- 8 minutes ago
T.I. gets candid about fatherhood, protecting his family's honor, the difference between defeating and defending, and why this final album is his way of giving fans the vintage T.I. they remember while still pushing forward.
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00:00The reason I took to the booth is because it was the most mature, level-headed, peaceful, and organized display
00:08of disdain.
00:21We are here with the Kang. Brother man.
00:25What's happening, man?
00:25T-I-P.
00:27Yes, sir.
00:28Everything good, my brother?
00:30Man, exceptional.
00:31I was going through your chart history.
00:3458 Hot 100 records, 11 top 10 for number one.
00:40What does it mean to have your new record, let them know, be another top 40 record for you at
00:47this stage of your career?
00:47I think that it's surreal in a way.
00:52It's humbling that relevance still exists within this art that I've been able to present to the world after such
01:07a long journey.
01:08Yeah.
01:09Yeah.
01:09So I just appreciate, you know, the fans receiving it, appreciate you guys, and I'm just excited for you guys
01:17to hear the rest of it.
01:18Oh, man, listen.
01:20When I heard Brother P, Brother Skateboard P, Pharrell, you and Pharrell do magic, man.
01:26Whether it's Good Life, you know, Blurred Lines, I've seen that, let them know.
01:30So why do you think it's special every time UMP link up and cook?
01:35I think because we both have an unwavering passion for the craft.
01:47Pharrell has, like, just an enormous amount of success in things that he could be doing,
01:56but music calls him and urges him to create in so many different genres to present himself in so many
02:05different ways
02:06just out of sheer genuine passion and love for what, you know, for what we have wanted to do since
02:17we were kids.
02:18And I think we both are very present in that moment in saying, hey, man, I want to make the
02:27little kid who was dying to get into this industry,
02:31I want to make that kid proud with what we do here today.
02:36Yeah.
02:37And I think we both have that, like, that genuine intention.
02:42That's real.
02:43I got to give you your flowers, man, because I don't think I ever told you this.
02:46But back in the day, you know, you were the reason why I tilted my fitted.
02:52You know what I'm saying?
02:53But it's good to see you back in position.
02:56You cut the locks.
02:57Like, talk about that change and what it did for you, not physically, but creatively and artistically.
03:03I can't really say what it did for me.
03:05I'll say what the intention was going into it, what I wanted to do for the fans.
03:12Yeah.
03:13And that was offer them the image or persona that they had grown accustomed to associated with T.I.
03:26Yeah.
03:27This being my last hurrah, this being, you know, this is the one I intend to hang up my jersey
03:35and the rafters on.
03:36So, in that being the case, I want to give them a familiar representation of what T.I. should be.
03:44Yeah.
03:45A little taste of nostalgia, man.
03:47And I'm curious, with the success and momentum of Let Them Know, has that changed the vision and direction of
03:52your final album?
03:54I don't think so.
03:55Okay.
03:56I think it's broadened the scope of possibilities for the album.
04:05Okay.
04:05You know, I think we had access to different tools that we probably, we may not have known we had
04:14access to prior to the record being released and being received the way it has been.
04:20You know what's interesting, man, a huge bulk of your career was on a major label at Atlantic.
04:26That's where you, like, conquered mountains on mountains.
04:29Right.
04:30And now you're doing this independently.
04:32Does that success hit differently for you?
04:34It does.
04:34Mm.
04:35Talk about that.
04:36It does.
04:36Success feel better, independent.
04:38Wow.
04:40Knowing that you don't have the machine and knowing that you would.
04:43Well, I mean, you know, it's still a machine, but the machine is boutique.
04:48It's very insulated and it's more focused.
04:54It isn't as broad.
04:58One of the reasons why I made one of the toughest decisions, arguably one of the worst decisions in my
05:11career, I made the decision to leave Atlantic, quite honestly, because I just got tired of wondering, was my success
05:22predicated on me or them?
05:24Oh, yeah, I mean, it's a tough question.
05:27And I just, well, I had to know.
05:29I just wanted, you know what I mean?
05:32You know, I stepped away and I almost immediately could see and tell that there were a lot of things
05:42being done, you know, on my behalf for my benefit that I was probably oblivious to.
05:50And at that moment, once I found that out, I was eager to learn what those things were and how
05:59to identify and execute those things on my own behalf.
06:05And it has taken a minute.
06:07I think we've identified it and now we're working on the execution.
06:12I love that in reference to Atlantic.
06:15I do the music.
06:16I walk in, I play the music, and they say, this is the one.
06:21This is the one.
06:22And this is what we can do.
06:23We can do this, this, this, and this.
06:25And it's like, okay, I recorded the music, but when I handed it off to them, it was them and
06:33their, let's call it magic wand wielding that turned it into the success that we all knew.
06:43And I enjoyed the success and appreciated, humbled by it.
06:49I just wanted to see what it took for me to do it myself.
06:56You know what I mean?
06:58Yeah.
06:58And here we are.
07:00Here we are.
07:01You know, I mentioned Pharrell earlier.
07:03And obviously, you know, I got to kick it with Clips earlier this year, the day before they won their
07:08Grammys.
07:09Phenomenal album.
07:10Phenomenal album, you know, the success they had.
07:13I think about somebody like Nas who just won his Grammy post-COVID, first Grammy ever.
07:17You know, I think about Eminem and his, like, sustained dominance still at this era of his career.
07:23Why do you think the culture has gravitated so much towards legacy artists more than ever?
07:30Legacy artists have built brands that the fans can trust.
07:34Yeah.
07:34They know what to expect.
07:35It is a quality control that has been maintained and sustained over the course of years where expectations have been
07:46met and exceeded.
07:48The demand has been answered and consistently replicated.
07:54You know what I'm saying?
07:55And so, they know what they're going to go get when they get a Nas album.
07:59They know what they're going to get when they get an Eminem album.
08:02You know, you ain't got to guess about it.
08:04You know what I mean?
08:05They know what the production value is going to be.
08:08They know the level of effort, energy, and attention to detail is going to be applied.
08:18They know that they know that the artists, they not doing this shit just to pay their bills or to
08:28get on.
08:28They're doing this shit because they want to offer greatness to the fans because those fans represent us at a
08:39time where we were.
08:40You know, sitting and reading Billboard to see whose albums coming out and tuning in to 106 and Prog Rap
08:48City and going to get the source and going to get, you know what I mean?
08:53Like, that fanfare is what fanned the flames of the passion that burns inside of us artists.
09:03And that shit ain't never died.
09:06What I've always loved about you, man, you speak of that flame.
09:10You've always had that competitive flame, whether it's on the charts or even, like, from a battling perspective.
09:15Now that we're in an era where, like, when it comes to feuding, shit is happening in real time.
09:20How do you view the art of battling when you first came up versus now?
09:25I think, man, the greatest battle one could engage in or win is with themselves.
09:33I feel like if you can't conquer yourself, you have no chance to conquer the world.
09:40Right.
09:41While all this other stuff is cute for others to observe, I think the most important battle is within.
09:48One million percent.
09:49You know, obviously, the loudest thing in the room has been, like, you and 50 going back and forth.
09:56A lot of people thought it was interesting, man.
09:58Domani and King getting involved.
10:00How have you made this a teachable moment as a father, but also an emcee for them both?
10:05Life has done that.
10:06I had no hand in what either of them decided to.
10:10Yeah.
10:10It's an unfortunate turn of events.
10:13It's something that started out as a celebration for fans who, regardless of who your favorite may be,
10:21it would be or it was intended to be a celebration of things that shaped, defined, and served as a
10:34backdrop
10:36for people's lives, childhoods, eras, you know.
10:42And something that was intended to be so positive had to take such a negative turn.
10:52That is the negative, but, you know, I truly believe that in this universe, the God that I serve has
10:59made it
10:59to where there can be no good without bad, no up without down, no end without out.
11:03So just as much bad as there has been in that, the good is that the women and children of
11:13my family
11:14understand that there is a line of men to stand in protection and defense of whatever honor
11:24or whatever is to be challenged or threatened or whatever integrity is looked to be diminished,
11:34that it's men there.
11:36You know what I'm saying?
11:37Like real men, not no, not no little bullshit motherfuckers just hopping around trying to pretend to be men.
11:45A motherfucker who's willing to lay it down and die about it if it come down to something that violates
11:51this household.
11:53Yeah.
11:54So that is the positive.
11:58But in working on myself, working on my spirit, I just don't got no place for that level of poison
12:08in my life.
12:10The good thing about this is neither of our intentions have ever been to defeat anyone.
12:22We're here to defend this.
12:25You know what I'm saying?
12:26It don't benefit me to see nobody doing bad or whatever, but what must be done unequivocally is it must
12:36be understood.
12:38Ain't no disrespect of the women and children in this family, and you must train people.
12:45We all must train people how to treat us.
12:48Correct.
12:49If you accept this level, then that means that's what you feel you and yours deserve.
12:57I can't go.
12:59And God sent me here with fear for my creator.
13:04I was born with fear for my creator, the ones who created me, my mama, my daddy, my God.
13:09My daddy dead, still scared of my mama.
13:12And I'm going to lead this earth with fear to take back to God.
13:18Ain't no man finna pull no fear from me that belongs to God.
13:24I can't go.
13:25I just can't.
13:26I die.
13:27Man, come on, man.
13:28Come on with the death then.
13:30All you can do is send me back to God.
13:32You want me to be right there with him?
13:34Then we really going to get on your ass then.
13:36I don't even want to harp on it too much.
13:38I do want to ask you just one question, one more question about it because, just hear
13:42me, just hear me.
13:43Because we had this, this was a real conversation between New York cats.
13:47And you're a student of MC and that's why I got to ask you.
13:50Certainly.
13:51With 50, he came into the game as a battle rapper.
13:57I don't know.
13:58I ain't qualified to speak on it, bro.
14:01I ain't qualified to speak on it.
14:02Somebody who a fan of him should be speaking on it.
14:05I ain't qualified to speak on it.
14:07But ultimately, the reason I took to the booth is because it was the most mature, level-headed,
14:18the most peaceful and organized display of disdain that I could, I don't get online.
14:29I don't want to be the guy yelling in my phone.
14:32I don't want to, I don't want to do disrespectful posts back and forth and all that old shit, bro.
14:38What I know how to do, I know how to get in that motherfucking booth.
14:54And do what I know how to do.
14:56Yeah.
14:57That's for better or worse.
14:58Whoever like it, like it.
14:59Whoever don't, fuck you.
15:00I don't, you know what I mean?
15:01I'm not here to please.
15:03I'm not here to defeat.
15:05I'm here to defend.
15:06I just want to enjoy the moments that I have left in this thing that we do.
15:14I ain't studying nobody else.
15:16Whatever whoever they're doing, man, God bless them, man.
15:20You know what I mean?
15:21Whatever that is, cool.
15:23Just keep me a mind out of it.
15:25Can I ask you a question about confidence in the sense that I remember your interview you did with All
15:30the Smoke.
15:31And you were talking about how when you were shooting American Gangsta with Denzel, how he kind of spoke life
15:38into you.
15:39He did.
15:39And gave you that confidence.
15:41He did.
15:41I'm curious, whether it's from a life perspective or even music to this day, is there anybody who has been
15:47able to speak that life into you when you didn't have that confidence?
15:50Man, my wife, for one.
15:53Man, my wife, you know what I'm saying?
15:54A lot of times when shit was, shit was dog, you know what I mean?
15:58Like she was the one who, you know, reminded me who I was and what I mean, not just to
16:05this shit here, but what I mean to the nucleus of the support system that I've been blessed and fortunate
16:14enough to have.
16:15My children, my children, they remind me all the time, you know.
16:23My partners, you know, Young Dro and Country and Mac and C-Rod and Dro and the people in Atlanta
16:32when I'm just moving around, you know what I'm saying?
16:35Like people be like, yo, man, we need you out here.
16:37What's up?
16:38You know what I mean?
16:38I mean, my mama, my uncles, my cousins, David Bantam, Killer Mike, Nelly, Pharrell, Toon, so many.
16:52It just, man, God works through whatever instrument he needs to work through to get the message to you he
17:02needs you to receive.
17:04Yeah.
17:0506 was a very important special year for you, man.
17:08First off, I want to get to one of my favorite albums, King.
17:11Yeah.
17:12Happy 20 to King.
17:14What do you remember most, like, in terms of your mindset when creating that album?
17:18Um, man, I was kind of all over the place.
17:22I was like, you know, very new to that level of success.
17:26And I feel like King was at a place where people kind of expected me.
17:32It was about, can he do it again?
17:36I'm serious.
17:37I came out of nowhere and it was like, what the fuck is this?
17:39Then, trap music, it was like, oh, shit.
17:43But can he do it outside of the South?
17:46Urban Legend was like, oh, Bring Him Out was outside of the South.
17:50That was a real hit.
17:51Got nominated for a Grammy.
17:52But can he win one?
17:56Can he deliver when people are expecting him to deliver?
18:02That and I was recording while filming.
18:06Yeah.
18:07For ATL.
18:08So can he do a film and still focus his time, effort, energy and attention on doing some dope shit
18:15musically at the same time?
18:18And now can he bring a Grammy home?
18:22Is he a who's who of superstar talent that he thinks he is?
18:29And, you know, that's kind of what my mindset was.
18:32Really, like, just, you know, continuing to show that I am exactly who the fuck I think I am.
18:40One of your many classics, by the way.
18:43Of course.
18:44And you mentioned ATL.
18:46Tip, man, it's 20 years, man.
18:48Y'all been doing the teases.
18:50Y'all been dropping hints, man.
18:52I was telling Cassie you're going to do something special for the 20th.
18:55Do y'all have anything planned as a sequel?
18:57We do.
18:58Okay.
18:58We do.
18:59Nothing I can announce.
19:01Okay.
19:01But we do.
19:02I'll just say it's a good thing that this acquisition or merger has, you know, settled.
19:15Okay.
19:16You know what I'm saying?
19:16It's very difficult to get things done during those.
19:21Yeah.
19:21Period.
19:22Yeah.
19:22You pretty much have knocked out all collaborations and features.
19:27I'm curious, for your last album, is there any possible reunions or new people we could
19:33see you with?
19:33You've done the Eminem's, the Jay-Z's.
19:35You say reunions?
19:36Yeah.
19:37Actually, yeah.
19:38I would love you and Em again.
19:39You know, I love what you just did on Touchdown, you know.
19:41I love to rock with Em again, too, man.
19:44Wayne is on the album.
19:45Okay.
19:46Weezy, Tune.
19:47Usher's on the album.
19:49I like the entertainment.
19:50Weezy is on the album.
19:51Okay.
19:52Of course, DJ Tune.
19:54Jazzy Faye.
19:56TM808.
19:56Okay.
19:58808 Mafia.
19:59You got Weezy.
20:00Weezy, the producer.
20:01Yeah, the producer, yeah.
20:03Spider.
20:04Wow.
20:05That's how I'm going to say for now.
20:06So, lastly, because I keep doing the lastly, like...
20:10The last last.
20:11The last last.
20:12How many, like, when you were making this album, how much of it was because, like you said,
20:17when you cut your hair, you wanted to give that nostalgic feel?
20:20Most of these songs were made before I cut my hair.
20:23Because I was going to say, I know you've been doing this for years.
20:24I think the last time we talked, you kept telling me, last album, this is it.
20:27But you've been doing this for years.
20:29But now, how much of it was to make sure you're giving that vintage T.I. feel versus, I want
20:35to give something new?
20:36It's always something new.
20:38Okay.
20:39It's always something new.
20:40It's never, I'm trying to recreate something I've already done.
20:45It's always, how can I do the next, freshest, newest, dopest shit possible?
20:54That's always the intention.
20:56I love that.
20:57The brother touched top 40.
20:59Let's get into top 10, top 5 shit.
21:00Yeah, yeah.
21:01Number one.
21:02Why not?
21:02You feel what I'm saying?
21:03Why the fuck now?
21:04T.I.P., I appreciate you coming to New York.
21:07Coming to Billboard.
21:08Yeah.
21:08Thank you, guys.
21:09We are out.
21:09That is Billboarding Conversation with T.I.P.
21:13Kane.
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