(AllHipHop News) Tip dropped his latest EP Da’ Nic independently through his Grand Hustle Records and Empire Distribution. The artist formerly known as T.I. was signed with Columbia Records for his previous LP Paperwork, but the Atlanta spitter has since parted ways with the major label.
Tip told the Associated Press:
We did the first project and we both made money. We didn’t shock the world or blow the roof off of what we intended to do. But I think that I walked away with a positive enough experience to say I’m good. I really don’t have a problem with them. They were good partners. We shared that moment. … I don’t think it was impressive enough of a project or a rollout or relationship that either one of us needed to stay longer and invest more.
Earlier this year, Pharrell – the executive producer on Tip’s Paperwork – expressed he was not happy about the way the album was presented. He said at the time, “They did that record hoping for radio play, and they got nothing out of it…. Great, you got your No. 1 Hip Hop song. But what does that do for your sales?”
Pharrell later clarified his comments about Paperwork adding, “I love T.I.’s album, he is a genius. There was a different single more appropriate for the current temperature in society.”
Tip’s longtime collaborator DJ Toomp also stated publicly that he was not the biggest fan of his musical partner’s last LP. He even revealed he was not on board with all of the T.I./Pharrell collaborations on the project.
“There have been a few Pharrell and Tip collabs that I could dig, but on some of these joints I was like, ‘They’re cool, but I don’t think they’re ready for this,’” stated Toomp. “There were a lot of songs on that album that I felt weren’t ‘2015.’”