T.I.'s Greatest Competition is Himself On T.I. vs. T.I.P.

- A. Scott Galloway, Music Editor

"Double up on grindin' and cut down on sleepin'!" That was the promise rapper T.I. left us with when we kicked it with him last year upon the release of his King album and his movie debut ATL. Since then, he's stayed patently true to his word. He's about to drop his fifth album, T.I. vs. T.I.P. (led off with the Mannie Fresh-produced lead single "Big Things Poppin'"), a concept album in three parts that showcases the rapper's split personalities in a section apiece, then pits them against each other in the climactic "Act III: The Confrontation." The dual sides of T.I. and T.I.P. made their debut in the flashy "Big Things Poppin'" video and will also come in handy as he launches a clothing line named AKOO (an acronym for A King of Oneself) with fall and winter lines this October. "From grown and sexy to young and thuggin, we're gonna do it all," he claims! "Everything you see me wearing will be the best of T.I. and the best of T.I.P."

T.I. is also co-headlining this summer's "Scream Tour" And, of course, there will be more releases from T.I.'s Grand Hustle record label by DJ Drama (The Mix Tape King), Big Kuntry, Young Dro and B.G. But the biggest news is his presence opposite Denzel Washington in the highly anticipated film adaptation of American Gangster (in theatres November 2). So, indeed, T.I. has been on a steady come-up with enough multi-level projects to make the average person's head dizzy. It's enough to make one forgive his temporary loss of cool in an altercation with Ludacris' manager, Chaka Zulu. He's been making heartfelt public apologies ever since. He's just a hungry brother with a lot on his plate.

Rapper T.I. (born Clifford Harris, Jr.) has been claiming rap royalty status since his 2001 debut, I'm Serious, hit...and he's been steadily handling his business to make it a reality. After being dropped by his first record company (the CD peaked at 150,000 sales), he started his own record company, Grand Hustle with manager Jason Geter and released a CD of uncompromised hood tales titled Trap Muzik, which included the proclamation "King of da South." It was followed in 2004 by the platinum-selling Urban Legend with the banger "Bring `Em Out" and the Grammy-nominated "U Don't Know Me." In 2006, T.I. dropped his fourth album, KING (featuring "What You Know" and "Front Back") – among the best selling rap albums of the year – appeared on Justin Timberlake's Grammy-winning "My Love," and made his film debut as the lead in the coming of age film ATL to glowing critical response.

In the interview that follows, the ever dapper rapper with the ATL swagger discusses the ways of T.I. and T.I.P., his challenging latest film roles and his star-studded new album.

Q: From the looks of things, you must not feel you have any competition if you have to battle yourself on this new record.

A: (laughs) There's nobody out here better than me.

Q: Break down these personalities of yours: T.I. and T.I.P.

A: In a nutshell, Tip is the person I am outside of the industry. I've always been Tip. That's what my momma called me, my partners and anybody who knows me personally from the streets. Now, professionally, anywhere in the public eye as a celebrity, people know me as T.I. So this album is the old me conflicting with the new me. I know I'm not alone in this. Everybody has things they do professionally that conflict with what they would have done personally. I just had the insight to make an album out of it.

Q: Give us an example of how these characters think differently.

A: Tip ain't really with all the Hollywood bullshit. He feels like T.I. lets a lot of shit slide when it should be checked. T.I. feels like Tip ain't good for business! T.I. feels like there's no way we can get to a billion dollars wastin' time checkin' every little piece of bullshit we find and see on the way. Tip feels like it should be more like the way we came into the game...what we believe, how we conduct ourselves, etc. To assume the level of respect we have right here, we've got to maintain that. Then T.I. feels like after we've gotten to a certain level - recognizing who we are on the inside - we can't force everybody else to do what we do. They go back and forth like that.

Q: Do you ever lose track of where Tip ends and T.I. begins?

A: Naw, I can tell them apart pretty well. They're like night and day. A lot of people wonder how the same guy that wrote "Why You Wanna" could write "You Don't Know Me" or how could the same guy that was on "My Love" could be on "Top Back?" It's a significant difference.

Q: You've got a lot of heavyweight guests on this album and have been doing your share of prime guest spots as well. What are the priority points that determine who you decide to get down with?

A: If it's a record, we've both got to be bringing something to the table - from Destiny's Child ("Soldier") to Justin to whomever. I've got a market and a genre of influence and they've got a market and genre of influence. Brand new rappers who ain't never even been on the radio askin' me to get on their record are just tryin' to ride off my success. I ain't havin' that. If I do that, you're going to be a Grand Hustle artist, simple as that. That's business.

Q: Didn't you and Ciara have a song slated for this album?

A: She did the song but I don't know if her managers wanted her to do the song with me. We recorded it together and everything. It was about two people who decide to break up. It was called "Goodbye My Dear." It was my one song where I got full production credit. But it's cool, man. They had their reasons. I ain't trippin'. We're still going out together on the new and improved grown and sexy "Scream Tour" this summer.

Q: You still have a helluva guest list, though.

A: I just made a wish list, reached out to everybody and they answered my call. It was a blessing. I appreciate everybody's involvement. It was a pleasure to work with all of these people on the same level - from Akon to Lil' Wayne to Jay Z to Eminem to Wyclef. Andre 2000 and I have a song we have in mind to do, we just have to get in there and get it done. But the songs I had planned to do with Justin and Timbaland have to wait until the next album. We just ran out of time.

In the future I hope to work with Dr. Dre, Snoop, OutKast, Alicia Keys, Jill Scott and Amy Winehouse. Gnarls Barkley has also been talking to me about doing something. They're crazy as hell and I am, too. Expect to see me show my ass whatever I do!

Q: When you do a song with cats like Busta Rhymes and Nelly, do you come up with a concept exclusively with you and that person in mind?

A: Naw, I usually have the song first. With Busta, I did the first verse, then I had my artist Alpha Omega get on it and blow it up. I was like, "Man, me and Alpha are rappin' like hell on here! Who can we get on here that could sound significant?" And while I was thinkin' about it, Busta walked in the studio on me. I said, "Man, I need you to do somethin' for me." He said, "Bet, make me a CD." He recorded his part that night. That song is called "Hurt." It's tellin' cats you stand a chance of gettin' hurt real bad playing with me the wrong way. It's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt.

The song Nelly and I did is called "Show it to Me." It's me and him goin' back and forth with the ladies tellin' them to show us what they got. We've got a live band behind us - some cats I put together that Black Mob has play for them. We're just standin' on our swag on that one. I did my part in Atlanta then took it to Nelly in Miami so we could do our thing together.

Q: The last time we talked you were introducing the new artist Governor whose album I was really feeling. I didn't see his name listed in your bio as still being a Grand Hustle artist. What's up with that?

A: After Governor's album dropped, he never reached back out to me. Plus, Governor changes his number so much, I'm still lookin' for…matter of fact I'm in Virginia right now lookin' for Governor. I'm just doing my due diligence and handling my responsibilities as an executive, seeing if he wants to start the next album or what his intentions are.

Q: I was disappointed his album didn't do better. I don't think people understood him or took the time to try?

A: That's the thing about people of greatness. You ain't gonna get to understand them right off the riff. If you did, then they'd be just like you. It's gonna take you some time to see what they're saying. It was like that for me, too, so I understand his frustration.

Q: Your film stock has been steadily rising since we last talked and you were bowing with ATL. Now you've got American Gangster with Denzel Washington coming this November, and next year a small film with Danny Glover called Once Was Lost. How has it been for you making the transition from hip hop to Hollywood?

A: I had to bring my A-game working with Denzel, Russell Crowe and (director) Ridley Scott. The importance of it was very well understood. These people have Academy Awards. They could have been real standoffish. But they made my transition very comfortable. I was on set from last September to December.

Q: Have you been taking acting classes?

A: Denzel told me, "Man, keep it real simple. Don't act, just be. You're here for a reason, give it to them." We had a scene together and between takes he told me, "You're a real solid actor." I said, "I appreciate that, D.W. That's what I've been tryin' to tell these folks!" (laughs)

Q: Tell us a little about your character and the storyline.

A: I play his nephew, the youngest member of the Lucas gang - the guy nobody wants in the business because I have other talents. "Frank" (Denzel) is trying to get me to play on the New York Yankees. But the closer I get to that, the more I see I don't want to play ball...I wanna ball! (Rapper) Common plays my father. They put a bushy beard on him and greyed his hair up.

Q: How about "Once Was Lost" with Danny Glover?

A: That's about a friendship that develops between a young drug dealer and a retired jazz player on a road trip from Harlem to Mississippi. The old man needed a ride and the young man has something locked in the old man's case that he's going to Mississippi to retrieve. On the way, the young man finds out the old man is senile and shell-shocked from the war. They wind up learning a lot about each other and from each other.
What I like about this story is it has heart, but is also serious and dramatic - like ATL for grown people. I start shooting that movie in late October.

Q: All these moves that you make seem very smart and strategic. You're always on the road to bigger and better in all you do.

A: I got that from my Pops and my uncles. They gave me a never say die attitude. If I sell a million records, I could have sold two million. If I sold 2 I coulda sold 4. Anything is possible. As long as there's anybody out there doing better than I am, that means I can still do better.