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3/20/2006 What's up T.I? I'm chilling. How do you feel about the way "King" came out? I'm real proud of it. What do you want to give fans with "King"? I want to give them my best work. This is my best work ever. What was your state-of-mind recording "King"? Superiority. How was it working with the Neptunes on this album? It was good. Me and Pharell definitely have a chemistry. Did you want to touch on different topics for "King"? I just want to get better. I just want to get better, period. People will look at you and your sales and say, "He doesn't have to get better." How do you improve at this point in your career? I'm just always raising my expectations. Did you name your album "King" based on what people say about you or what you think? It's a double-meaning. It's for what people think about me, what I think about myself, and it's also named after my son. Was there anything that happened from "Urban Legend" that you didn't want to repeat on "King"? There were a lot of things that I did want to repeat. The only thing I can say that I wanted to change is that I didn't have as much time to work on "Urban Legend" as I did for "King." I actually had time to put the album together from beginning to end the way I felt it should be. It was such an unconditional condition. With "Urban Legend," I didn't have the time to do that. You have your movie "ATL" coming out right around the time of the album. Is the summer of 2006 going to be yours? That's the plan. We intended it to be like that. We weren't as visible as we could have been at the end of last summer because we were shooting the movie and working on the P$C album. We prepared for this part of the year, and now it's time. It's time to go. A lot of times fans don't see the hard work. How important is it to constantly stay on the grind even if that means not being in the spotlight? It's very, very important. It's unbelievably important. I can't stress that enough. If you don't work, you don't eat. There's no ballin'. You can't pop bottles in the club without money, and you can't get money without work. It's as simple as A-B-C to me. It's just a part of my chemical basis. How hard do you work on a daily basis? Well, yesterday I was in Jacksonville. I did three radio stations and a couple of TV interviews, I did a meet-and-greet, and I did a party, and I didn't get out of the party until 2:30 or 3 in the morning, I got on the bus and made it to Orlando in time to do their morning show. After that, I did a few phoners, another radio station, another TV show, and then I got on the phone with you. How important has DJ Drama been to your career? Dram has been an extreme help. He's definitely a commodity to Grand Hustle. The Apphiliates are a large movement right now. He's got a lot of hot shit going on. They have artists, producers…they're pretty much cornering the market off in entertainment right now. They're planning right now. In the next couple of years you'll be seeing everything. How important is it to take the Hip Hop game from different business angles? It's very important. If your business ain't even together, you won't have the chance to maximize on the opportunities you get. You have to always stay on-key and aware of what's going on around you. As an executive or as an employee, you have to know what demands need to be supplied before you can carry out and follow through on what needs to be done. You must first be attentive to the situation and realize what needs to be done. In the past it seemed that you weren't happy with your label situation. Are you happy at Atlantic? We never had a problem with each other. I do feel that at the beginning of the relationship, I was working hard and separating myself from the corporation and just building my foundation. It has always been a partnership and a definite mutual respect. We definitely don't have a problem working with one another and at this point. We're friends. Are there any similarities between rapping and acting? There are no similarities. They are worlds apart from one another. Did the acting help you as a rapper at all? No. Not at all. Are you looking to do more movies in the future? Yes. We're planning for that part of the year now. We're going to keep it moving. How did you react when Pharell said you were "the Jay-Z of the South"? I was definitely flattered, to say the least. I appreciate what he said. Those are some huge shoes to fill. You've proclaimed yourself the "King of the South." But what about Hip Hop in general? What about being the "King of Hip Hop"? The name of the album is "King" with a period. It's not "King of the South." It's "King." That was the intention. I'm definitely setting my sights on larger land. What's up with the P$C today? Everybody's working on their interviews and projects. Kuntry has two singles out that are burning up the clubs and mixtapes and all over the place. Young Dro has a single that's burning up the radio, clubs, mixtapes, and streets. Everybody is working on their projects and everybody's moving. How important is it that everyone in P$C succeeds as solo artists? It's very important. The group is kind of like everyone's project. That's because we're all friends. P$C is our baby. It's our Microsoft. Then we branch off and we do our own things. For the most part, P$C is a launching pad for whatever else we choose to do with our lives. Everybody has their own individual goals and aspirations, but the P$C is always going to be there. How do you guys work together? We've been around each other for years. I've known them for over twelve years. Neckbone and AK went to kindergarten together. A lot of us went to school together and our moms know each other. It's just what we do. A lot of groups are formed just for the money. How important is it to have the family element in a group instead of just assembling a group to cash in? That's the only way that I know for it to be. That's the way I came in. This is the only group that I have ever been in, so I have nothing else to compare it to. If the other way works for someone else, that's cool. I salute them. But that's their way. That way doesn't work for me. The North has always said the South isn't about lyrics. Is that starting to change now? Absolutely. The thing is though, at the time they were saying that, I think that was true. The South was only known for catchy hooks and hot beats. It took some time to divert people from that way of thinking to this way of thinking. People like myself, people like Bun-B, Scarface, Andre 3000, Big Boi, 8Ball and MJG, B.G., Lil' Wayne, Trick Daddy, Ludacris…we're trying to raise the bar for what you'd consider a Southern artist. If you hear T.I. on a song, you can expect a hot verse. You're not just going to hear niggas rambling over a beat. It took time to change that way of thinking. I'm proud of the movement. There are a lot of other people that worked just as hard as I did to change shit. Look at Killer Mike…Lil' Jon's 808's and his claps weren't marketable for awhile and he worked hard to change that. The only place you could hear Lil' Jon was down South. He's changed it to where everybody wants their shit to sound like that. Niggas were trying to make hot songs with hot songs and chants, and now motherfuckers are changing and it's the exact opposite. That's what I mean when I say that I'm proud of the movement. You're giving out a lot of scholarships this year to kids from single-parent homes. How important is it to give back? I think it's tremendously important. I think it's mandatory. With great reward comes great responsibility. Some rappers do it for the attention, but a lot of what you do doesn't get publicized. Are some rappers doing charity work for the wrong reasons? I feel that there is an excessive amount of rappers that do a lot of things for unworthy reasons. They have to deal with their decisions. I'm doing my thing and I'm wishing them the best. But that's not my way. That's not me. If you never started out on the same label as Q-Tip, would you be T.I.P today? Absolutely. It works out great for me this way, too. With me having to always repeat my name, it got on some Dr. Jekkyl and Mr. Hyde shit. T.I. and T.I.P are two different people. If that never happened, you wouldn't have a T.I. I think everything happens for a reason and I feel that it helped me just as much as some people feel it took away. What keeps you motivated on a daily basis? The quest to be the best. Are you and Lil' Flip cool today? Cool is an overstatement. We don't have any issues. If we see each other, we might not shake hands, but we wouldn't exchange blows either. We're all right. I don't have a problem with him and I don't believe he has a problem with me. We have our opinions about one another, but we agree to disagree. Why is it that there aren't a lot of diss tracks coming out of the South? For real, for us, the way it is, every time you hear a diss track from the South, at least 90% of the time, there is going to be some sort of altercation. That's how we were raised. You don't just go around talking about somebody and then when you see them, it's all good. I don't know, man. That kind of behavior of just talking about people is frowned upon down here. If I say, "when I see you, I'm going to hit you in the face," and I see you and I don't hit you in the face, that goes against me. Everybody in New York is saying that New York Hip Hop is messed up and everyone is following the South. Is that a true statement? I don't think New York is in bad shape. They're just used to seeing the South with a limited amount of publicity and exposure. Now that it's being widely publicized and we're putting up more numbers, I think the change from one extreme to the next is what's swaying people's opinions about how the East Coast is doing. I think the East Coast is doing fine. There's 50 and Jay. There are a lot of cats moving units. Dipset has a huge movement. I don't think the East Coast has a problem. Are you confident that you put yourself in the best position to succeed right now with "King"? Absolutely. I'm just going to be promoting this album now to make it as successful as possible. What advice do you have for kids trying to get in the rap game? Perfect your craft, remain positive, and live and learn. Every day, learn and listen. What do you want to say to everyone? Thanks for your support. I appreciate it. March 28 is "King." March 31 is "ATL."

By Brian Kayser

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