T.I. Says He’s Going Gangsta On Next Album, Announces “Traps Open” LP

Grammy-winning rapper T.I. is gearing up for the follow-up to last year’s Paperwork: The Motion Picture album and dished on the next release’s overall tone this week.

Barring any changes, Tip will make his upcoming Traps Open album more gritty and gangsta than its predecessor.

“Paperwork, it’s a trilogy. So the first installment, The Motion Picture, it was supposed to be cinematic. It was supposed to be nostalgic, it was supposed to kind of give, an application of, how can I say, the sounds of yesteryear mixed with the hip-hop of today. This next one is going to be unapologetically gangsta, it’s just straight trap music and it’s called Traps Open. [Any features?] Nah, not yet.” (Hip Hop Since 1987)

Check out T.I.’s interview footage on the next page…

Last year, T.I. spoke on the importance of album sales compared to quality of music.

“Don’t get me wrong, everybody wants to do well in everything that they do, but at the same time you have to judge yourself based on a scale of the statistics of what’s considered normal or acceptable for today. Ultimately the fans receiving it and really being able to relate to the music and really appreciating it as much as we appreciated putting it together, that is more important to us at this point in time.” (Rap-Up)

Tip relied on mega producer Pharrell Williams to oversee the LP.

For his first album post-“Blurred Lines,” T.I. has brought on that song’s mastermind, Pharrell Williams, as executive producer. Nothing seems off-limits here – an X-rated slow grind alongside Chris Brown, a post-Trayvon political rant with Public Enemy-ish lyrics, and two unlikely Williams concoctions that sound like robo-Vegas Curtis Mayfield. (Rolling Stone)

Tip’s Paperwork album managed to snag a Top 5 debut when it arrived last October.

The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 80,000 copies in the United States. As of December 10, 2014, the album has sold 157,000 copies. (Wikipedia)