On the eve of his sophomore album release, the TDE emcee teases another project.

Well, well, well. What do we have here?

Late Sunday evening, TDE emcee Isaiah Rashad announced that mixing was complete for his new album, and that he turned over the project to label president Dave Free to be uploaded (we'll assume to iTunes and all streaming providers).

While both of those news nuggets suggest the album is on track for it's already-announced release on September 2, it's the information that Rashad delivered next that truly piqued my interest.

Considering his debut, Cilvia Demo, was released in January of 2014, it's not hard to imagine Rashad recording more than just the material that will make up his forthcoming sophomore album over these past 32 months. But recording an entire mixtape that 'nobody will ever hear'? Yeah, that feels like the planting of a seed.

Once the album has been released and the initial buzz surrounding the album dies down, Rashad knows his diehards will start clamoring for more music. If they believe there's a mixtape done and ready to go, like the recently-released loosie "i mean," that means there's something to always look forward to down the road. It's quite incredible in a highly depressing way that artists know in 2016, 24 hours after you release a brand new body of work it's already old news.

I reached out directly to Zay for further comment on this mysterious mixtape, which he explained via text message is "me doing whatever comes to mind."

"I made a legit 60s sounding Temptations song," said Zay. "I'm pretty sure my audience ain't ready to have fun with [it] like I am."

We're excited, are you?

Update: According to Rashad, his new album isn't called Free Lunch and the title is "something I'ma have to explain."

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By DJ Z, who loves to argue with you on Twitter.

Photo Credit: Instagram

