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T.I. has shed new light on his 12th and potentially final studio album, "Kill The King."
Speaking with Insider in an interview last month, the "Rubber Band Man" rapper said the project, which he first announced in 2017, will be a collection of the lessons he has learned throughout his career.
"When you look at my first two albums, 'I'm Serious' and 'Trap Muzik,' you're looking at a young man from the trap who had just been afforded the opportunity to live his dream in a new industry where there was so much to learn and to be done," he said. "Now it's like, 'Okay, this is what I've taken from my tenure.'"
"It is reflective in that sense," he added. "I've been here 20 years now, seen all the sights, rode all the rides. This is my conclusion."
On the album's title, T.I., the self-proclaimed "King Of The South," said: "It's a metaphor for killing the ego."
"A lot of people, they see it as a morbid thing, but it isn't really. It is metaphorical," he explained. "The 'King Of The South'' moniker is something that I introduced to the world and my music supported the claim, people knew my skillset was above par."
"But in the game of chess, the object is to kill the king, so anybody trying to win is gonna be looking to off you," he continued. "So the moniker almost entered a room before I did. It ruffled feathers, which worked just as much to my benefit as it did to my detriment."
"Now, I just feel like I'm at the place I am in my life where I've learned to starve the ego. That's where peace is. 'Kill The King' is a metaphor for that philosophy," T.I. added.
T.I. first rose to prominence in the early 2000s as a young rapper from Atlanta who rapped about the "trap" β a house from which drugs are sold.
His 2003 sophomore album "Trap Muzik" is widely regarded as a rap classic and is credited with the birth of trap music as its own subgenre.
After the release of his fifth studio album "T.I. vs. T.I.P." in 2007, T.I. began to lean into a more radio-friendly style of rap, teaming up with pop stars Justin Timberlake ("Dead & Gone"), Rihanna ("Live Your Life"), and Robin Thicke ("Blurred Lines") to great commercial success.
Now 43, T.I. said "Kill The King" will have the essence of his earlier work but with a modern twist.
"The nuances, the sounds of trap will be there, but it will definitely speak to the times, too," he said. "A lot of people think trap is a glorification of felonious activity, but I look at it as sort of like therapy, because it's my story and I earned the right to share those stories, that testimony with others."
"Just because we got out don't mean that other people ain't still out there trying to find a way, and they need to know
that it can be done," he added.
the King.