Last night (March
27), a number of tastemakers, artists and label executives gathered at The Bombay
Sapphire Lounge at Tribeca Cinemas in New York City for the red carpet premiere
of T.I.’s debut film ATL.
The Chris Robinson-directed
film tells the story of four teenage friends growing up on Atlanta’s south side
while going through various trials and tribulations.
"To me the
film is about dreams and that anything is possible," Chris Robinson told
AllHipHop.com. "You can stray from your path or you can not want to know
what you gonna do but as long as you stay focused anything is possible."
"It was a
great script. The script came to me— it had a lot of heart and soul in it,"
Robinson continued. "It just crushed me in that way where I felt like I
went through this experience and I wanted to make people feel something. I wanted
to tell a story and create characters that really touched people."
The film also
shows the versatility and growth that the self-proclaimed King of the South
has experienced. Warner Music Group president, Kevin Liles told AllHipHop.com,
"The movie did a good job of representing the T.I. brand and Grand Hustle
brand. Chris Robinson is one of the greatest directors out there and I wish
him the best of luck."
Queen Latifah,
Usher, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, DJ Drama, T.I.’s group the P$C, Avery
Storm, Tisha Campbell and Duane Martin were among the attendees at the premiere.
"I appreciate
all of the love and support; I appreciate the warm welcome into the film industry.
I appreciate the opportunity to be involved with such a film of this magnitude,"
T.I. told AllHipHop.com. "This really helps my movement and if anybody
follows my career they know how important it is for me to lead than to follow.
Warner Bros., Chris Robinson and the cast made this possible for me and I really
appreciate it. I done did everything, now I just got to sit back and let it
go."
ATL hits
theaters nationwide on Friday (March 31).
In related news,
T.I. released his fourth solo effort, King, today. The album features
cameos by Young Jeezy, Jamie Foxx, UGK, BG, Young Dro and more, as well as production
from Just Blaze, DJ Toomp, Neptunes and others.
