Today, May 16, is the birthday of Tennessee-hailing rapper and TDE member Isaiah Rashad. He is now 27.

Rashad started rapping in high school and after spending some time in college in Tennessee and even studying to become a preacher, the Chatanooga native started taking music more seriously. Isaiah linked up with Top Dawg Entertainment's president Dave Free around 2013 and soon signed to TDE, the same label that Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and SZA call home. Rashad dropped his debut project under TDE, Cilvia Demo EP, in February 2014 and was quickly met with rave reviews from fans and critics.

The 27-year-old rhymer is known for his deft, honest lyricism, strong freestyle ability and laid back demeanor. Thanks to Cilvia Demo, Rashad earned a spot on the 2014 XXL Freshman class. Since then, Rashad has toured the world, made appearances on other TDE projects and dropped his official debut album under TDE, The Sun's Tirade, in September of 2016.

"A lot of it’s about my son because my son was around for a large portion of it. These are just some things I want him to know just in musical form about this point in my life. It’s all that. He was born right before Cilvia [Demo]," the rhymer told XXL when he stopped in last fall. "It’s a response to me going through shit and a celebration of all the bullshit. It ain’t really a negative project. I can just really tell I was going through some shit."

While Rashad was mostly quiet in 2017, it looks like he's up to some big things throughout the rest of this year. On one hand, he will appear on select show dates for TDE's forthcoming Championship Tour. On the other, he's also revealed that his new album will be arriving this summer. All we can do is hope.

Happy Birthday, Isaiah!

20 of Your Favorite Rappers Naming Their Favorite Rappers

More From XXL