The House Is Burning (album)

The House Is Burning is the second studio album by American rapper Isaiah Rashad. It was released on July 30, 2021, by Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) and Warner Records. The album features production from numerous producers, including Devin Malik, Hollywood Cole, J. Lbs and Kenny Beats, among others. Guest appearances include frequent collaborators and labelmates Jay Rock and SZA, as well as Lil Uzi Vert, Duke Deuce, Smino, Amindi, 6lack, and others.

The House Is Burning
Studio album by Isaiah Rashad
Released	July 30, 2021
Genre	Southern hip hop[1] jazz rap R&B[2]
Length	48:26
Label	TDE Warner
Producer	Rory Behr Beat Butcha Crooklin Free P Hollywood Cole J. Lbs Amaire Johnson Kal Banx Kenny Beats Devin Malik Pete (Scum) Nebula Tiggi Henry Was Wu10
Isaiah Rashad chronology
The Sun's Tirade (2016) The House Is Burning (2021)
Singles from The House Is Burning
"Lay wit Ya" Released: May 7, 2021 "Headshots (4r da Locals)" Released: June 18, 2021 "Wat U Sed" Released: July 23, 2021 "From the Garden" Released: July 29, 2021

On November 19, 2021, the deluxe edition titled Homies Begged was released, including guest appearances from Project Pat, Juicy J, Young Nudy, and Deante' Hitchcock.^[3]

Background

Rashad first spoke of his plans for a follow-up to his second studio album The Sun's Tirade (2016) through a series of tweets in October 2017.^[4] He revealed the album's title via an Instagram Live session in May 2019, almost two years after its initial announcement.^[5][6] During this period, he would tease the album further, playing snippets from its recordings through various social media posts and livestreams, until April 22, 2020, when he released his first single in four years, "Why Worry", as part of a promotional event held by Top Dawg Entertainment.^[7]

Rashad spoke about what the album meant to him in an interview with Rolling Stone, saying:

It's like a scenario that you either can lay down with the flames or die from trying to hold on to material things and shit like that, or you can get out in a timely manner. And if it all burns down, you still going to try to figure it out, right? Because if not, you might as well just lay in that motherfucker. You got to start over. Shit, sometimes you got to start over two, three, four times, man. Five times, six times. It's just that type of shit. That's all it means. You got to have encouraged thinking.^[8]

In an interview with GQ, Rashad stated he wants listeners to "walk away and be like, 'Damn, he's good at making a lot of different stuff.' If you've been a part of this shit, I'd want you to be like, 'Damn, he gave me a good update on his life and he’s still giving me stuff that's going to help me during my day when I'm going through my own shit.'"^[9]

Release and promotion

In a May 2021 interview for The Fader, Rashad announced that the album was scheduled to be released sometime in June.^[10] A few days later on May 7, he released the album's lead single, "Lay wit Ya", featuring a guest appearance from rapper Duke Deuce, and accompanied by a music video directed by Omar Jones. The song's credits on digital platforms also revealed that he had signed a joint venture deal with Warner Records. On June 18, Rashad released the album's second single, "Headshots (4r da Locals)", alongside a music video for it directed by Jack Begert and Mez Heirs six days later. On July 7, Rashad revealed the album's cover art and confirmed its July 30 release date through social media.^[11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	82/100[12]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Clash	9/10[13]
Pitchfork	7.6/10[14]

The House Is Burning received acclaim from music critics upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 82, based on 7 reviews.

Track listing

The House Is Burning track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Darkseid"	Isaiah McClain Devin Williams Eliot Dubock	Devin Malik Beat Butcha	2:07
2.	"From the Garden" (featuring Lil Uzi Vert)	McClain Symere Woods Kalon Berry Keanu Torres Solal Tong Cuong Freddie Jefferson III	Kal Banx Keanu Beats[c] Banshee the Great[c]	3:09
3.	"RIP Young"	McClain Berry Patrick Houston Paul Beauregard Jordan Houston Jorge Barreiro	Kal Banx	2:38
4.	"Lay wit Ya" (featuring Duke Deuce)	McClain Patavious Isom Kameron Cole Beauregard J. Houston James Johnson Jr. LeRoi Johnson	Hollywood Cole	3:22
5.	"Claymore" (featuring Smino)	McClain Christopher Smith Jr. Berry Jason Pounds Benjamin Tolbert	Kal Banx J. Lbs Groove[a]	3:06
6.	"Headshots (4r da Locals)"	McClain Cole Henry Fagenson Piero Piccioni	Hollywood Cole Henry Was	3:13
7.	"All Herb" (featuring Amindi)	McClain Amindi Frost Williams	Devin Malik	3:44
8.	"Hey Mista"	McClain Berry	Kal Banx	1:56
9.	"True Story" (featuring Jay Rock and Jay Worthy)	McClain Johnny McKinzie Jr. James Sidhoo Williams Kelvin Wooten	Malik Wu10	3:47
10.	"Wat U Sed" (featuring Doechii and Kal Banx)	McClain Jaylah Hickmon Berry Amaire Johnson Rory Behr	Johnson Behr Kal Banx[a]	2:57
11.	"Don't Shoot"	McClain Berry Behr	Kal Banx Behr	2:21
12.	"Chad" (featuring YGTUT)	McClain Kevin Adams Jr. Williams Berry Sam Yun	Malik Kal Banx[a]	2:40
13.	"9-3 Freestyle"	McClain Williams Berry	Malik	1:46
14.	"Score" (featuring SZA and 6lack)	McClain Kenneth Blume III Berry Solana Rowe Ricardo Valentine Jr.	Kenny Beats Kal Banx[a]	3:21
15.	"THIB"	McClain Jefferson Calvin Tarvin Melissa Elliott Timothy Mosley Margaret Peebles Bernard Miller Donald Bryant Robert Barnett Patrick Brown Thomas Callaway Cameron Gipp William Knighton Jr. Raymon Murray Rico Wade	Free P Tiggi	2:35
16.	"HB2U"	McClain Russell Scott-Wood Tyran Donaldson II Berry Behr William Stewart II	Crooklin Pete (Scum) Nebula Kal Banx[a] Behr[a]	5:45
Total length:				48:26

The House Is Burning (Homies Begged) track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
17.	"RIP Young (Remix)" (featuring Project Pat and Juicy J; remix)	McClain Patrick Houston Jordan Houston III Berry Barreiro	Kal Banx	3:00
18.	"Deep Blue" (featuring Young Nudy and Kal Banx)	McClain Quantavious Thomas Berry Behr Jerome Temple	Kal Banx	3:11
19.	"Geordan Favors" (featuring Deante' Hitchcock)	McClain Deante' Hitchcock Cory Altenhofen Jefferson	CoryaYo Free P	3:13
20.	"Donuts" (featuring UMI)	McClain Tierra Wilson Desmond Sanders	D. Sanders	3:33
Total length:				60:23

Notes

• ^{^[c]} signifies a co-producer.
• signifies an additional producer.

Personnel

Musicians

• Isaiah Rashad – vocals
• Devin Malik – programming (tracks 1, 7, 9, 12, 13)
• Kal Banx – programming (tracks 2, 3, 5, 8, 10–12, 14, 16–18), additional vocals (3, 8, 11, 13), keyboards (16), piano (16), vocals (18)
• Hollywood Cole – programming (track 4)
• Austin Brown – guitar (tracks 5, 14, 16), keyboards (5)
• J. Lbs – additional vocals, programming (track 5)
• Zacari – additional vocals (track 5)
• Santiago Gonzalez – bass (track 5)
• Groove – programming (track 5)
• Rory Behr – guitar (tracks 6, 18), programming (10, 11, 16)
• Nomi – background vocals (track 6)
• Amindi – additional vocals (track 9)
• Amaire Johnson – programming (track 10)
• Lance Skiiiwalker – additional vocals (tracks 11, 16)
• Ab-Soul – additional vocals (track 11)
• Sam Yun – guitar (track 12)
• Kenny Beats – programming (track 14)
• Free P – programming (tracks 15, 19)
• Tiggi – programming (track 15)
• Jesse Boykins III – additional vocals, guitar (track 16)
• Natalia Howard – additional vocals (track 16)
• Njomza – additional vocals (track 16)
• Crooklin – programming (track 16)
• Pete (Scum) Nebula – programming (track 16)
• Mike Cottone – trumpet (track 16)
• CoryaYo – programming (track 19)
• D. Sanders – programming (track 20)

Technical

• Nicolas De Porcel – mastering
• James Hunt – mixing (tracks 1–15, 17–20), engineering (9, 16)
• Liz Robson – mixing, engineering (tracks 1, 7)
• Rory Behr – mixing (tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 16, 17), engineering (2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10–13, 16–20), additional engineering (15)
• Ben Thomas – engineering (track 2)
• Kal Banx – engineering (tracks 3, 17)
• Keaton Smith – engineering (track 4)
• Morgan Bailey – engineering (track 4)
• Christopher Smith Jr. – engineering (track 5)
• Julio Ulloa – engineering (track 5)
• Henry Was – engineering (tracks 6, 8, 9)
• Honda Carter – engineering (track 9)
• J.T. Gagarin – engineering (track 14)
• Kenny Beats – engineering (track 14)
• Rob Bisel – engineering (track 14)
• Sedrick Moore II – engineering (track 15)
• Aaron Bow – sound design
• Teddy Walton – sound design
• Demitrius Lewis II – mastering assistance
• Johnny Winik – mixing assistance

Charts

Weekly charts Chart performance for The House Is Burning Chart (2021) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] 32 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[16] 63 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[17] 13 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18] 51 Irish Albums (IRMA)[19] 58 Lithuanian Albums (AGATA)[20] 16 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[21] 12 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[22] 28 UK Albums (OCC)[23] 55 UK R&B Albums (OCC)[24] 36 US Billboard 200[25] 7 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[26] 4

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for The House Is Burning Chart (2021) Position US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[27] 95

References

1. Dennis, Jr., David (2021). "Best albums of 2021: Isaiah Rashad's 'The House Is Burning'". The Undefeated.
2. Thompson, Paul A. (2021). "Isaiah Rashad: The House is Burning Album Review". Pitchfork.
3. "Isaiah Rashad Adds 4 New Bonus Tracks To "The House Is Burning [Homies Begged]"". HotNewHipHop. 19 November 2021.
4. Gomez, Jade (July 7, 2021). "Isaiah Rashad Announces New Album The House Is Burning". Paste Magazine. Retrieved August 1, 2021.
5. Williams, Aaron (June 21, 2019). "Isaiah Rashad Revealed The Title Of His Next Album Via Livestream". Uproxx. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
6. Maicki, Salvatore (June 21, 2019). "Isaiah Rashad teases new album The House Is Burning". The Fader. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
7. Shifferaw, Abel (April 22, 2020). "Isaiah Rashad Returns With New Track "Why Worry"". Complex. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
8. Conteh, Mankaprr (30 July 2021). "Isaiah Rashad Had the Courage to Start Over". Rolling Stone.
9. Catlin, Caleb (29 July 2021). "Isaiah Rashad Comes Back From Rock Bottom With a Great New Album". GQ.
10. Weiss, Jeff (May 6, 2021). "Isaiah Rashad, After the Fire". The Fader. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
11. Darville, Jordan (July 7, 2021). "Isaiah Rashad shares The House Is Burning release date, cover art". The Fader. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
12. "The House is Burning by Isaiah Rashad". Metacritic.
13. Kazandjian, Robert (July 30, 2021). "Isaiah Rashad - The House Is Burning". Clash. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
14. Thompson, Paul A. (August 3, 2021). "Isaiah Rashad: The House Is Burning Album Review". Pitchfork.
15. "ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. August 9, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
16. "Ultratop.be – Isaiah Rashad – The House Is Burning" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
17. "Isaiah Rashad Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
18. "Dutchcharts.nl – Isaiah Rashad – The House Is Burning" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
19. "Irish Albums Chart: 6 August 2021". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
20. "2021 31-os savaitės klausomiausi (Top 100)" (in Lithuanian). AGATA. August 6, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
21. "NZ Top 40 Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. August 9, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
22. "Swisscharts.com – Isaiah Rashad – The House Is Burning". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 8, 2021.
23. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
24. "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
25. "Isaiah Rashad Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
26. "Isaiah Rashad Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
27. "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2021". Billboard. Retrieved December 4, 2021.