T.I.: King Me

Already the self-proclaimed King of The South, T.I. feels like it's time to shorten his title to just "King," period. Equipped with razor-sharp lyrics, surrounded by a stellar cast of producers and MCs and heavily supported by Atlantic Records, T.I. feels as if he's in now position to be crowned hip-hop's King with his new album.

Here, Atlanta's own T.I. chops it up with BallerStatus.com about expectations of his new album, King, his movie "ATL" to debut in the same week and him and Young Jeezy currently running hip-hop.

The Muhammad Ali of hip-hop is back. This is T.I. in King Me.

BallerStatus.com: You're the self-proclaimed King of The South, but the impending album is just, King. Do you feel like you're approaching hip-hop's throne?

T.I.: Yea, I mean, I feel like I've recorded the best material I ever recorded in my career right now and at first I was giving cats in the South a run for their money, but now if you have the top 10 in the game, you're going to have to mention my name. Being in the top 10, the only thing better than that is being in the top two. And if you're going to be in the top two, you may as well be number 1.

BallerStatus.com: Let's talk about Urban Legend for a minute. With that album, I think you could have rolled out with more singles. Do you agree?

T.I.: Yea, we started shooting a movie around June, the "Hustle & Flow" soundtrack around July and P$C was August, so we could have worked more singles, but that's speaking from an artist's perspective. From an executive's perspective, it was time to move on.

BallerStatus.com: So, ideally do you hope to take your time more with King?

T.I.: It all depends on what point my album is. If I already did three singles and I'm at three million and I think one more (single) will get me to four (million)...then perhaps. It depends on the position.

BallerStatus.com: Your album drops on March 28, the same day as Ghostface and LL. How do you think your album will stack up and do in its first week?

[Cat in the background says, "They better watch their backs, haha."]

T.I.: [Laughing]. Nah, I mean, I haven't really thought about it pimp. Until you just mentioned it, I didn't even know. I never really rated my success in terms of record sales. Although, that's the only thing that's keeping me from being able to say that I'm number 1, because at the end of the day, to be the best, you have to put the numbers up. But, I don't really say about first week or whatever. I can't really tell the future. I know I'm going to give them hell, whoever is coming the same day, but I know they're thinking the same thing. Everybody is going to have to feel they're the best. If you don't believe it, someone else will.

BallerStatus.com: I spoke to Kevin Liles not too long ago and he said you were the only artist, besides Mariah Carey, to cut him a check for going over budget.

T.I.: [Laughing].

BallerStatus.com: He respected the gesture tremendously and said he'll do whatever it takes to certify that you're that next boss dude in hip-hop. How do you feel about the support you're getting from Atlantic?

T.I.: Man, I'm most appreciative of it, especially from being on a label, where I feel they weren't really supporting my vision and weren't really embracing my ideas to coming to a situation where they really, really want to be in the T.I. business. Whatever I have going on, they want to know about it and be a part of it.

BallerStatus.com: Is Kevin Liles or maybe a dude like Jay-Z, guys that you bounce ideas off often?

T.I.: Yea, Lyor [Cohen] too, Kevin and every now and again when I speak to Jay, of course it depends on what's going on at the time and why I have to speak to him, but we have bounced ideas off each other.

BallerStatus.com: And how do those exchanges go?

T.I.: [Grinning] Everything's understood. It doesn't have to be explained.

BallerStatus.com: How instrumental was the DJ Drama deal with Grand Hustle? How does he fit into the puzzle?

T.I.: He was one of the first pieces in the puzzle. Right when I was coming up, doing my thing and we started Grand Hustle and our series wasn't doing so well. That's right when Drama started really getting hot with the Gangsta Grillz [mixtapes]. So, at that time, we were taking a whole other approach to the industry. We knew people loved our music and what not, but we weren't getting the distribution deal that we felt we needed to have. We had to re-format it to mixtape form and distribute it ourselves. Drama was doing the exact same sh--, so we basically came up together. Then he became my official DJ and we really, really came up together. We have been connected since a long time ago...2000. Who knew I'd be the hottest n---- in the city and he'd be the hottest DJ in the city? We connected a long time ago on some cool sh--.

BallerStatus.com: When you started calling yourself the King of The South, you got some backlash for it from some dudes. This album is just, King.

T.I.: Yea, period. See the period.

BallerStatus.com: Do you feel as though you're going to catch even more backlash because of the title?

T.I.: Well, I don't know man. I mean...

BallerStatus.com: It's a bold statement to make.

T.I.: Opinions are like assholes and everyone got one of those. You're entitled to it and I'm entitled to mine, but I got to win over the majority. Whatever the majority says, usually wins. If the majority says "I'm King," then a few little voices isn't really going to mean sh-- to me.

BallerStatus.com: Young Jeezy and yourself not only hold weight in Atlanta tremendously, but in hip-hop, period. Do you feel as though you and him are number 1 and 2 in the game, right now?

T.I.: Right now? Yea. I think we swap the No. 1 and 2 spot from time to time. I think with Urban Legend, I had it, at least from an urban perspective anyway. Urban Legend was past its third single and I was working on the "Hustle & Flow" soundtrack, when he came up. Aight, cool, now he has it. Now he's on his third single and my single is dropping, so now ok, I'm fiending to get it. We handle it back and forth. We poppin'. We're really, really cool and not because it looks good on camera, but that's one of the few n----s that comes to my house.

BallerStatus.com: Have y'all ever talked about dropping an album together?

T.I.: A long time ago, but it just has to be at the right time and right situation. We talk about doing a lot of sh--, more than the album.

BallerStatus.com: Like what?

T.I.: I'm not going to tell you about because then you're going to talk about it.

BallerStatus.com: Come on man, you're going to mention something like that.

T.I.: [Grinning] I'm saying a lot of sh-- is going down.

BallerStatus.com: Jeezy and yourself have movements, but do you feel as though the word "movement" is overused by MCs today, even if they don't have one?

T.I.: Maan, you can fix your mouth to say ANYTHING. WHAT ARE YOU SHOWING? You can fix your mouth to say anything, brother. On the real, I feel like we both got two of the most dominant crews in the game and definitely in the city. In the game, period. Certain people just have a level of respect beyond others and I just feel like we got that.

BallerStatus.com: Who do you feel is really going to be next to blow in the ATL?

T.I.: Young Dro, Grand Hustle. He's one of the most lyrical, charismatic young cats next to myself. He has his own style, his own flavor and then when it comes to that rapping sh--, he gives me a run for my money. I have to straighten up [laughing]. Governor, that's my R&B artist. He's soulful.

BallerStatus.com: The Ave magazine dropped a cover story about you, in which your movie "Jellybeans" is mentioned.

T.I.: It's not called "Jellybeans" anymore. It's called "ATL" and it's dropping March 31, the same week as the album. I'm starring in it.

BallerStatus.com: Tell us about it.

T.I.: The movie is basically about a look into the lives of five teenagers that grew up in the A: their trials and tribulations and what they got to go through from where they are to where they want to be.

BallerStatus.com: Who's your character?

T.I.: My character is Rashad, the main character if you can call it that. Basically, he's just a young man in a lot of grown man situations, with a lot of responsibility and a lot of weight on his shoulders. It's interesting to see how he deals with that.

BallerStatus.com: Can you compare the two hustles -- music and movies?

T.I.: They both easy once you get into them. They're just different ways of displaying talent and different accomplishments.

BallerStatus.com: When King drops, what do you want people to say?

T.I.: I want people to say "Daaaamn...daaamn."

T.I.'s King features Common, Kanye West, Young Jeezy, B.G., Young Buck, P$C, Jaime Foxx and Travis Barker.

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