TI Talks About Eminem

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When T.I. releases his T.I. vs T.I.P. album — now
slated for July — it won't just be a one-on-one face off of Clifford
Harris' two musical personas. Plenty of his friends are jumping on it.
Sunday night via phone from Atlanta, T.I. revealed some of the album's
collaborators, and it sounded like a red-carpet roll call at a
high-profile awards show. The biggest names? A guy who knows a thing or
two about split personalities and some cat who T.I. just performed with
at the Grammys.

"I'm
anticipating going in with Eminem," the King of the South revealed.
"Eminem, we got a real hot concept that we spoke over the phone. It's
gonna be on some real creative sh--. JT, Justin Timberlake, we're just
waiting on the proper song to get him on my album as well."

That's
just the beginning. The two-time Grammy Award winner says he has about
60 songs in the can and will once again be working right up to the
deadline to turn the album in.

"I'm working with everybody who I
have an opportunity to work with," he added. "Timbaland, I'm working
with Danja [Handz] today. Scott Storch, Mannie Fresh, Wyclef. He came
through with some real worldly music and great vocals. Nelly, Lil
Wayne, R. Kelly. We reached out to Ciara, gonna see what she says. Akon
did his thing for me. A lot of the Grand Hustle producers: Khao, Black
Mob. ... Just Blaze, we did a song called 'Help Is Coming.' I'm
basically talking about how they say the industry is suffering. Well,
help is on the way. Fret not."

T.I. vs. T.I.P. is undoubtedly
the film/mic star's most conceptual album to date. T.I. is the persona
we hear in songs like "My Love" and "Why You Wanna." T.I.P., on the
other hand, takes care of the much more gutter material like "Bring Em
Out" and "You Don't Know Me." Tip says the LP will give you doses of
T.I. and T.I.P. solo records as well as the two collaborating on the
same track. There will be interludes throughout the LP, telling a story
— and don't be surprised if more than one single from the project is
released at once.

"I'm not just making an album, I'm making
f---in' opera here," he chuckled. With such a high concept, he says
that he's making sure to take extra time and critique every song to be
sure he doesn't lose anyone.

"It'd be easy for me to go over
people's heads," he rationalized. "Sometime people might see me act a
certain way one time and another way one another time. They might not
believe the same cat you see dressed so sharp and winning awards and
speaking eloquently is the same cat you see fist-fighting with hoodlums
outside a nightclub. This album will be an explanation of all of this."

Inspiration
for material is something T.I. is definitely not lacking.
Professionally, he's thrived since the release of King in 2006. He won
two Grammys, received critical acclaim for his part in his Hollywood
debut, "ATL," and filmed "American Gangster" with Academy Award winner
Denzel Washington. The screenplay for "T.I vs. T.I.P." is being written
now, with production for the film scheduled to ramp up this summer. And
lately, Tip's been on a tear as one of the most requested MCs for guest
appearances, featured on Justin Timberlake's "My Love," Jim Jones' "We
Fly High" remix, Fat Joe's "Make It Rain" remix, DJ Khaled's "We Takin'
Over," DJ Drama's "Takin Pictures" and R. Kelly's "Flirt" remix.

Personally,
though, Tip's had some ups and downs. The most heartbreaking low came
last May when he had to endure the loss of his best friend Philant
Johnson after unknown assailants shot at his tour bus following a show
in Cincinnati (see "Deadly Shooting Causes T.I. To Re-Evaluate His
Life"). The death of his friend almost caused him to retire from rap,
period.

"A lot of mixed emotion," T.I. began to detail. "Parts
of me were ready to get out the game completely. I felt the game wasn't
for me. I felt like I was finnin' to kill somebody or do something that
was gonna get me killed. That was the first time I felt about the rap
game what I felt about the dope game. ... Right before I got out of the
dope game, and my son was [about to be born], I sat myself down and
said, 'You gonna mess around and kill somebody and have to deal with
that. Or you might get yourself killed.' "

T.I. said he was ultimately inspired to not give up the mic after his late friend came to him one night.

"Phil spoke to me and said, 'If you quit, I'll kill you,' " he remembered.

Tip
says going back to recording after his brief hiatus was nowhere nearly
as tough as doing shows shortly after losing his friend.

As fate
would have it, after such a tragic loss, Tip was blessed with a life.
He's expecting a baby girl this July with longtime girlfriend Tameka
"Tiny" Cottle. It will be T.I.'s and Tiny second child together. The
two were even engaged, but have recently decided to amicably end their
long relationship and remain friends.

"She's still a part of my
life," he explained the turn their relationship has taken. "I love her
to death. Her children is still my children, my children are still her
children," he said (both have kids from previous relationships). "We
want each other to be happy. It's nothing she did and it's nothing I
did."

While T.I. awaits the birth of child number six and works
on album number five, he'll also be overseeing several other projects
coming off of his Grand Hustle imprint such as DJ Drama's Gangsta
Grillz official album as well as the sophomore project from Young Dro.
There's also a clothing line he's involved in with his manager and
business partner Jason Geter called AKOO