Last Friday, Isaiah Rashad put an end to his five-year hiatus and released his highly anticipated follow-up to 2016’s The Sun’s Tirade. Led by singles such as the Duke Deuce-assisted “Lay Wit Ya” and “Headshots (4r Da Locals),” Rashad’s third studio album arrived to immediate acclaim from critics and, more importantly, warm reception from his loyal fanbase.
From “Darkseid” and “RIP Young” to “Score” and “HB2U,” listeners have been quick to highlight their favorite tracks, and the common consensus is that Isaiah Rashad constructed an album that succeeds in setting itself apart from the rest of contemporary releases this year. HNHH even reviewed The House Is Burning, writing that Zaywop’s new album “isn’t quite a blazing inferno, but rather a slow and contemplative burn.”
Jerritt Clark/Getty Images
However, it turns out that at least one prominent figure within the music industry is not a fan of Isaiah Rashad’s new project. Polarizing online music reviewer Anthony Fantano recently shared his review for Zaywop’s new project, and to many fans’ surprise, he gave a shocking rating of 5/10.
“Honestly, I can’t name an LP in 2021 I have been less excited to hear based on the singles,” Anthony Fantano says in the video before fully diving into his review of Isaiah Rashad’s latest album. “Pretty much every song leading up to the release of this, bored me or left me wanting more.”
For full context, check out Anthony Fantano’s six-minute review of The House Is Burning below.
Isaiah Rashad eventually caught wind of Fantano’s review, and as expected, he didn’t take too kindly to seeing his long-awaited album receive a rating of 5/10. Replying to a fan who was curious to see what Fantano had to say about The House Is Burning, the TDE rapper went on to belittle Fantano’s review as well as his journalistic skills on Twitter, saying, “it’s not experimental enough to excite him, basic enough to make him laugh, and too black for him to identify.”
“My public persona isn’t something to deconstruct so he doesn’t have much to review,” Zaywop continued. “I’m guessing it’s just for views if anything.” Another fan pointed out that Fantano’s video was just a review and that Isaiah Rashad shouldn’t be mad at him for doing his job. To that, he responded, “he’s not employed by a magazine. he literally chooses to make money by getting views off hate bombing ppl. it’s poor journalism too.”
The “RIP Young” artist has already deleted the aforementioned tweets, but a few fans were able to act quickly and get screenshots of them. Check them out below.
Following Isaiah Rashad’s response to Anthony Fantano’s review of The House Is Burning, the YouTube reviewer made a statement regarding the matter, despite his opinion that he’s “not worth all the controversy.” “You guys can lash out, psychoanalyze, or whatever out of disagreement with me,” Fantano tweeted. “comes w/ the territory.”
Upon seeing Fantano’s flippant stance on the matter, TDE President Punch then got involved in the public discourse by directly asking Fantano about his album rating process. “How do you prepare to listen to, and critique black music?” Punch asked the bold music reviewer. “What’s your routine?”
Peep the full exchange between Punch and Anthony Fantano below, complete with Punch’s hilarious refusal to go live with Fantano and talk it all out.
What is your take on the situation? Should Isaiah Rashad and Punch just ignore negative reviews like Fantano’s in the future? Or is Fantano’s approach to rating Black music a topic that should be explored further?
