Isaiah Rashad: "Shot U Down" (via SoundCloud)

"I like to write in the car," says Los Angeles-via-Chattanooga rapper Isaiah Rashad, whose new Cilvia Demo EP is named for a busted '95 Honda Civic he used to drive. "I like to be able to yell. I like to be able to hear my voice." He hasn't gotten a new car since moving to L.A. this year. "I try writing while I drive, but it's so hard. I can't do it out here. I carpool."

Rashad, who is the most notable new signing for the Black Hippy-repping Top Dawg Entertainment clique, approaches TDE's signature West Coast sound through a Memphis lens. Cilvia Demo is a smoky cocktail that packs heat like "Shot You Down" and the Master P ode "R.I.P. Kevin Miller", effectively sounding the arrival of TDE's next chapter. While the EP, which was recorded in spurts over the past two years, doesn't exactly signify a sonic leap from the works TDE is most famous for—Kendrick Lamar's* good kid, m.A.A.d. city* or Ab-Soul's Control System, among others*—*the 22-year-old's voice is its own vehicle, marrying Tennessee bounce with Death Row haze (plus a dash of 'Ye-circa-College Dropout flow).

Right now, Rashad is posted up in TDE's studio compound in Carson, California, but it's not quite the creative commune you're imagining. "I’m the only one at the house," Rashad says, alluding to the place's businesslike vibe. "Nobody wants to comes to hang out." Cylvia was recorded in a much lazier atmosphere: "Me and my homies were drinking and smoking a lot when we were recording it," he says. But Rashad, who is also a new father, seems ready to leave that irresponsible period behind, not unlike the busted ride that still sits in front of his mom's house in Chattanooga.

Pitchfork: I've read that you grew up wanting to be a preacher. Why?

Isaiah Rashad: When I used to go to church when I was little, I liked the way the preacher would excite people. He'd get a rise out of them and make them feel good at the same time. I fucked with that. But then my step brother introduced ATLiens to me during a trip to see my dad in Nashville, after he got remarried. Listening to [ATLiens] was one of the ways that I just chilled out when I was feeling uncomfortable. It's funny—I listened to a lot of the stuff that I loved as a kid kind of blindly, but that's still what I prefer to listen to now if I'm looking for something with purpose or meaning.

Isaiah Rashad: "RIP Kevin Miller" (via SoundCloud)

Pitchfork: Outside of OutKast, what else did you listen to?

IR: Master P made me want to be a rapper as a kid, and Lil Wayne made me want to be a rapper as a teenager. Master P always had a fleet of dudes, and everybody was with him—I like the idea of some unity type shit. And I fucked with him cause he had Mia X, who is probably, besides Missy Elliott, one of the hardest female rappers ever. In high school, I'd listen to a lot of rap tapes, and Louisiana music was my favorite.

Wayne made all the best music we listened to in high school, across the whole four or five years. That’s the heyday of rap for me, some teenage shit. I was also into Late Registration, The College Dropout, Graduation, Jeezy. I started listening to the Gorillaz, who got me into a lot of different stuff. I started listening to Cee-Lo for whatever reason.

Isaiah Rashad: "Brad Jordan" [ft. Michael Da Vinci] (via SoundCloud)

__Pitchfork: You seem like you're very deliberate about how you develop your sound. What are you recording now, and how is your style coming together? __

IR: I want my stuff right now to be a little more upbeat. And cloudy. More... in the air. I figure out ways to describe things to myself, and it makes sense to me, but I don't really care to make sense to anyone else. If you worry about the next shit, you don’t appreciate what’s going on right now. You’ve got to appreciate everything to the fullest.