New Video: Got Your Back by T.I. ft. Keri Hilson
"I'm kickin' 30 down this year, so it's about time to start thinking about an exit strategy. I'm not saying this is my last album or the next album is my last album, but I don't see myself rappin' for 10 or 20 more years. Although I could. Let's say I do it for five more years, and after that, when I do an album, it'll be an event. It's not going to be day in, day out. Maybe every two or three years, a world tour, the whole shebang....... "
"It's within your rights to do anything to protect your well-being, right? That's well within the law. If my life is being threatened, I have every right, legally, to protect my life and my loved ones. So that wouldn't be getting in trouble at that point. Everybody takes everything so literal and so…I don't know. You could spit on the concrete in public and get the same reaction: "Oh, I thought Tip was done getting in trouble. What is he doing spitting on the concrete? What is he doing jaywalking?" The best thing I can do is continue to live my life the best way I know how.......
When I was goin' through it [in reference to his bid in prison], I really felt like it added insult to injury. The lesson had already been learned. I already understood the errors in my ways and made the adjustments necessary. It did make me worse in a sense that, before I went in, I was already on a path of positivity. Putting me in prison took me off that path a little bit, and now I'm working to get back on that path—or at least back on the path to the extent that I was before I went in. I'm still not as bad as I was before this incident, but I lost a little bit of my positive focus during that period of incarceration. Being in that environment and having those daily surroundings, it's going to affect you."
