March 20, 2006 @ 12:22 pm

T.I. - What You Know About The King?

by: Richard Cruz

“I’ve always been fresh!” proclaims a visibly exhausted T.I., sitting in Atlantic Records’ Manhattan offices. “But for some reason, when my boys get fly, they only try to compete with me!” Indeed, T.I. (né Clifford Harris) is becoming quite the trendsetter, not only through his style of dress, but with his unique flow and lyrical content that are the driving forces of his music.

The Atlanta-based rapper and self-proclaimed “King of the South” had a career year in 2005, but still feels that there is more to conquer in the entertainment landscape. When asked if he’s satisfied with his success, he replies confidently, “Nope! There is always that need to succeed by doing things differently. And now, I’m in the position to help other people succeed.”

right Helping others succeed has always been one of T.I.’s fortes, not only spearheading the careers of his Pimp $quad Click, but also being one of the first (of many rappers) to come to the aid of the victims of Hurricane Katrina. “Actually, David Banner and his [Heal the Hood] foundation stepped up with Juice Magazine first, and myself, Jeezy, and others stepped up with him. It was important that we [as rappers] set that example because it motivated more people to step up also.”

With his fourth studio album, King, hitting stores at the end of the month, - March 28th, to be exact - T.I. has had to deal with not only the pressure of maintaining his status as the premier artist of the South, but the added pressure of having the album leaked months before its release date. How does he deal with it? “We gave the album to the streets in the form of a mixtape, fam! DJ Drama’s Gangsta Grillz: The Leak, had all the songs that leaked, and none of those songs, well, maybe one or two, will be on the new album. We created the buzz and the streets responded."

So, after conquering all the terrain in the landscape of hip hop, what does the quintessential rapper do next? Break into film, of course! In the Chris-Robinson directed ATL, T.I. plays Rashad, an artist who’s struggling to keep his family together. T.I. quickly shuts down any notion that he will fall into silver-screen mediocrity. “I would never play an ignorant, typical drug dealer role”, he says seriously, “but if I did [have to play a drug dealer], he’d have to be a smart, Avon Barksdale [from HBO’s The Wire] type.”

With more success on the horizon and even a video-phone endorsement deal with Sprint in the works, it seems pretty much undisputed as to who the King really is.

King hit stores on March 28th on Grand Hustle/Atlantic Records. ATL will be released to theatres on March 31st.