T.I., who is currently on house arrest, seemed to be in good spirits as he spoke to MTV News about his upcoming album, Paper Trail.
While he is unsure when the album will drop, T.I. promised, via phone from Atlanta, that he was going to make an impact. “It’s a lot of bullshit out right now. I’m not gonna front. I feel it’s definitely about time for somebody to
come back out and kick this thing back in gear. The rotation is
suffering right now. I intend to do something about it. It’s just a
matter of when.“
Since December, when he sent a video message to his fans saying he was 30% done with the album, it seems everything is going according to plan. “Everything’s perfect, everything’s perfect,” said childhood fan and Grand Hustle Records artist Young Dro at the Grammy Awards’ red carpet. “His mind’s state is Paper Trail. Since he’s been home, he’s recorded like 50 songs. Plus, he’s writing [rhymes on paper] now, so y’all in trouble.”
T.I. made special note of the record “Let My Beat Pound.” “That’s gonna be a big record,” said the rapper. “It’s a different record.
It’s a record I approached differently, and it don’t sound like a
typical T.I. record. It’s basically about when you got your first car,
one of the first things was to make sure your [sound] system was right.
The love for the boomin’ system. It has the sentiments of LL Cool J’s
‘Boomin’ System,’ but it kind of sounds like a Sir Mix-A-Lot [song].
It’s kinda got the mood and tempo of ‘Posse on Broadway,’ but it’s
outta here.” T.I. further mentioned that “Let My Beat Pound” would more than likely “serve the same purpose as ‘Top Back’ did on King.”
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T.I. promised to give his fans their moneys with Paper Trail. “Yeah, I’m definitely gonna make sure you have enough, man,” he said.
“Nowadays, with the age of the computers, you gotta make sure people
have more than one song, so they won’t download your single then look
away to somewhere else.“
The rapper also briefly spoke on the film American Gangster, in which he was featured. He was surprised that the film, which is being released on DVD February 19, didn’t receive any Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor for Denzel Washington, but he is happy with the excellent reception the movie has received from fans.
“It’s one of those movies that develop a cult following,” he said.
“Especially being a true story and having such phenomenal talent
involved like Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe, Denzel, Cuba Gooding Jr.,
Idris Elba. It’s got so many talented actors that … [we] in the
hip-hop culture saw ourselves represented. Even though it was in a
different era, we were represented. It was flattering to me to see such
a high-profile movie be dedicated to the Harlem era.“
