Along with our premiere of T.I.'s "About The Money" remix (now featuring Lil Wayne and Jeezy), Life + Times had an exclusive interview with the ATLien about his new album, the other projects he has on the way, the new cats coming out of the ATL and more.
Tip reveals some interesting information about the other albums he's been working on, to follow up Paperwork. Earlier in the year the rapper claimed he was going to be dropping three albums, plus a movie. We haven't received any updates on these other two albums, until now. While talking to Life + Times, Tip says the next album, or rather, "second act" is called The Return, and following that, the "third act" is called Love & Liability. Apparently the former is going to be as much like Trap Muzik as we can get (for those of us who thought Paperwork didn't have enough Trap Muzik is in it), while the latter is going to be like a gangster version of 808s & Heartbreak. Sound good to you? Read T.I.'s explanation below.
"It’s still three separate projects. At first, what it was was three separate sections of an album. I’d compare it to a play. It would’ve been like taking an album and having the first act, which is Paperwork, the second act, which is The Return and the third act, which is Love & Liability, and having them all have different themes. It’s just that the music grew. Each of these columns became strong enough to stand on their own. The first is Paperwork and it is conceptually a timeless tale of the making of a young G. You know what I’m saying? It’s the things that must be done in order for him to be the person that he is today.
It’s the journey of, but it’s also bigger than him. It’s like a motherfucker was almost born into it. It’s certain applications of skill and certain manifestations that must take place for it to really come into fruition, but the tools or the foundation was already put out there by his daddy, his granddaddy, his uncles, his momma, etc. It was ordained. That’s the theme of Paperwork. The second one is called The Return and it’s going to be the closest thing to Trap Muzik I think people have seen. It’s going to be unapologetic, straight up gangster shit. The third one, Love & Liability is the story of a young man, who is a solid cat, but his heart finds him in relationships with people who he probably shouldn’t be in relationships with, because of the people they’re in relationships with. It’s a gangster version of 808s & Heartbreak. So those are the three sections. Paperwork is just the first."
The Kang of the South also spoke on the new Atlanta, and how "different" the sound is. "It’s supposed to be different," T.I. says before going on to compare Young Thug to Andre 3k, "I think that the sound has become so broad. You got a nigga like Young Thug, who is as hood as he can be, yet is as broad also. That’s really the first nigga since Andre 3000 that was really willing to go there with it. He’s like, “Fuck what niggas say. I know who I am. I know what I’ll do.” That to me, along with the maintaining of the skills and the core principles of what we call hip hop matters. Sometimes motherfuckers get caught up in not understanding what he says, but we didn’t understand everything Bone Thugs-N-Harmony said. We didn’t know everything Busta Rhymes or Twista said. We ain’t know everything James Brown said, but if the shit was dope then it was dope. Migos ushered in a whole other cadence, which was crazy. That was kind of – I don’t want to minimize their efforts, but on some Das EFX type shit like when they came in with that cadence and bum stiggedy bum stiggedy bum. Everybody wanted to flow like that. They ushered in a new style and that’s what the Migos have done, regardless of what you think about them. And they have hits. After “Versace” people were like, “What else are they going to do?” Now they got “Fight Night” and “Handsome and Wealthy.” I think Rich Homie Quan has shown some substantial viability as well. The record with him and Problem was a problem. I think people like Thug, Rich Homie Quan and Migos are doing their thing, and there are a lot of other cats that are showing promise in Atlanta. I think the future of Atlanta has prosperity."