Isaiah Rashad is back in concert circulation for the first time in five years, and the album that made the tour possible is one of the most honest records TDE has put out. It’s Been Awful landed May 1 — third studio album, Chattanooga rapper, no softening of the details. Rashad brings the Lil Sunny’s Awful Road Trip tour to Bayou Music Center on Friday, September 18.
About Isaiah Rashad
Five years separated The House Is Burning (2021) from It’s Been Awful. Rashad didn’t quietly step back — he struggled. Addiction, mental health, public exposure he didn’t choose. The new album doesn’t paper over any of it. “Omitting is still lying; that’s my biggest lesson,” he told Billboard. The record opens up on family, fatherhood, recovery, and the routine weight of keeping a life operational. Critics have placed it among the best albums of 2026 so far.
What changed in the music: less coded. Rashad has credited Kendrick Lamar’s feedback for pushing him toward more direct songwriting — stepping back from layered abstractions in favor of something a listener can enter on first pass. It’s Been Awful features SZA on “Boy in Red” and Dominic Fike on “Cameras,” with production from Julian Sintonia, Kal Banx, and Hollywood Cole. DJ Sunny Roshi radio-station transitions run as interludes through the album; the tour name Lil Sunny’s Awful Road Trip carries that framing onto the road.
The Houston date arrives near the end of a 29-date North American run that opened August 13 in Atlanta. Alemeda — an L.A.-based singer-songwriter and TDE labelmate — opens every night on the tour.
Bayou Music Center
Bayou Music Center sits at 520 Texas Ave in downtown Houston. The room has operated under several names since it opened in 1997 — Aerial Theater, Verizon Wireless Theater, Revention Music Center — and now anchors Live Nation’s mid-capacity touring program in the city. General admission standing floor, reserved perimeter seating, box seats. It’s the routing stop where hip-hop and R&B tours that come through the Texas market consistently land.
Tickets
Presale begins June 18 at 10:00 AM local time. General on-sale opens June 22 at 10:00 AM. VIP packages are available at vipnation.com. Show starts at 8:00 PM.