Immediately following his release from prison in September, T.I. got to work crafting his eighth solo album, Trouble Man, which he plans to debut early in 2012. During a recent stop in New York to promote his VH1 series, “T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle,” the Atlanta rapper and reality star told MTV News that he had 50 new songs recorded for the album in a matter of weeks.
“My life inspires my lyrics at all times, so at that moment in time, when I first came home, I have about 15 songs just totally focusing on that,” T.I. said. “Out of those 15, I probably picked the two or three most significant, most compelling, impactful ones, and after I’ve been out for a minute, then I’ve got records totally focusing on speaking to people who can only focus on that and telling them I’m ready to move on.”
The title of T.I.’s latest project is inspired by a 1972 Marvin Gaye song of the same name, which Tip felt was an accurate description for the body of work. “The name of the album is Trouble Man, and every song on here is about things that can get me in trouble,” he explained. “I’m reminiscing on the days when I used to run wild and do my thing the way I used to do it. I’ve got records that are just totally intellectually ignorant.”
During his time behind bars, T.I. dropped his seventh album, No Mercy, and although it debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 chart, the Rubberband Man plans to top that effort without breaking a sweat. “I was able to release a project that did well considering the circumstances, but I wasn’t able to put my all into it, which made it only a fraction of my usual contribution to the game,” he said.
So far, T.I. has released three singles from Trouble Man: “I’m Flexin’ ” featuring Big K.R.I.T. was the first to debut, followed by “Here Ye, Here Ye” featuring Pharrell Williams and his latest, “Pyro.
via MTV News
