. The worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from a Hypocrite as part of the Mike Kultura Podcast Network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Host 1]

Honest between giving yourself grace for that too personally though, because like how much of that also is like addiction versus, like who you actually show up to be once you get through?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I feel like you gotta go through the process of recovery and just again like seeking therapy to forgive yourself, you know, and you gotta understand, you. You gotta understand that that kind of is still a possible version of you,

[Host 1]

you know, I get what you're saying,

[Isaiah Rashad]

so you, I don't feel like you just separate that from the person. You gotta be aware like how bad you can get.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

When did you get to the nuttin to hide phase of the story? That's another great song on now, man.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Honestly, bro. Dochi's denial is a. Is a river made me really think about how I was like, I guess was like lying by omission to just. I feel like I can't just be honest with my homeboy and be honest with this girl that I'm dating that knows everything. I'm like, if my superpower is being honest all the time. To go back to what she said, it's more of that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You remember that denial? I mean, you know the song, but you know where that came from. That came from Wendy Williams show for real. I was there. I was her co host. I know that. And this guy, this guy, this woman called in to say that her boyfriend was on the down low, but she wasn't really accepting it. So Wendy told her he's gay, he's homosexual, he likes guys basically accept it.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, yeah, it's easier for you out for your, for your Mental, just accept what's in front of you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I love. See, I love the story you telling on this album. Right. Because they go from the new sublime. The mom, the same Boys in the red Superficial, scared to look down Happy hour, do I look high? Ain't giving up get to know you cameras act normal 10 states away then nothing to hide Then once you free

[Host 1]

yourself now you got your soup now

[Charlamagne Tha God]

you got your soup out yeah, that's ill.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Thank you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I mean, of course, that's intentional.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. I got help from. From Matt and Musa, and from what I'm understanding, DOT had a hand in it. And top, they definitely convinced me to go with. Go with this track was. My track list originally was more centered around the radio thing.

[Host 1]

Okay.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I was kind of like. I wrote everything, but I was still trying to put it in a way. If you listen to it, you could either hear it or. I guess that was my.

[Host 1]

You wanted to dumb it down for people.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I guess I was just afraid of being so blunt.

[Host 1]

I feel like you weren't really as blunt. I mean, you were blunt, but I still feel like I had to listen to it, like, twice before. Like, some of the stuff you put in there very subtly or like, it's like a backtrack while you're saying other things, so you gotta hear it for real. I feel like people still really have to listen to.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Like, you read it. If you read it. I was very intentional with. And we got the lyrics in place. If you read it, it's right there. It's real bold and blunt. If you read it.

[Host 1]

I thought it was great, though. I felt like we went on a journey with you. Because when I first started listening to it, I was like, this is so dark. And like, I. I just want him to be okay. And is he okay? Is mom okay? Is sister okay? And then by the end of it, like, once you get to get to know you, it's like now you can vibe a little bit and, like, I don't know, like, it not uplift, but, like, the. The music physically, like, changes.

[Isaiah Rashad]

It's.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It.

[Isaiah Rashad]

It goes through a wave.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But also, you'd be shocked how many people who don't know what happened, bro.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know what I'm saying? So.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Which is I. With people minding their own business. I'm not mad at that. I'm never mad at that type of shit, you know, But. And it's like, that's not my identity. It's just something that happened. And I feel like the. How I behave with it, it determines More than anything else.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's a great way. I always tell people, don't let your setback become your identity. Yeah, it's a lot of people who have a. I don't even know if you would call it a setback. It was just something. It was an unfortunate situation.

[Isaiah Rashad]

For me personally, this is the best project ever made. And if that shit wouldn't happen, who knows if me and my brother would be working together in this capacity? Who knows if right now if I would probably be still sneaking and geeking, you know what I mean? Like I said, I feel like everything I do is by God's hand. And that's why it happens.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What did healing require from you that music alone couldn't fix?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Man, I had to cut out being a know it all sometimes and just, you know, the one thing I gotta do is quit smoking weed. My dude, my counselor, is like, you cool? But still, if you cut that out, your risk factor is way lower. So it's just on that, you know, maintaining myself is the main thing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Is we like a gateway to other things?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Not necessarily. Some people believe it is. I don't necessarily think it is, but I'm not a professional.

[Host 1]

You know, I was watching a sermon yesterday. Tim Ross was speaking at my church, and he has this book called the Missing Piece. And he was talking about, like, when you're in the midst of all of the, like, noise and the drama and the chaos, a lot of the things you lean on and, like, settle you during that time become the vices that you should get away from. And people use weed to do that.

[Isaiah Rashad]

It's a crutch.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

And he was saying that, like, we know that, like, weed isn't like the end all, be all. It's not horrible. But if it's something you're depending on like, that, that disrupts your peace. Because you don't get real peace until you can get past something without having to go to your thing.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Similar to what you were saying about the social drinking. For me, it's like, if I gotta change my mental or my state of body to go be around people, I don't even need to be there. Like, I don't need to be in that environment. And I haven't grown to the place that I'm ready to be there. Besides, like, you know, the challenge, you're going, but if I don't feel comfortable, no, drinking ain't gonna make it better. I'm gonna end up being friends with you for an hour and then forget about it. And then when I see you Again, you're gonna have this energy that I can't match, you know, so it's like. It's better just to be yourself.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

It is. Because. And also, I hate the anxiety of it all. I hate being around a bunch of people that I don't know.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And my mind is like, what are they thinking about me? What do they know about me? You know what I mean?

[Isaiah Rashad]

It was so crazy. And you know, like, they, you know, you probably know. They're not even thinking.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

They're not even thinking about.

[Isaiah Rashad]

You're not even considering that. And just being in your mind that much is. Can be torturous.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Tell me about boy in red with. With scissors.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Boy in red.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

He shows you a lot of love.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Oh man, that's my sister, man. It's my sister. Boy in red, man. It's really. That's another beat my brother made. But it was just some whimsical. It was some whimsical. And on top of that, I was really inspired by Princess if I was your girlfriend. That was another thing about the deconstruction. I was like, what does that mean for my relationship with women? Like, how am I supposed to like treat them in a. In a more compassionate. I feel like being in this industry or just. Just period. It'll have you kind of using people,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

you know, very transactional business.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Even if it's just like for entertainment on some, like, I only fuck with you. We just go on dates cause you cute or whatever type of shit. It made me really re examine how I treat people. And with more. Not even with more compassion. But stop fucking with people I don't really fuck with because I'm abusing them

[Charlamagne Tha God]

by doing that to a certain degree. Right.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Because I'm leading somebody on. Like, if you don't really with them and you hitting them up cause you bored, leave them to alone.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But what if this person just want to too? And this person's like, yo, Isaiah, let's hook up.

[Isaiah Rashad]

The power dynamics don't match. And you gotta recognize your power dynamic.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Even when it's two men.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Recognize your power dynamic.

[Host 1]

Is that why you say? Because one of your lyrics, you're like, if let me be your boyfriend. If I can't be your boyfriend, let me just be your girlfriend. You're talking about the fact that like, as a. As a girlfriend, like as your friend, I understand when I'm. The power dynamic is off and when I'm hurting you. And men with women normally don't do that.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I was saying on that it was more so I'll be whatever you need me to be. If I could be with you and I could. I'll cook for you, clean for you. I'll drop you off at work if you need me to. I'll go to work with you if you need me to. Like, it's like, I'll be whatever. It's very much so. Between Princess, if I was your girlfriend and then I got the title from this singer, girl in red. She has a song called I want to be a girlfriend that same. Those two songs influenced me to write that off.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So what if it's a woman, right? What if it's sza? Sza got more money, right? She's a big artist.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Then I'm gonna be a stay at home dad. That's what I'm saying.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

She's like, yo, come over. What did she say? I just want you to come over and eat this pussy real quick and then you out.

[Isaiah Rashad]

If anybody wants me to be a stay at home dad, you're down, let me know. I'm really good at it. Let me know.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

No, it won't just be any woman. No, it gotta be a woman that can make sure you good at home. Like. Like a silly, like Nia.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Nia Long or something.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You know what I'm saying?

[Host 1]

She said you got signed NDAs and you better text her back in at least in 24 hours, do all that. Mm.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I've texted back right now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So you willing to be used?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I'm willing, yeah. Use me. We here to be used.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We here.

[Isaiah Rashad]

We choose. But like, it's how. It's how do you want to be used?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I always say if you can't be used, you're useless. But don't let people misuse you.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, exactly.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yes.

[Host 1]

But I think what you long call

[Charlamagne Tha God]

you over to eat that box. That's not misused. Sir, you fine. You're perfectly okay.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, I'm fine. I'm a cook afterwards, for sure. I make a crazy crab cake. I make a crazy branzino too.

[Host 1]

What if she don't like seafood?

[Isaiah Rashad]

We make a crazy salad. We make a nuts, man. This dude make a nut salad.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's nasty. That's nasty.

[Isaiah Rashad]

You're fucking crazy. You shouldn't say a nutso salad, you know what the fuck I mean? A bean salad. A fucking bean salad.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You didn't say that. We heard. Come on, bro, we heard you.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Come on.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm just telling you what we heard.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Semen.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm telling you what we heard.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Okay, I walked into that one now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Are you in a better place now or just more honest about where you are?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Oh, man. Shit's shitty, but shit's great. I don't have, like, bills due or anything like that. And I'm on top of myself mentally today. I'll let you know tomorrow.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's a good way to look at it.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Right now. I'm okay.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

All right.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. I don't feel no tenseness in my stomach. I'm fine.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

The crazy thing is, once again, I want people to hear this project and that situation that happened with the tape, that's. That's really nothing.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Compared to the real life, personal things that you are trying to do.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. It was a symptom of the. Of everything else. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Is this album closure or just the beginning of a different version of Isaiah Rashad?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I feel like if you track me from all my projects, I've been able to, like, kind of time capsule. Time capsule. The different stages. I was in 24, 21 to 24, then 29, going on 30 to now I'm 34. You know, I feel right now how I thought I would have felt about my life and music around in my 20s. I'm, like, motivated to keep going. I wouldn't call it a different phase. It's not up to me to do that. Like, I don't look at myself in that degree. I'm just here today, I think, you

[Charlamagne Tha God]

know, as a human. When you have gone to another level,

[Isaiah Rashad]

though, this is the first time that I've enjoyed my sobriety.

[Host 1]

Wow.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wow, wow.

[Isaiah Rashad]

And the first time I could say I'm doing it for myself.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What does that feel like? What does enjoying your sobriety feel like?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Man, if it was like, at 11:45 at night, sitting in a hotel in New York, that bed looked real good. And waking up not fatigued feels real good and shit. Yeah. Like not feeling drawn, you know? Cause that's come from an emptiness. Like wanting to be entertained by people you don't know or just being out like that. To an extent, it comes from an emptiness from me when I indulge in it. So it feels good. It feels good to end my call in my day talking to him or on the phone with my kid. It feels better doing that than having a bottle of tequila. And, man, acid reflux sucks. I haven't had acid reflux in, like, almost a year, and that's a blessing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

What have you replaced those vices with? Is it exercise?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Oh, yeah. I exercise a lot.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I haven't gotten a lot of gains just because of my diet. I cut out a Lot of meat and a lot of sugar and stuff. So I'm still. Yo, you gotta stop. You gotta. You gotta stop. All right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You're doing it.

[Host 1]

Well, technically, you guys have to pause anything.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, I ain't gotta pause nothing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That is true.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, nothing's paused. Yeah, nothing's paused for me. Take it how you want to take it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let him know.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Pause. Really? We can do this.

[Host 1]

That one was wild.

[Isaiah Rashad]

We can fucking do this. Nah, but, you know, it's been maintaining. Myself, I definitely work out. I work out every day. We do a lot of journaling. He paints. My little brother is a fucking battery for me. Of influence. He's the most. I don't know. I just don't want to see my little nigga cry standing over me, passed out on my couch. I don't want to see that no more.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Did he. Did he, like. Was he the energy you needed to make this album?

[Isaiah Rashad]

He slowed me down.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay.

[Isaiah Rashad]

More. Anything. Yeah. So he was definitely like, nah, we ain't doing that. I ain't going there. Like, he's definitely slowed me down. I needed that. And again, everything happens. I believe divinely for me.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Absolutely. Did pain make this album better, or did it just make it feel more necessary?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Pain was just the honesty. It was just true. Pain just existed. I don't know if it made it better. I hate that we have to channel the darkest shit for entertainment. I don't like to think that. I like to think that hopefully my next project's better than this and it doesn't have to be as, you know, heavy. But it was necessary, and it was a step that was taken.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So I don't know if that's our fault. Like, I think about that often. Like, you play with the cards you're dealt, right?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

If you dealt with trauma. But then God also gives you this gift of whether it's entertainment or comedy,

[Isaiah Rashad]

whatever it is, black entertainment at its highest usually is rewarded for being fucking sad.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

We go through some sad.

[Isaiah Rashad]

We go through some sad.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Like, you can't. You can't get a. We gonna be all right if.

[Isaiah Rashad]

If we are.

[Host 1]

I think, too, the reason why it's, like, people tap into it so much is because a lot of times we breeze past the things that we really going through. So when somebody take a minute to actually sit down and do a project, like what you've done.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

They like, oh, wow. Someone's finally, like, doing it.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Like, you need somebody to talk to.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

And for some people, that is.

[Host 1]

That's that, like, you breeze past, you Said, I don't want my brother standing over me crying, but making. Waking me up, like, not sober. And you said that just so, like, just move on to the next thing. And I'm like. I looked at him because I'm like, oh, my God. Hearing that I have a little brother, I can't imagine how I would feel as the older sibling and how that would hurt me. But you have been through it. You just. It's just something you just go through, I think.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I mean, that's. I think it's something built. I think it's like. I wouldn't call that another superpower, but I don't compartmentalize as much as it would sound. But maybe I do. That's. Maybe I take some unpacking too. But, yeah, I don't think. I guess that's how my mind is set up, really. It's. I take things for how it is, and I don't. And I don't question it too much. I'm like, oh, that's bad. Him crying. Tim cry back. Don't need to think too hard about

[Charlamagne Tha God]

that, you know, I mean, that's the power. Because you don't want to hurt the people who love you.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. Especially people who. I know. I know he deal with his own. But I'm like, this is a pretty godly upstanding person, you know, or at least attempts to be. And it's good to have that kind of measurement of a personal realm.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Was there anything on this album that you were scared to say out loud? Nah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Besides thinking, like, a lot. A handful of my friends. A handful of people on top of my own shit. It was just talking about act normal. Like my friends, moms being gay and shit. It was like a lot of our friends, moms and people in our families came out after we were out of high school. And so it's not just black dudes. It's like, it's the women, too. It was that and the passive aggressiveness of seeing a woman in an unhappy relationship and just doing it just because of what the expectation of not just being a man, but what to be a woman in the black society is, you know, again, to not be ostracized. So you might want kids, but you don't want a man. You might want to experience that or even, you know, same same way on the other end. Somebody might want kids and don't want a wife or whatever this is. Understanding that I was mostly nervous about, like, having a conversation with somebody. I haven't had one, but, like, maybe with.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

With the person you was rapping about or just in general. Okay, okay. Have you had it yet?

[Isaiah Rashad]

No, no. I don't even get caught on to it, which is cool.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Not really. Because it sounds to me like you want to have the conversation.

[Isaiah Rashad]

No, I want people to be okay. I ain't gotta talk to me about nothing.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Gotcha. Gotcha.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I just want everybody to be okay. You know, Again, this is. This is. Despite the subject matter, to me, this

[Charlamagne Tha God]

is ministry, you know, the biggest thing that we can do for each other as people stop acting like everything is so black and white. That's why I hate social media so much. Because we take these complex things.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And try to make them A or B, right or wrong.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Because we try to debate it instead of understanding it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And it might not be meant to understood. It might just be meant to talk.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Talk about.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You might understand exactly what you're going through and it might not be up for nobody else to understand.

[Host 1]

But once it's online, then. But the issue is, though. But once it's online, then people are debating and trying to fake understand.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Some people feel what public opinion.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Once you do that. And that's the gift and curse of the Internet.

[Host 1]

And that's too. Like when. Every time. Like when you said, I signed up for this, and he's like, no, you didn't. I feel like it's a difference in, like the age groups as well.

[Isaiah Rashad]

For sure. Feel like.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Like I knew what I was getting into. Like I didn't know the possibilities of everything, but I for sure knew, you know, we were on the same issue.

[Host 1]

Yeah. I feel like you gotta take what comes with it to a certain.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Hold on.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let's be clear. How old are you?

[Isaiah Rashad]

How old are you?

[Host 1]

34.

[Isaiah Rashad]

You the same age?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Oh, okay. I thought you were

[Host 1]

so mad. He's so mad it didn't work. Cause he's, you know, he predates the Internet.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm 47. Yes. I want to make.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I've been peeping him.

[Host 1]

Yeah. That's kind of crazy, right?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, I've been. I grew up with him.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I appreciate that.

[Host 1]

Same. But the reason I say that is because, like, he is so far in his career that, like, I feel like he doesn't. They have the privilege to be like, I didn't sign up for that and I'm not going to do that today. And we can do that. But, like, it's so different for us. Sometimes they didn't have Wikipedia or people doing TikTok reviews. And you be like, no, I'm good.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

But here's the thing. I don't care what your sexuality is. That's my point. So it really does not matter. Is the music jamming? If this album was whack, I would be saying how this album is whack. And it's not because of some sex.

[Host 1]

But you're older and you're evolved and

[Charlamagne Tha God]

you have sense is turn your phone off.

[Host 1]

Then, like, if everybody could be that, like, the rationale could be there. It would be so much less of a lot of things, you know, you really.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm not joking. You owe nobody no explanation. If you choose to cool. But you really don't only do it

[Isaiah Rashad]

for the little niggas. Who, man. Thanks, bro.

[Host 1]

Need to hear it.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, like, bro, I really. That's the only people I owe is the people, you know, in the ministry. That's really it.

[Host 1]

And that's the hard spot. Cause it's like, when you're vulnerable like you are, people connect to you and they need it. But at the same time, you got the people on the other side. And some people run away from being vulnerable because of that.

[Isaiah Rashad]

What's crazy is you won't see negativity unless you seek it out.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Turn your phone off.

[Isaiah Rashad]

And then, and then if somebody is negative enough to hop in my comment section, they really just like me. You really like me a lot. So it's like, just do, just deal with your insecurities on your own. And I'll be here when you're, when you're done.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You gonna put that tape out. Entice them guys. They might have seen what you was doing.

[Isaiah Rashad]

That shit was not sexy. That shit was not sexy. That shit killed my stock like a motherfucker.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Be honest. How many people was in your DMs, like, Yo, what's up?

[Isaiah Rashad]

It was a lot.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

See what I'm saying?

[Isaiah Rashad]

But then it's like, it's like, nobody, nobody's that attractive when they coming at you on that end of your life, you know?

[Host 1]

They're like, it wasn't nobody that you like. Well, they sent their number, so let me at least just.

[Isaiah Rashad]

No,

[Charlamagne Tha God]

you mind your ass off.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Maybe.

[Host 1]

Yeah, it'd be somebody. Yo, if you need something, hear my number.

[Isaiah Rashad]

The past. Yeah, the past. A lot of makeup artists hit me up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I'm like, okay, listen, I, I love it.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Gave me an opportunity to expand my audience, though. Musically, it's like, oh, you like this? So we, we everywhere with it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I, I, I wonder, because hip hop is gonna always struggle with conversations around sexuality, vulnerability, masculinity. Do you think what you went through moved the culture forward in any way.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I mean, I think it was predated a little bit when we was with Frank and the. The Tyler did and all that kind of shit. And then I feel like you just gotta not go out, like back in the day. I shouldn't have said that.

[Host 1]

Whoa.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I shouldn't have said that. But how the Internet did that.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. You know, that was. That looked crazy, but you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah, that's you. That. You kind of had that same.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. Like, it was like we was 15 years past that. So, you know, I think I was. I just hit it in a nice little soft cushion. My bad, bro. I ain't even mean to bring up your shit like that. That was wrong.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Me. I'll edit it. We'll edit it. Oh, bless it. You don't need to cause people unnecessary pain.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Oh, yeah?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

That's nice.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. When. When people look back at this chapter of your life, what do you hope they understand that headlines got wrong?

[Isaiah Rashad]

I don't think people look back at this chapter like that after everything that's going on. Like, this is to be a book note. And I feel like it's not that surprising. If you know my music and you've seen me, I'm like, if I wasn't already gay, I was hella affectionate, you know, Like, I'm hella like, you know, so I ain't tripping on that shit. I am who I am. I'm here. You know, I don't know too many motherfuckers with just four projects who done been up here and been seeing you for the past 15 years. So I'm here doing something for somebody.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I respect anybody who's not afraid to be who they are. Yeah. That is it. Like, I don't. I don't care. You know what I'm saying? And I'm sure there's a bunch of other people that feel that way, too.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I think most people. We all. We all got somebody in our family, you know what I'm saying? To some extent of who's bi, gay, or somewhere in between or transitioning or whatever. So. Yes. And it's like, not even to make it a thing. It's like you're. I don't know, on a scientific level, you're very much predisposed if you come from a broken home to have some type of sex or curiosity. It's on paper. It might be wrong, but yeah, hella.

[Host 1]

Because you're searching for a need for something.

[Isaiah Rashad]

It's just the dynamics of relationships. I Was like, you know, if you. If you only grew up around women, you know, some of your habits or if you only grew up around men, some of your habits and how you view things. A girl, that group that was raised by men, you can't be surprised when she start liking girls.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Hold on, say that again.

[Isaiah Rashad]

A girl that was raised by men, you can't be mad or surprised when she starts liking girls.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I think it's just something. Yeah, like you said, predispose. I just think it's biological. I don't know if it's.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I think it's a combination. Some people are some shit's nurture, some shit's nature, and some of it's a combination. And it's not up to me to determine that should take up too much of my life besides just being okay with it.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

You are who you are.

[Isaiah Rashad]

You are. You are.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

So what's the moral of the story, man? From everything you've been through, Is it fame, exposure, healing, all of it? What is it?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Buy my album so I can take care of my family?

[Host 1]

Exactly.

[Isaiah Rashad]

It's been awful. It's been awful. The bills are high, the government's weird, they want to take parks away from people and a whole bunch of other shit that I don't have to get into because I don't get paid to do that. But definitely, just buy the album, man. Buy the album. It'll do something nice for you, do something positive for your mental. And either you gonna love it and feel seen, or you gonna put it up until you need it, but it's gonna come back around.

[Host 1]

And it can go with the vinyls too. Website.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah, you can get all the alternative vinyls.

[Host 1]

That one, I love this one with your mom. This is the one I'm with.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. The one with me and my mom at my grandma's house. Me and my manager Matt shot that one at the Bicentennial Library in Chattanooga. It's a library me and my mom went to when I was a kid when she was studying for a degree. So a lot of this stuff is really personal. And then this is one of our really good friends, Steve Harrington. He designed this for us. And it's an animated version of the story of syphisis pushing a boulder up the hill. That was kind of. That was originally what my cover was supposed to be.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Okay.

[Isaiah Rashad]

So somebody told me it's too expensive.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

That's how you felt? You felt like synthesis?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Explain that story for people who don't remember.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Don't do, man. I barely remember too now.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Let's look it up.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Because I. Yeah, yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Now you got me. I'm like, oh. You know, I heard the story.

[Isaiah Rashad]

I was between the story of Syphacus and, like, using something like Atlas. But then I felt like that was too egotistical to think I really had to have the world on my shoulders. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Syphacus Boulder. What was the story? Yeah. The mythosyphesis who was condemned by the gods to roll a massive boulder up a hill for eternity, only for it to roll back down each time.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wow.

[Host 1]

Oh, I can see. I got it. I'm here. And it's back into different things.

[Isaiah Rashad]

The weight of it all.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

And he was punished for his extreme hubris, thinking himself better than the gods, and his tendency, the trick death. His punishment is a popular symbol of futile, repetitive, and frustrating tasks.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah.

[Host 1]

You feel like the bad things that happen to you in life are punishment.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Why not choice?

[Isaiah Rashad]

Punishment for my actions. Yeah.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Punishment for poor choices.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Yeah. Punishment for choice. Yeah. I feel like God directly if I said something about you that came from a place of me, like hubris or ego. I'm likely to like my foot up when I leave out of here, and I don't even know how or I'll lose some. It happens. For every action, there's a reaction in my life.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

I saw. I saw how you felt that immediately when you mentioned dude's name just now a little while ago. Immediately you wanted to correct me.

[Isaiah Rashad]

That's wrong. I'm like, who am I? Who am I to do that?

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah.

[Isaiah Rashad]

It's not right.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Yeah. It's been awful, man. Isaiah, Rashad, it's been a pleasure at least to talk to you.

[Host 1]

Thank you. All right.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Go get the album. It's been awful. Everywhere you buy music now, it's the Breakfast Club. Hold up.

[Isaiah Rashad]

Every day I wake up.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club.

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[Podcast Promo Voice]

20s can be so exciting, but they can also be really overwhelming, confusing, and honestly, just kind of lonely. May is mental. Health Awareness Month and the psychology of your twenties is breaking down the science behind the biggest roadblocks we face.

[Dr. Maya Shankar]

I was six years into my career, the 80 hour weeks and just the first one in, the last one out and I ended up burning out. There was a large chunk of my twenties that I like was just so wanting to like be out of that phase, out of my skin. And I just like really regret not living in the present more.

[Podcast Promo Voice]

You don't need to have everything figured out right now. You just need to understand yourself a little bit better. Listen to the psychology of your 20s on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dr. Maya Shankar]

This season on Dear Chelsea with me, Chelsea Handler, we have some fantastic guests like Emilia Clark.

[Isaiah Rashad]

When like young people come up to

[Host 1]

me and they want to be an

[Isaiah Rashad]

actor or whatever, my first thing is

[Dr. Maya Shankar]

always can you think of anything else

[Isaiah Rashad]

that you can do?

[Host 1]

Rather be because pointed in do that.

[Isaiah Rashad]

David Oyelowo I love this podcast. Whether it's therapy or relationships or religion or sex or addiction or you just go straight for the guts.

[Dr. Maya Shankar]

Dennis Leary, Gaten Matarazzo from Stranger Things, Tana Mongeau, Camilla Marone, Carrie, Kenny Silver and more. Listen to these episodes of Dear Chelsea on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Charlamagne Tha God]

If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Portia accusing Kelly of sleeping with a married man.

[Isaiah Rashad]

They holding K. Michelle back from fighting. Drew Pinky has financial issues on the

[Charlamagne Tha God]

podcast Reality with the King I, Carlos King recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances and the tea everybody's talking about. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the king on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[Host 1]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.