Popular rapper TI, who has been rapping and making music since he was barely 8 years old, is announcing his retirement. Following the release of his 12th and final album, ‘Kill the King’ on June 26, the rapper confirmed in a recent interview that he is taking a step away from music altogether.
TI announces retirement from music
During one of his recent interviews, the rapper admitted that he has been looking to taking a step back from music for some time now. Not only that, but while talking to PEOPLE about his decision, the rapper shared that he has been living that way for a while now, and that he simply likes being home.Further on he added, “I just kind of got used to being home and being around, and I just didn’t want to do so much, for lack of better words, work.” While taking about his final album, TI shared that he owed this much to his fans and the world who have been the reason behind his fame and success. He added, “I don’t think that I could just disappear all of a sudden and nobody know why I’ve never put nothing out [again]. So I think that to have a project and say, ‘Hey man, this is it. Thank you for all the love and support.’ I’ll catch y’all on the flip side.”
TI reveals the real reason behind his final album’s title ‘Kill the King’
The rapper also explained the reason behind titling his last album ‘Kill the King’, stating that it came from a phrase that fellow rapper, Big Boi once told him. He shared during the interview that when he had started out in the music industry, he had talked to a lot of already established rapper. While many of them had given him all kinds of advice, it was Big Boi’s words that stuck with him through all of these years.He added, “Big Boi said, ‘just understand you going to put a bullseye on your back. You going to put a bullseye on your back and ain’t nobody going to be looking to do no favors for you’. He said, ‘Chess is a game of life. The game of the game in chess is to kill the king.’ And at that moment, I knew that that would be the title of my last album.”He further commented that he feels that he has gotten everything from his career that he felt he could get, and is now looing forward to supporting his sons, Damani and King. “I still enjoy recording and performing but I think maybe because my sons and stuff are getting so much older and they entering into the business and it just feel like, man, I’ve gotten everything I prayed for, man, from the game”, he added.TI has been making music since he was 8 years old, and started selling his own mixtapes by the age of 15. In 2001, after officially signing with a music label, he released his debut album, ‘I’m Serious.’