Grammy-winning rapper T.I. has offered fans a small update on his upcoming King Uncaged album and said studio sessions with hitmakers Timbaland and Swizz Beatz are scheduled.
Tip claims his first post-prison album is near completion.
"We got a few big, big, big sessions coming up next week: Timbaland, Swizz Beatz," T.I. said in an interview over the weekend. "I'm trying to show up and show out every time." Tip also gave a progress update on the album. While he's got dozens of tracks already in the can, he's looking to make his new songs better than ever. "The album is coming along nicely. I've recorded about 85, 90 songs, and I'm still trying to top those records."
Recent reports suggest Tip is also working with Jim Jonsin and B.o.B. on the production side.
T.I. is breaking free with his seventh studio album. The Atlanta rapper has announced a title for his next release. The follow-up to 2008's double-platinum Paper Trail will go by the name of King Uncaged, it was revealed today via Tip's website TrapMuzik.com. He has been recording with Jim Jonsin, B.o.B, Danja and The Runners for the August 17th release. A buzz single "I'm Back" is currently No. 65 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The rapper recently compared his project to the late Tupac Shakur's All Eyez on Me.
T.I. is setting the bar high for his post-prison album, King Uncaged, comparing it to Tupac's 1996 classic All Eyez on Me, which was released months after 'Pac got out of prison. "This is the most significant return from incarceration that the game has had since then," T.I. says. "Just given the enormous success of that project, everyone's expecting the same results. I just want to meet the expectations, if not surpass them."
After releasing King Uncaged artwork featuring himself and a lion this month, Tip explained the cover's overall motivation.
"I'm known as 'the King.' Although it's disputed by some, concurred by most, there ain't no disputing that lion--that is what it is. So I went and told them, 'Get me as close as you can to a lion.' He had a trainer holding him on a chain. They took the chain out [in post-work]. It really went down. I wanted to pet him. I said, 'Let me get hands on.' They were like, 'No. We could only let you do but so much.' So I did as much as they would allow me to do...I figured we had to do some kind of slick and meaningful imagery to say the obvious without doing the obvious. I tried to flip it as much as I could. I wanted it to be a a busy city street. My original idea was to lock down Times Square and let me and the lion do the same thing right there, but we couldn't quite pull that off; they said it had to be in controlled environment. They tried to a artsy kind of drawing. It looked good, but it didn't serve my purpose--it was just a painting. I figured, if it got to be a controlled environment, we may as well just keep it all the way simple make it black and white, white background, me, him, cool chair."
King Uncaged is set to drop Tuesday, August 17th.
Check out a recent T.I. interview below:
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