In a recent interview with TMZ, the self-proclaimed “King Of The South” T.I. spoke about dropping that title when he drops his new LP Kill The King, which he says will be his final album. T.I. says his 2006 LP King started him off on “the beginning of a long road of many challenges, opposition, and adversity.”
He went on about the title change, saying, “Big Boi cautioned me of this back when I was coming onto the scene. Big Boi said, ‘It sounds cool. I like it, but understand when you are a king, you put a big bullseye on your back. You can’t look for no favors. Life is a game of chess, and the name of the game is called Kill The King. That’s what you are setting yourself up for.’ [At the age] I didn’t really think much of it.”
Happy born day to Mr.Clifford Harris Jr. aka T.I.!
Throughout the years, T.I. has become one of the most relevant forces in hip-hop. Besides his music career, T.I. is an actor, spokesperson for the AKOO clothing, and the leader of Hustle Gang, which includes Iggy Azealia, B.O.B, Young Dro, and more.
Today, we celebrate Tip’s 40th birthday by showcasing jams that highlights his growth as an artist.
Fuck Da City Up Feat. Young Jeezy If T.I. wanted to, his mixtape game would be a lot more extensive. The title track of his first mixtape Fuck Da City Up was finally able to breathe, even if it was an online release. But since the tapes are beneath him, you got to appreciate when he makes a collabo with Young Jeezy pop off.
Rubberband Man Before he was the kang, Tip was known as the “Rubber Band Man.” The hit put T.I. on the map around the country. It was one of the few tracks that initiated Grand Hustle into the game.
U Don’t Know Me Mr. Harris kept his head in the game. Though there were a few signature hits to come off Urban Legendz, “You Don’t Know Me” went hard and made room for tracks like “ASAP” and “Motivation” to gain heavy momentum amongst the masses.
What You Know The Kang of the South put himself on hip-hop’s pedestal with his smash single “What You Know.” The Southern anthem highlighted his King album and was on repeat in every major hip-hip radio station in the country.
Big Shit Poppin (Do It) T.I. wanted to showcase his battle against himself for his fifth album T.I. vs. TIP. “Big Shit Poppin (Do It)” hit the Billboard Top 100 chart at #9, eventually obtaining certified gold.
Live Your Life Feat. Rihanna Paper Trails put T.I. at a plateau with the success of the hit single “Live Your Life” with Roc Nation’s Rihanna. The memorable O-Zone sample created an international buzz that had new fans copping the album just the hear the Tip and RiRi collaboration.
Welcome To The World Feat. Kanye West & Kid Cudi His film ‘Takers’ with Michael Ealy and Paul Walker hit theatres yet he still made the effort to release his sixth studio album, No Mercy. Though his single “I’m Back” sparked some hype, his collaboration with G.O.O.D Music soldiers Kanye West and Kid Cudi remains one of the highlights of the album.
Pimp Feat. Pimp C & Too $hort For a mixtape, Fuck Da City Up featured work from huge names in the game like Dr. Dre, Hit-Boy and Young Jeezy. Too $hort spit along with an appearance by Pimp C in their collaboration “Pimp.”
On this date in 2001, the self-proclaimed “King Of The South”, rapper/actor T.I. released his first album entitled I’m Serious.
Produced by several behind the boards legends including ATL’s DJ Toomp, Jazze Pha, Lil Jon, The Neptunes and few others, with features from Pharrell, Bone Crusher, Too Short, Pastor Troy and many other South and West icons, still did not garner him the commercial success that he would eventually be recognized for his music as well as in the cinema.
With this being T.I.’s lowest selling album, Arista Records made the heartbreaking move to cut him from the label after selling less than 300K copies. This was the obvious silver lining in the cloud because T.I has not only went on to become one of the top selling Hip Hop artists to date, but has also made his mark on the silver screen starring along the likes of Denzel Washington, Ruby Dee and many others.
Regardless of what the critics have to say, salute to T.I. for offering up this underground Hip Hop classic!
