S. Samuel
Atlanta rapper Shawty Lo has revealed who his favorite hometown artists of all-time are and why ex-rap rival T.I. makes the cut.
Shawty’s list also included Young Jeezy and Grammy-winning rapper Ludacris.
“Kilo,” Shawty told DJ Vlad when revealing his first favorite rapper from Atlanta. “Kilo can get it — I’d say [Young] Jeezy and T.I. Jeezy reps what I rep. He seems like a rebel. The same stuff I live, when I was in prison, I heard Jeezy because I said man, ‘This what I think about it, this man here — the way he was rapping about, no real rebel could rep that unless he lived that. That’s what made me accept Jeezy. I’d say Luda and T.I. What I like about Luda is he don’t try to be, he ain’t saying he’s hard. He ain’t saying he sold dope. And he’s a great artist…I like T.I. because he knows how to grab the crowd. He’s been going a long time, since I think 2001. I’ve always been a fan of T.I. Even through what we had, it was a real beef but it’s over with.” (Vlad TV)
Last April, Shawty reflected on his 2008 beef with the “King of the South.”
“I don’t know about the [sophomore] jinx, I know I work very hard — and I know what it takes to be in this situation, I don’t wait on nobody to help me. I just 100 percent to everything I do… Was T.I.’s name mentioned on any song from my [debut] album,” Shawty asked hip-hop personality Gyant. “At the time it was a real beef, but folks thought I had started it but if people were to know the history of it, all my songs like ‘Dey Know,’ they were out before the beef started. Them songs became hits before the T.I./Shawty Lo beef emerged so you know, it just blowed up in the streets like that. Free T.I. and you know, it was never no riding anybody’s coattails because I’m not that type of person. I don’t like to beef with nobody, it just happened to be a beef at the time.” (Gyant Unplugged)
Shawty previously talked about penning a record addressing his past beef with T.I..
“I wrote a song called, ‘Look What You Got’ and I’m talking about all the situations. Me and T.I. situation, Gucci and [Young] Jeezy situation, and how the beefs end. It’s like, let’s just move forward and just do it for the fans because there’s people that look up to us. And we don’t need negativity.” (VIBE)
Around 2009, Shawty explained how he squashed the beef.
“Me and Tip, we talked for about 15 minutes on November 24th [2008],” said Shawty Lo of 2008’s Dirty Awards altercation. “And we just came to a conclusion [that] it ain’t need to go no further. Basically, it’s over with. Homie be home next year. Free Tip. [T.I.’s] last show [before beginning his jail sentence] at Club Crucial I came out and showed – What better place to do it [than] on Bankhead, and show in front of our peoples [that the beef was squashed]? I came on stage, the people saluted and they went crazy.” (Hip Hop DX)
Check out Shawty Lo’s interview down below:
