T.I. Once Revealed He Quit Rap Because It Went Against Everything He Stood For
Rapper T.I. has made his mark on the Hip-Hop industry ever since his debut. But he hasn’t always had a great relationship with the rap industry that he’s a part of. There was a time when the artist seriously considered retiring from music early because of the direction he saw hip-hop headed.
T.I. knew he wanted to rap from a young age
Like other artists, TI always knew he wanted to be in the entertainment industry in some way. The multi-platinum rapper considered himself a unique presence ever since childhood. This led to him knowing he wanted to pursue entertainment professionally, he just didn’t know what path to take yet.
“This is always what I wanted to be. It’s always been my passion. I was always the one who was very outgoing, ambitious, and charismatic; I just always had a different aura, especially from where I came from in Bankhead,” T.I. Once told Forbes. “Bankhead kids aren’t the type to just walk up to you and hold a conversation or articulate themselves, you know what I mean? This is always what I loved and wanted to do, I just didn’t know of any specific avenues or routes to get here.”
T.I. Would eventually parlay his passion for entertainment into the rap industry, where he found the success that made him a millionaire. Currently, Celebrity Net Worth has reported that T.I. Is worth $40 million thanks to his accomplishments in rap.
T.I. wanted to quit rap because of how the music business changed
T.I. Once shared that he was looking for an exit strategy when it came to the music business. This was because rap had changed into an art form he couldn’t respect anymore.
“This is what everyone fails to realize. I want out. I want out, man,” he once told The Breakfast Club )via HipHop DX. “What the game is going to and what has evolved into from a personality standpoint, it goes against what I represent. What I embody, this game contradicts that. I want out. I’m in it because I love music and I have obligations, contractually.”
One of the reasons he turned sour on rap was because of how he believed other rappers were portraying something they weren’t. This led the rapper turned actor to question the credibility of a genre he had fond memories of.
“It was at one time, this music was about speaking to the people who felt like you feel. Now, the people I’m speaking to, they don’t necessarily feel like how I feel. In my day, if you were rapping about something you weren’t really living, that was a strike against you. You were held accountable. Nowadays, nobody even expects you to live up to the things you rap about. That goes against what I represent, what I stand for,” he continued. “So if they outsell me, then that’s just all the more better for me to fade to the back and cross my legs on my desk.”
T.I. wanted to act full-time in his older years instead of rap
The course music was heading also partially motivated T.I. To become an actor. He was already on his way to becoming a successful film actor with his starring role in ATL. He would later have the opportunity to work with Denzel Washington on his film American Gangster. Although the film didn’t pay as much as his music career, he more than enjoyed the opportunity.
“At the time of American Gangster, I was getting $100,000 a show and doing four to five shows a week. And I only probably got $100,000 for ‘American Gangster,’ something like that. But I didn’t mind. I wanted to do it. I like surprising people, man,” he once told LA Times.
This would encourage T.I. To further build up an acting career. Especially since he was beginning to feel like he was aging out of rap music.
“I’d rather be acting full time at 40 than rapping full time at 40,” he said. “I just think — especially the direction that music is going in, hip-hop, especially — I think it’s more suited for a teenager than a 40-year-old. My values, principals, beliefs and things I consider important are worlds away from where they was when I just came in the game,” he said.
