T.I. has an album on the back burner that he is calling the second coming of Trap Music, but the Dr. Dre assisted project, appropriately titled "The Dime Trap" [for it being his 10th], will have to wait. The rap mogul turned actor told Hot 97 that he can't see himself "really go in the studio and make music about throwing money up in the club and having a good time," with the current state of violence and injustice at the hands of police in the Black community, saying, "You know what I'm saying? It just don't seem responsible right now."
In a move that falls in line with Tip's recent streak of social awareness, he has instead recorded a mixtape that he plans to drop before the week's end. The project is called Us or Else, and in explaining it's name the 35-year-old Atlanta boss expanded on it's purpose, saying the tracks speak to "equality for us, or else, unity for us, or else, stop killing us, or else. It's basically my take on things that are going on, how we got here, why we're here, speaking to the oppressor, and you know just trying to put something out there that is a platform for people to speak, so that we could address it, move past it."
T.I. broke news about the sudden drop after delving deep into a discussion on institutional racism, in which he explains how it is essential to tackle so called "black on black violence" in order to meet the larger objectives in the community, stating: "Whenever you have a group of people, a race of people, a community of people, a family of people that stick together no matter what, through thick and thin, it's much more difficult to do these people unjust. If there is a separation or a disparity between this group of people, then it's much easier to pick them apart when they're separating. Whether that's from a financial perspective, whether that's from a police brutality perspective, you know, it's easier to do them wrong or to not consider them, or you know, take advantage of them or not take them seriously if they're all separated."
He also spoke on his involvement with a Black Lives Matter protest earlier in the month and went into detail about a movement he is collaborating on with Killer Mike and Usher to boost investment in Black banks and Black-owned businesses. "We're banking Black, banking small, banking local," he said. "And the purpose of that is, if we move our power, which is our finances, over into the hands of people who are willing to partner with us, and who are willing to give small business loans to Black people, who are willing to give 80 to 150 thousand dollar loans for homes to Black people, that allows us to build our Black communities, it allows us to build credit, and you know just continue to create opportunities within our own communities the way that others have been able to do for generations."
Source: urbanmecca.net
