Drake tour takes rapper ‘Away From Home’ this spring 

He’s been hyped in the industry for over a year, and now Canadian-born rapper Drake will hit the road on his own spring tour of the U.S.

The Away From Home Tour kicks off April 6 at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL, and concludes May 8 with a private engagement in Plymouth, NH. The rapper’s final public performance of the tour comes two days earlier on May 6 at Cheyney University in Cheyney, PA.

Of the more than 20 dates on the rapper’s official schedule, only 15 are public performances and most of those are scheduled at colleges and universities across the nation. Highlights include concerts on April 9 at Penn State in State College, PA; April 14 at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI; and May 4 at Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.

The only off-campus concerts will be festival performances. Drake is scheduled for an April 24 set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans, LA, as well as a May 1 appearance at the Bamboozle Festival in East Rutherford, NJ.

The Away From Home Tour is Drake’s first headline trek in North America, supported by fellow Canadian rapper K-OS and synth-pop crew Francis & The Lights. All of Drake’s previous adventures on the road have supported other artists, such as his stint with Lil Wayne’s summer 2009 tour.

Drake’s tour will support his first full-length record, “Thank Me Later,” tentatively scheduled for release in late March. He made his debut last year with the September EP “So Far Gone,” an effort that debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200.

Drake itinerary:
(Dates are subject to change.)