Isaiah Rashad is the newest member of Top Dawg Entertainment headed by other Hip hop artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, ScHoolboy Q, and Ab-Soul. TDE is releasing six different projects this year, The Cilvia Demo being one of them. Does Rashad live up to the TDE name? Well, we'll find out in his first EP officially.
Hereditary
My daddy taught me how to drink the pain away, my daddy taught me how to lease (leave) somebody
I like this intro which is usually more than you can say for more hip hop intros so that's a +1. Opening the demo with a few lines about his father's negative influence on him.
Webbie Flow (U Like)
Baby can you sucky on my dick, I know it's big enough
Well my hope for this has faded within that opening line...but the songs continues as Rashad detailing sex with a girl, its okay. Not the best follow up.
Cilvia Demo
The title track of the demo has some great lines in it overall.
Be cool for a minute, '93 'Til be cool for Emmett
This might be my favorite track.
R.I.P Kevin Miller
Named after the late brother of Master P., Isaiah almost takes a flow similar to P. Also throwin' some shout outs to Outkast. Can't argue with that.
Ronnie Drake feat. SZA
Hearing a woman sing she has love for her bitches, strippers, and hoes is a little unnerving but the message here is a good one in that we are all human at the end of the day. Sung in a deep tone by TDE member SZA. I really like this track in particular.
West Savannah feat. SZA
Following the same sound and tone as Ronnie Drake is the West Savannah also featuring SZA. In this song Isaiah is in love with a girl and feeling a love he's felt before in life. With a name dropped Outkast album and I have to +1 it for that. You must be trying to get on my good, it's working.
Soliloquy
Soliloquy has one sole verse and he does this one verse decently well. This track is reminiscent of Acid Rap for me with him spewing random thoughts like Chance the Rapper on Juice. It's not great by any means but it's a solid addition in.
Tough as Conan this is the art of the Barbarian
Tranquility
Maybe the most complex song of the entire EP we have Tranquility. Relating to Brutus and Caesar saying we give someone like a Caesar a hard time but a Brutus our full support. it's something to think about.
Menthol feat. Jean Deaux
Actually taking a slight shot at Lil Wayne in this track telling him to step his game up, the world can agree with that. But Menthol is about Isaiah meeting another girl who's broken in Romance just like him and they both find something in each other or at least hope to. Better than the past few entries.
Modest
With Modest we follow into a different flow for Rashad, and I'd be lying if I said it isn't mildly irritating. He sounds like a generic trap rapper for the first few bars but he goes back to his normal flow and the song picks back up.
Heavenly Father
Similar to Bitch, Don't Kill my Vibe Isaiah talks about some new found fame and how he's handling it. Also detailing his past cutting himself. It's a great song, the best track up to this point by far.
They be callin' doctors for myself, and 'no' is kinda hard to say to drugs cause i been having problems with myself
Banana
Some weed and sex talk surround Banana and he pulls off another great track despite of some fucking guys shouting "YEAH, YEAH!!" in the background.
Brad Jordan feat. Michael Da Vinci
Named after and dedicated to Hip hop legend of the South, Scarface. This is meant to be a tribute to deep mannerisms done in Scarface's lyrics most notably songs like Mind's Playin' Tricks on Me and I'm Dea but I don't really feel that in this song like i would feel from big Face. Da Vinci puts in decent work here too.
Shot U Down feat. Jay Rock and ScHoolboy Q (Remix)
I can't even describe what Isaiah sounds like here almost like he's drunk and chewing on cotton at the same time for the opening verse. Jay Rock drops my favorite verse on the track and Q puts in the business too. Very, very solid ending to the debut of TDE's newest member.
The Highlights:
Heavenly Father
Shot U Down feat. Jay Rock and ScHoolboy Q
The Lowlight:
Webbie Flow
The Gem:
Tranquility
Is it Worth a Purchase?
Given this seems to be download only, should you buy it? Well Rashad has a very scatter brain like flow but he brings a lot of intelligence to his lyrics. His awkward flows either grow on you or agitate you. This tape draws similarity to good kid, m.A.A.d city in some ways. There's a lot of solid material but I don't think it's a future classic like his fans seem to be building it as. If you decide to pick it up, there's worse ways to spend your money. Very tight production and It's not a bad buy. Just a step below my standard for TDE's new wave.
Overall Grade: B
Until Next Time, One Love.
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