Isaiah Rashad is back in the spotlight, and in a recent interview, he faced questions following the non-consensual leak of a sex tape of himself and a male lover several years back.
During a recent appearance on The Breakfast Club, the rapper reflected on the difficult years following the release of his 2021 album The House Is Burning. Rashad said the public backlash forced him to confront parts of his identity before he felt prepared.
“At some point in time, I accepted that they don’t make a manual for being a bisexual Black dude,” he said.
The Chattanooga native also opened up about battling drug and alcohol issues while trying to process the attention surrounding the leak.
“I feel like I’ve always been under some type of divine guidance,” he shared. “I don’t feel like an artist just to make some money. I’m here to affect change in some way.”
Rashad’s new album, It’s Been Awful, arrived May 1 and is his first full-length project in nearly five years.
When asked whether the experience brought any sense of freedom, Rashad admitted the emotions were complicated.
“It made me confront a lot of stuff that I was saying about women,” he said. “A lot of ways I was expressing myself was really coming just from a place of insecurity. I feel like I’ve gotten to love myself a little better.”