T.I. announced he is the newest shareholder in Jay Z’s streaming service TIDAL in February. He left Columbia Records, who put out his 2014 Paperwork album and joined Hov’s Roc Nation for distribution. The rapper who returned to the name TIP, spoke with The Ed Lover Show and explains his new partnership.
“Basically the same situation that I had with Columbia,” he says, “it’s just being facilitated by Roc Nation now. The same, actually a better percentage structure.”
Under the deal, T.I. is preparing the release of his next LP, The Dime Trap. It will be his tenth studio album and the Atlanta rapper has said that he is returning to his vintage trap sound after playing with pop hits such as “Whatever You Like” and being featured on Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.” He explains what the rollout process will be like with his hand in TIDAL.
“There will be some exclusive components, but just because all of my, this is an album that’s dedicated to my core fans,” he says. “The people who went out there the first week Trap Muzik came out, so I’m basically dedicating this album to them and making the music that I know they want to hear me make. So I know those people all of them can’t necessarily afford TIDAL. So we will have some exclusive content and exclusive components. I don’t know if the entire album will be exclusive.”
TIDAL, which costs $9.99 per month for a premium subscription and $19.99 per month for a lossless, high fidelity option, has exclusive streaming rights for Beyonce’s LEMONADE. Jay Z has removed his Blueprint albums from all rival streaming services. Rihanna’s ANTI and Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo were all TIDAL exclusives for a period of time before becoming available on other streaming platforms.
Elsewhere in the interview, T.I. analyzes the state of trap music since his rise in the 2000s. He is questioned if the authenticity of the music matters.
“In order for a genre to evolve and sustain a significant level of success over time, it has to commercialize itself,” he says. “It has to expand to the point of familiarity to all walks of life. If it just stay where it was when the term was created at the moment of conception, then it would have fizzled by now. That’s our way of knowing that it means so much to so many people. I try not to get lost in the details of it all because that could take your mind off of the value that you’ve created.”
Watch the interview of T.I. explaining the possibility of The Dime Trap being a TIDAL exclusive below:
Tip catalogue now got more of these pop hits such as whatever you like and wck features and some other sht than whatever you may call original trap music, so I knew I’ll be again skipping tracks right when it was announced, even Da Nic which was aight still had young thug on it. Bankroll mafia joint had not a single track without singing or autotune on it. Sht looks like big homie r@ped the trap music long before the industry did.
Ti really fucked up man…. He will probably have gay thug all over the album knowing no one will buy it once Young Thug is on it….
the dime what now?
I feel like ever since T.I. got out of prison, his albums haven’t been up to par as they once were. The only decent one he put post-prison was Trouble Man. Everything else was just below average. And yes, I think he’s going to fuck around with the present day trap sound that’s been run down to the ground for years rather than using the sound we heard on I’m Serious or Trap Muzik. I’ll more than likely be skipping this one.
your lost. as a long time fan, he has not let me down. enjoy your drake j. blige music.
your lost. as a long time fan, he has not let me down. enjoy your drake j. blige music.
^ Yeah, featured on T.I. album
album going dbl wood…its a shame he hasn’t released a good album in years.
double wood all in yo momma punk. get that hate out ya blood and go get a life.
tip new album will be a classic. he got toomp, dr. dre, and more on that piece. shit gonna be clean as fuck.
What the fuck did you just say lol? Damn. Go learn how to talk fool
Who cares how it’s released? Only like 1200 people will even by his latest flop of shot anyway…
fuck outta here u clown…no matter how much he sell she still doing better in life than you are.
The track DOPE is damn kilin me that so is the hit want to hear more on The Dime Trap