T.I.: 'I Created Trap Music'

The King of the South is coming back for the crown. The Atlanta rapper’s next album will be a call back to his 2003 album, Trap Muzik.

During an interview with Power 105’s Angie Martinez, Tip made the announcement. “We’re just going to make sure that we give everybody the best Tip album that we can give them,” he said. “I’m going for trap music on this. A lot of people don’t really know that I created trap music. I didn’t think I got that old.”

“There was no such thing as trap music prior to me,” he continued. “No such thing. It didn’t exist. It was Outkast and crunk. It was Organized Noize and crunk.”

In 2003, Tip released his second album Trap Muzik, which spawned his first major hits, including “24’s,” “Let’s Get Away,” and the Kanye West-produced “Doin’ My Job” and “Let Me Tell You Something.” The intro explained the album’s concept. “This ain’t an album,” he rapped. “This ain’t a game. This the trap. Trap Muzik!”

Since then, the term “trap music” has taken a life of its own, becoming a sub-genre along the way. Today, it’s one of the more popular forms of hip-hop. But this isn’t the first time Tip has asserted this claim. In 2012, he said the same thing to Hot 97’s Funkmaster Flex.

“Before I came in the game, it was Lil Jon, Outkast, Goodie Mob,” he said at the time. “Okay? So you had crunk music and you had Organized Noize. There was no such thing as Trap Muzik. I created that. Yes, I did. I coined the term. It was [my] second album, it dropped in 2003…Google it. It’s real. After that, there was an entire new genre of music created, an open lane for each of you to do what you do, and live your lives on TV and be accepted by the masses. The masses have accepted you because I opened the door and you walked through it. Don’t forget who opened that door.”

In December, Tip dropped his latest album, the politically-charged Us or Else: Letter to the System.