(AllHipHop News) T.I. was a hustler before he was a rapper and the business acumen seems to permeate every aspect of his music endeavors. While appearing on Hot 97 Morning Show, T.I. spoke on the meaning behind his new album Paperwork‘s title, how Beyonce and his release will be similar but VERY different and his movie plans for the album.
T.I. says his “most creative and conceptual album” was his 2008 album Paper Trail.Instead of making Paper Trail 2, T.I. decided to draw inspiration from the concept of Paper Trail, but a different variation of it, for Paperwork:
Paperwork, you know, that’s official. If you got paperwork on something then it’s official. Also, if someone has paperwork on you, it can be some trouble. So it’s official. It’s trouble. It’s authentic. Sounds like me. The music supports this theory very well.
T.I. tells the Hot 97 crew that he recorded 250 records for the record and that Pharrell will be producing the bulk of the new album. After narrowing down a 20 song tracklist for the album, T.I. explains his ingenious method to provide visuals for the album, revealing the storytelling focus of his new album:
Of those 20 [songs on the album], I want to take six records at the top, six records in the middle, six records at the end, with two records as intermissions to the three. And I would like to shoot a movie that consists of three short stories, and the three short stories will connect these six records.
According to T.I., Pharrell suggested that instead of selling Paperwork as one album, to break it up into three EP’s for the three short stories. He plans on releasing the album as a complete package similar to Beyonce’s rollout of Beyonce, however T.I. believes his way of releasing will be more financially beneficial for him than Beyonce’s Beyonce rollout was for her and her label:
Where I see she and I differ is she went and shot individual video one by one by one. That must’ve drove the cost through the roof. Me, myself personally I’m doing three short stories. I’m not doing 18 videos, I’m doing three short stories. So the same way we would shoot an episode of House of Lies. We would take five days. This short story shall be complete. Five days, this short story shall be complete. See that will bring my cost down, which will raise my profit margin.
Check out the full interview which also features Iggy Azalea below: