Dear Isaiah,
First of all, I hope you are doing well. From the sound of your last album, you were going through a lot and it’s an inspiration to see you overcome those obstacles that were thrown at you. As a fan of Isaiah as a person, I want to genuinely see you okay. Secondly, whew. I don’t know what to tell you. Honestly, I’ve never done anything like this before. This is actually kind of weird as I start this. I want to thank you.
I was attending a Schoolboy Q concert in 2014, Club Firestone. You were opening up alongside Audio Push. How I got there was, I decided last minute to get tickets to see the show but I had no one to go with. I remember asking a friend of mine, “Are you going to see Schoolboy Q?” after seeing a tweet stating that she was thinking about going. She was like “Yeah I am.” I don’t remember how the rest of the conversation went but she said I could ask Isaiah Rashad. I knew who you were when TDE announced you, but I wasn’t really into your music around this time. All I knew about you was “oh that guy with the cool raspy voice”. She told me that she knew you and she wanted to ask you if she could get in or something like that. She said she knew you. I was like “whattttt???” like a friend of mine knowing a rapper? That’s fucking dope. I’m a rapper myself so like of course that’s the coolest thing in the world. I thought she was insinuating that I could slide with. It’s funny because I remember I was in line with a homie I went with, and she walks past me and waves and goes past security and that one hurt but I was gonna see Schoolboy Q so I didn’t care.
— — -
I found this dope spot in the crowd and I’m enjoying the show. I’m high as fuck. I got like 5 shots in me. Audio Push is fucking killing it. I was feeling great. It was probably the coolest vibe I’ve been at so shout out Schoolboy Q. You were up next. I remember the sound guys were fucking up and you called them out: “Fix this shit right now, these people don’t fucking deserve this!” I don’t know why, that just caught my attention. Like it’s a basic thing as a performer, like the sound guy can’t be fucking up like that, especially in a live performance setting. You continued and ended up killing it. I was stunned. Bro, I couldn’t move a muscle. It would be impossible for me to recall how long that set was because I was glued in.
Immediately, I went straight home after the concert. Honestly, I’m not even joking. I’m pretty sure I missed out on some pussy because I was excited to go home after. There I was, sitting in my room at my grandfather’s house listening to Cilvia Demo start to finish. The rest is history. (plus low key super pissed home girl didn’t slide me in through security, I was trying to rap for Q smh)
Raw
Honest
Strong
Shameless
Those are words I would describe your music. You wear your heart on your sleeve and as a man, I respect that. I’m writing you this letter to basically thank you. Thank you for saving my life. Around that time, I was troubled. I was addicted to horrible things because that was my way to cope with my anxiety and depression. If I hadn’t listened to West Savannah, I wouldn’t have been able to fight with my demons. If I hadn’t listened to Wats Wrong, I wouldn’t have felt that I wasn’t alone. The sound of Sun’s Tirade and Cilvia Demo still revolve my life in such an impactful way. You helped a kid with no hopes of light find that light and use that energy to be the best version of himself. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I don’t know if you will ever read this but I had to put this out into the world. I hope to see you live soon when all of this COVID stuff die down.
Best Wishes,
A Fan.
