Isaiah Rashad quotes Pimp C on record, and not in the way that’s become a gesture. The Chattanooga rapper’s third album, It’s Been Awful, was built by producers Julian Sintonia, Hollywood Cole, and Mario Luciano on warm keyboards and drum patterns that recall mid-90s Southern rap. It treats the UGK catalog and Three 6 Mafia the same way most Southern rap still does: as the foundation under everything, not an influence to name-drop for credibility. Rolling Stone noted Rashad “frequently references Southern rap legends like Outkast, UGK, and Scarface.” On this record, you can hear each of them in the bones.
About the Show
The Lil Sunny’s Awful Road Trip brings Rashad to Austin‘s Emo’s on Saturday, September 19, with Alemeda (an L.A.-based singer-songwriter and pop-punk artist formerly affiliated with TDE) on the bill for all 29 dates. The tour is behind It’s Been Awful, his first full-length since The House Is Burning in 2021, and the first chance to hear this material in a room rather than through a speaker.
The album landed May 1 to strong notices. Consequence named it one of the best albums of 2026. One critic called it “TDE’s most TDE-sounding project since DAMN.” At its center is “Act Normal,” which addresses a 2022 viral incident directly. Rashad raps into the moment rather than around it. The sixteen-song set works through family trauma and substance abuse, and the particular difficulty of being an artist whose 2016 album The Sun’s Tirade reportedly inspired Billie Eilish but who has never landed a mainstream hit single. Critics described It’s Been Awful as a record that “fades genres, crosses up trends, and uses intermittent shots of T-Neck Records funk and The Soulquarians.”
His previous tour, the Cilvia Demo 10 Year Anniversary run in 2024, sold out. This one covers 29 dates, closing September 28 in Tucson.
Venue & Logistics
Emo’s Austin, at 2015 E Riverside Drive, is a 1,700-cap room that has handled mid-tier national tours long enough to run them clean. For a rapper whose production rewards a close listen, the scale fits. The show starts at 7:00 p.m.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. General on-sale began June 22; tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster. VIP packages including meet-and-greet, soundcheck access, and priority floor are available via vipnation.com. Buy tickets