Far be it for me to think that I can go in and negotiate terms with a president, and not be taken advantage of. Mine is an accidental activism that I stumbled into. I told Kanye straight up that If I could go in with them, I’m going. He spoke to me about joining in that meeting, and I said I’ll will need someone a whole lot smarter than me to be in that meeting - a Minister Farrakhan, an Ambassador Andy Young, a Harry Belafonte. You don’t sell out a whole generation and a whole race of people to get nothing done. But you don’t just sell out a bunch of people to get nothing done.

To be honest, if something good comes of it, great. You described his action as “the most repulsive, disgraceful, embarrassing act of desperation and auctioning off of one’s soul to gain power I’ve ever seen.” Tell us how you really feel… Speaking of the underserved, Kanye West was meant to address some of those issues during his visit to the White House, but clearly the message got lost. If you are being true to the culture, the lifestyle of people who are forced to live in under-served areas of society, and who have little to no other opportunities than to deal in the drug trade…. I’m just happy to play an instrumental part in creating a lane that allowed people to express themselves.īut you even brought the sway and the swagger of those lyrics to life in the music and the rhythm.įor me, it’s always come down to the subject matter. I don’t think a debt of gratitude is owed. Yes, there was music about the drug trade, but there wasn’t anything as vivid and real about the dealers, that elaborated on the life – to humanize it all in a way that “Trap Muzik” did. There was a lot of party music at that time, a lot of glitz and glamor, and there was conscious music. I wanted to be a voice for the voiceless. To be honest, my whole intention in making “Trap Musik” was to represent a walk of life, a formal representation. You’re a true pioneer of trap, what with 2003’s “Trap Muzik.” Do you feel that those who have taken from that sound – and it is everywhere in hip hop – owes you some debt of gratitude, or do you view it as something to be shared?

Variety caught up with the rapper to talk about his latest, and arguably smartest, album, “Dime Trap” (out this week on Grand Hustle/Epic), just ahead of the October 22 season launch for “T.I.

How many albums did ti dime trap sell