The House Is Burning, out this Friday, sees Isaiah Rashad liberated from the pressures of his own mind. He absorbed it not only as studio rules but as a life lesson. The neon glow of producer Kenny Beats’ mantra-“Don’t Overthink Shit”-on the studio wall follows him the same way his gold grills shine when he warmly smiles. Now there’s an unmistakable light, literally and figuratively, radiating off him. Going to rehab and starting from scratch gave him perspective.

He’s the lovable cousin almost everyone has in their family.

It’s this sort of vulnerability that makes Isaiah Rashad hip-hop’s everyman. But Rashad never lost his audience, and at a recent press session after the release of “Lay Wit Ya,” the first single from his long-awaited new album, The House Is Burning, he experienced real gratitude for that: “Seeing it, I realize they really put some weight in my life.” Finally, he hit rock bottom, crashing on a friend’s couch because he’d run out of money. Alcohol was a crutch and panic attacks were frequent. Fans were left with song snippets that popped up like Bigfoot sightings on sparse IG Live sessions. Self-doubt consumed Rashad and derailed his attempts to record new music. “Mix that Boosie with that boom bap,” as Rashad said on the standout album track “Brenda.”

He’d flashed glimpses of stardom on his 2014 mixtape, Cilvia Demo, which was touted as one of the best projects of that year, and then his 2016 debut proper, The Sun’s Tirade, struck a chord, combining trunk-rattling sonic homages to Master P and Scarface with verses packed with raw vulnerability and introspection. It’s been almost five years since Isaiah Rashad released his first album.

Isaiah rashad twitter