Rapper Isaiah Rashad used the start of his stage time at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival to lightheartedly address unfortunate recent events in his life. A video was leaked earlier this year that showed a man thought to be Rashad engaging in sexual acts with men.

Rashad didn’t mention the rumors explicitly during his set. Before he took the stage, he played a montage of several videos discussing the leak. One clip said “The purpose of doing that was to embarrass him. However, that backfired.” Another showed a commentator saying, “Bro, why are you so worried about what another man is doing?”

As the crowd cheered in support, another clip from a supporter can be heard saying, “I’m glad that he can finally be himself.” He took the stage soon after and the video shows the beginning of what looked like an energetic performance. People who voiced their support for Rashad in the video included Joe Budden, DJ Akademiks and fellow rapper The Game.

Rashad also delivered a message of thanks to fans who showed support for him in the months after this situation began. “I see all the messages and all of that sh–t, all the positivity,” he said. “Y’all n––––s done kept me alive these last couple months.”

Rashad is only sporadically active on social media and is also notorious for taking a long amount of time to release his acclaimed albums. The wait between his sophomore album release The Sun’s Tirade and last year’s The House Is Burning was almost five years.

Leave a comment

Read more about: