TDE rapper Isaiah Rashad has made his first official comments addressing his sexuality in regards to an alleged sex tape that was leaked online in early February. The video appeared to show Rashad being intimate with other men. Now in a new interview with Joe Budden, Rashad is opening up about the ordeal.
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“I’d say I’m sexually fluid,” the 31-year-old musician told Budden. “I’m still learning about it myself. I’m putting my head in the books to find out the basics of it, but basically, like, I’m not in full control of, when I walk into a room, of who I’m attracted to.”
Rashad opened up a little more about his orientation, explaining that he tries to “have an understanding with [himself]” to not have predetermined expectations about who he’ll find attractive. “I’m more attracted to a personality. I’m more attracted, sometimes, to the intellect. And, sometimes, it’s just being attracted to somebody,” he said.
Rashad, who has always been judicious with his words in the media, didn’t address the leak for several months afterwards. His first response came at the start of his Coachella set in April. During that performance, Rashad shared a video mash-up of reactions to the news, including one of Budden himself talking about how the leak actually led to his streaming numbers and chart position improving. “I see all the messages and all that shit, all the positivity,” Rashad told the crowd before launching into his first song. “Y’all n-ggas done kept me alive these last couple months.” (Rashad said he actually crashed his car when he found out about the video.)
During the conversation, Rashad spoke about the myriad of personal issues he was dealing with at the time the video was posted, including his grandfather’s sudden death and his grandmother grappling with a cancer diagnosis. He also said that this challenging stretch has been a time for his family to come together.
“I haven’t even been thinking about it, man. I’ve been just keeping my mind together. It’s been a time for my family to come together,” he explained. “Out of everything, it’s been a blessing that, with that happening, my granddad dying a couple days afterwards, and my grandma going through what she’s been through, it’s been a concentration of family together, more than they’ve been before.”
The rapper said that he is in a relationship, and that his current partner–who he referred to as “she”–has helped him through this period of personal growth and realization. Rashad told Budden that he wasn’t necessarily planning to go after the leaker with any kind of lawsuit.
The full interview can be heard on Budden’s Patreon.