When you think of the best T.I. song of all time, which one comes to mind? Most people will immediately jump to the iconic singles. “What You Know” was a mammoth hit, one that continues to define how people imagine Atlanta today. Then, you could riddle off the dozens of trunk rattlers in his catalog like “24’s”, “ASAP”, and “Rubber Band Man”.
But T.I.’s personal favorite song he’s ever made differs drastically from what you might expect. In an interview chronicling the making of his 2003 classic Trap Muzik, the Atlanta legend explained that “Doin’ My Job”, a soulful Kanye West album cut, is actually his favorite song he has ever made. Few other songs properly distill his coming of age and the lifestyle he led living in Bankhead.
“Those kinda records have a special place in an artist’s heart because they’re pulled from our lives,” T.I. shared with Complex. “Rapping about some of that sh*t on records, that’s a way of us re-living those circumstances. There is no way I can say some of that without thinking about what happened and my relationship with my thoughts— good, bad, or indifferent.”
T.I. Shares the Personal Stories That Informed His Favorite Song ‘Doin’ My Job’
Then, the self-proclaimed King of The South recalled the turbulent times that informed “Doin’ My Job”. “It’s real-life sh*t that went in that song. We was 14, 15 years old, and we used to cut school, hustle in front of the apartment, all day, all night. We kept a low profile,” T.I. reflected.
“But there were a lot of old ladies, moms, and people who were there. They would see us dealing, breaking the law. While we was back there, there were break-ins, there were stolen cars, we out there doing what we doing, but [we weren’t doing that]. We wanted sh*t to run smooth too because we need this to operate.”
Being able to express how those desperate times made him feel was pivotal for T.I. at the time. As an artist, nothing made him happier as an artist than getting the kind of production and feeling that allowed him to be totally transparent about his life.
“On a song, there is no interruption. It’s gonna force you to listen and think,” T.I. said. “That’s one of the most special records because I knew there was so many people who were willing to say the same sh*t, they just didn’t know how to articulate it. It gave me great pride to be able to convey that message. That opportunity doesn’t come often in music, especially the kind of music that I do.”
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