Taking a break from his community service duties, T.I. recently revealed the details of his upcoming album, Paper Trail and explained how his new music will reflect the lessons he's been force to learn in the last year.
In a call to Atlanta radio station Hot 107.9, Tip spoke upon his newfound understanding which came about as a result of his recent conviction on weapons charges and the community service he's been doing dissuading kids from drugs and violence. As a result, T.I. said Paper Trail may be "ever so slightly" toned down from his last disc, T.I. Vs. T.I.P.
"Not to a great deal or an extra degree of censorship, I'm just making sure this album is much more intelligently and artistically put together," T.I. told 107.9. "I'ma still get loose now. I'ma still do me. But you know when I was living the way I was living, I was rapping the way I was rapping ... A lot of elements that were in my life no longer exist."
As previously reported, T.I. recently leaked the introspective song, "No Matter What," where he got candid about the struggles he endured throughout his federal weapons case.
T.I. said the track was penned right around his lowest point; Christmas time.
"Right after me sensing the affects of not being able to be around my family ... The hating and the rumors were real fresh on the web and on the radio and everybody was really getting their T.I. hate on," T.I. said.
And to his surprise, when he was going through tough times, T.I. said fellow emcees embraced him.
"I wasn't expecting to hear from nobody. I made a point not to reach out to people ... because I didn't want to get none of my trash in nobody else's yard."
But the rapper said Lil' Wayne, Diddy, Jay-Z and Nelly all reached out. Jeezy even came to one of his bond hearings. Yet Tip said he spoke to Busta Rhymes and Eminem the most.
"The only person I spoke to more than Busta was Eminem," he revealed. "Me and Eminem, we stayed in contact, stayed on the phone, making sure each other was doing good."
The rapper has already taken responsibility for the trouble he found himself in, but he blames a certain aspect of himself - his alterego, T.I.P.
"I kinda spoke a lot of things into existence that I should of just let lie," he said about his last album T.I. VS T.I.P. "I kind of opened up some doors and uncovered some emotions that I probably shoulda just left where they were. So now T.I. and T.I.P both got a understanding."
In related news, tomorrow (May 6) T.I. will be doing his first televised interview on BET since pleading guilty to weapons charges. The interview will be aired at 7:30 p.m. EST.
Paper Trail is due in stores in September.
