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When T.I. and Young Dro walk into a room together, it feels less like an interview and more like a family reunion. The Atlanta heavyweights recently linked with Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur and DJ Thoro for a lively conversation that bounced between music, culture and life lessons.
The Hip-Hop legends offer an unfiltered conversation about new music, chart success, ATL culture, and retirement rumors. Atlanta icons discussing an upcoming PSC Gangsta Grillz project is peak Hip-Hop. T.I. also responds to comments from music exec-turned-podcaster Ray Daniels and other critics who question his career choices.
The conversation dives into working with Pharrell and Dr. Dre, the success of “Let Em Know,” and how the Atlanta movement remains united across generations. Young Dro shares updates on his upcoming solo project with Metro Boomin and his sobriety journey. Tip also opens up about acting, filmmaking, the 20th anniversary of ATL, and why he refuses to compromise creatively even when Hollywood pressures artists to do so.
This interview is packed with insight, humor, and real talk from two of Atlanta’s most influential artists.
Oh, and yeah, 50 Cent.
Chuck Creekmur: That’s what’s going on. So let’s jump right into it. Y’all got a project. You got a Gangsta Grillz coming.
T.I.: Yeah, PSC Gangsta Grillz, man. Still in the streets, man. We got a record off that project being released this Friday called “Straight From the A” — myself, Young Dro, Big Kuntry King, DC Young Fly. It’s an anthem for the city, man, to come together. We came to uplift the town, you feel me?
Chuck Creekmur: I love how Atlanta sticks together. Is that fair to say? Or is that a myth? Everybody had their moment, but overall, for the most part?
T.I.: Definitely. If we don’t like nothing else about you, we love that you from the town.
Yung Dro: Yeah, that’s a fact.
Chuck Creekmur: What keeps y’all’s crew so tight? Me and Dro have interviewed y’all together before. What keeps y’all close?
T.I.: I think what should probably be studied more is what makes crews not tight.
Yung Dro: Ego, money, women…
T.I.: Yeah. The absence of that. Women and money are the main two things.
Yung Dro: Creative differences too.
T.I.: I think ego more than that. You need ego for either of those things to be implemented. Selfishness, jealousy, lack of love for oneself. If you don’t see God in yourself, you ain’t going to see God in nobody else. If you always focusing on somebody else’s blessings, then you definitely won’t notice your own.
Chuck Creekmur: Definitely. Now let’s keep it a buck. You got a hit record right now, which is kind of rare.
T.I.: Thank you.
Chuck Creekmur: In this state of the music industry, the music business. Why you say that?
T.I.: We got a lot of hip-hop hit records. Not as of late, but we’ve had a lot of hits.
Chuck Creekmur: Name a Hip-Hop hit record lately.
T.I.: That’s subjective too.
Chuck Creekmur: Just name one.
Dro: “Not Like Us” was a huge one.
Chuck Creekmur: That was 2024 though, right?
T.I.: I was going back further than that. Future had records too, but yeah, we haven’t had a recent hit. That’s fair.
Chuck Creekmur: And by the way, your song is still going up the charts. It’s not like it just cracked Top 40.
T.I.: That’s a blessing. It’s early, bro. It’s only week number five. We number one at Urban, cracking Top 20 at Rhythmic, and I think we number 38 on the Billboard Hot 100. Number one on Shazam. Number two on YouTube. I don’t know what Bruno Mars got going on, but he out of here. We also number one Hip-Hop/R&B.
Chuck Creekmur: Dro, you seem to still love rapping. Is that true?
Young Dro: Yeah, I feel good, man.
Chuck Creekmur: Weren’t you in the car rapping and somebody pulled up on you?
Young Dro: Yeah, we were doing Cadillac Chronicles and some girl pulled up on the side bumping the record. You couldn’t pay for that.
Chuck Creekmur: Which record was it?
Young Dro: “Shoulder Lean.”
T.I.: Classic. Was it a fan or one of your thousand cousins?
Young Dro: It was a fan.
T.I.: Dro has a thousand cousins in Atlanta.
Young Dro: The hardest thing in the world is to throw a Dro show. You going to have a thousand cousins. My daddy got 13 kids. My mama got five boys and 38 grandchildren.
Chuck Creekmur: Tip, I love the art of rapping. I love hearing the words being put together and turned into a hit record, but it’s still rapping. Do you still put a lot of time into the art or is it effortless?
T.I.: Effort applies. Sometimes it happens so fast that it don’t seem like it. But more than the effort, it’s the intention. Actually caring about the outcome. A lot of times people just go in there and do something and leave because they don’t really care. I really care about doing dope stuff.
DJ Thoro: Let me tell you — that “Let Em Know” record? That’s top-tier lyricism. My favorite rapper is Big L, so it’s hard for anybody to impress me lyrically. Did you have to hear the beat first or did you already have it planned out?
T.I.: It happens different ways. I don’t have pages of lyrics. But for that particular record, yeah, I heard the beat first and then went at it.
DJ Thoro: That joint is dope. And I want to commend Pharrell too because he got range.
T.I.: Yeah, that’s Pharrell. That record is dope.
Chuck Creekmur: I was at Delaware State and the students mentioned your record. They like the record, I like the record. That’s something you don’t see a lot — that connection between the generations. How do you feel about having a record that brings people together like that?
T.I.: It’s a blessing. I just think when you put positive energy out, positive energy returns.
Chuck Creekmur: Let’s talk about your family unit — and Dro’s included in that. I felt like y’all really remained solid in the midst of a negative situation.
T.I.: To say “came together” implies that we were once separated. We remain together. We’ve always been together.
Chuck Creekmur: That’s a fact. As a father, how did you feel seeing your sons jumping in defense of their mom?
T.I.: All of it is very unfortunate. Terrible. It’s terrible that something like this had to happen around something that was intended to be so positive for fans and people who love the culture. But at a point, it was a mandatory evil.
DJ Thoro: Let’s go back to the music. Is Pharrell only on that one track?
T.I.: Nah, we done did plenty of records.
DJ Thoro: What features are we looking at on the project?
T.I.: Dro on there, of course. PSC. Weezy the producer. Usher. DJ Toomp. Pharrell. T-Pain. 2 Chainz is on that record too. So much to speak of.
Chuck Creekmur: Are you swinging for the fences with this album?
T.I.: What that mean?
Chuck Creekmur: I mean are you aiming above what’s expected?
T.I.: So you asking me if I’m trying to make a dope album?
Chuck Creekmur: Basically, yeah.
I saw Ray Daniels say something — paraphrasing — that the problem with Tip was he was chasing hits.
T.I.: Whose problem? Was it a problem for him? Was it a problem for me?
Chuck Creekmur: I didn’t agree with him, by the way.
T.I.: Somebody who ain’t able to do what I do can’t tell me how to do it. Unless he can go in there and do better than me, then he can’t tell me how to do what I do.
DJ Thoro: That’s my issue too. Too many people hold the mic as spectators of Hip-Hop, not participants. So their opinion is not valid to me. They never accomplished anything in the art itself.
T.I.: He entitled to his opinion, whatever. But I’d love to talk to him about it in person.
Chuck Creekmur: Fair enough. So how did DC Young Fly get into all this?
T.I.: He from Atlanta.
Young Dro: He’s singing.
T.I.: DC rap too though. DC one of those people who can damn near do anything.
Chuck Creekmur: Y’all doing a Gangsta Grillz.
T.I.: The very first one. We struck the match. Now we fanning the flames.
Chuck Creekmur: Atlanta definitely made that stamp.
Chuck Creekmur: What about acting?
T.I.: I got two films in post-production that I directed, wrote, produced. One I even starred in. One is a sequel to the first film I directed called Da ‘Partments, which you can watch on Tubi right now. This is Da ‘Partments 2. It’s a comedy set in apartments in Atlanta where you observe how these people live and what they get into.
The next one is a romantic comedy called Thought She Was the One. Ensemble cast: myself, Terrence J, Tyler Chronicles, Kountry Wayne, Brittany Hall, Dominique Perry, and more. It’s about people moving around the city looking for love.
Chuck Creekmur: Can we get you and Lauren London back together for ATL?
T.I.: There’s something happening between Warner Bros. and Paramount or Netflix or something. We got to let that settle and then start having those discussions. This is the 20th anniversary of ATL. We’ll probably get together to celebrate that shortly.
Chuck Creekmur: What about the 25th anniversary of I’m Serious?
T.I.: It’s coming.
Young Dro: Best Thang Smokin’ 20th anniversary this year too.
Chuck Creekmur: We got to celebrate these things.
T.I.: We going to celebrate all of it.
Chuck Creekmur: I’m proud of y’all, man. And congratulations on five years sober.
Young Dro: Five years today. God sustains me. Without the Word to keep me on the path, I’ll fall short.
Chuck Creekmur: Tip, I remember talking you out of retirement once.
T.I.: And I put out an album then. And then I retired.
DJ Thoro: What if the demand outweighs your desire to retire?
T.I.: What, I’m supposed to wait until there’s no demand before I retire? Bro, it’s somebody else’s turn. I don’t want to be the old dude sucking up all the light.
Somebody “pauses” him and laughter ensues
Chuck Creekmur: New York doesn’t hate you, though.
T.I.: Why you think I think that?
Chuck Creekmur: I get the vibration you got a chip about New York.
T.I.: I love New York. If I moved from Atlanta, I’d move to New York. When I was young, Tony Starks, Purple Tape, Raekwon — that was my stuff. I was on Nas, It Was Written, Jadakiss, Biggie, Life After Death. I love New York. I’m just observing. Everybody from New York ain’t going to like me, but a lot of people do.
Young Dro: Same in Atlanta. Everybody don’t like me there either.
Chuck Creekmur: That’s hard to believe.
Young Dro: My baby mama.
Chuck Creekmur: That’s universal right there. What about a solo project, Dro?
Young Dro: I got one on the way with Metro Boomin. After Futuristic Summa, everybody took that so well. We still got a single out called “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” with me, Travis Porter, and Gucci Mane. But after that, Metro wanted to do a project on Dro — and also wanted to do a project on Dro and Tip.
DJ Thoro: Did y’all sample Cyndi Lauper?
Young Dro: We didn’t sample it. Just the idea.
DJ Thoro: Funny enough, Cyndi Lauper is on the ninth floor in this building. She’s got a studio here.
Young Dro: That’s crazy. I loved Cyndi Lauper as a kid.
Chuck Creekmur: Man, I appreciate y’all for coming through.
T.I.: Congratulations to y’all too. This 30 years for you, right?
Chuck Creekmur: Nah, 28.
T.I. We rounding up. Love and respect, man. Congratulations. Appreciate y’all for uplifting the culture and never compromising. Showing up in the right places, making sure people know what they need to know, telling it like it is and not how people want it to be.
Chuck Creekmur: Appreciate that, man.
T.I.: What are you proud of right now?
Chuck Creekmur: I’m proud of my team. I’m proud of us. We in the trenches.
T.I.: Why ain’t y’all ever do movies and documentaries and all that stuff?
Chuck Creekmur: We working on that. Trust me, we cooking. That’s the good thing about sticking around. You got 30 years of archives, 30 years of ideas, and you still in the game when a lot of people fell to the wayside.
DJ Thoro: We participants, not spectators.
