King (T.I. Album) - Recording

Recording

On April 20, 2005 in an interview with MTV T.I. confirmed that he was settling into his fourth solo album, which he would be calling King. The rapper said with a smile to expect a surprise on his follow-up to Urban Legend. T.I. also stated that on this next album it's gonna be monumental. On November 4, 2005 while on tour with Young Jeezy T.I. stated that he had begun recording for the album. On January 10, 2006 it was said that T.I. teamed up with the Underground Kingz for a Mannie Fresh-produced remake of UGK's 1994 classic "Front, Back and Side to Side". That was one of the first two singles from the album. The other record would be a song with the working title "Chirp Back" (however T.I.'s camp said that the title in all likelihood would be changed), which is produced by DJ Toomp, best known for collaborating on T.I.'s biggest record "U Don't Know Me". An earlier version of the new "Front, Back and Side to Side" — minus Pimp C — appeared on the new T.I. mixtape with DJ Drama, Gangsta Grillz: The Leak, which came about after several songs from the King recording sessions leaked onto the Internet. T.I. decided to take all the bootlegged material and feed the streets; he's insisted that none of the songs on the mixtape would appear on King. Late last year of 2005, T.I. told MTV News that he's recorded more than 70 songs for the album, and his rep said the MC recently went back into the lab and now had more than 100 songs to choose from. It was also said that one person who was excited about his work with T.I. was Swizz Beatz, who produced Bring Em Out for T.I.'s 2004 Urban Legend. Swizz Beatz confirmed he did four song for the album. Particularly a song called I Got That, Get It When You Need, it was later changed to Get It. T.I. later confirmed he was still in the process of finding the right mix of songs for the album and, apart from the two aforementioned singles, he was not sure yet which songs would make the cut.

While most of the songs from The Leak were strictly for the street, it was said that there would be two or three that would actually go on the album with a little remixing. For instance, a major R&B star who has had #1 album is going to be playing the piano and singing on "Live in the Sky". Pimp C's vocals will be added to "Front, Back, Side to Side," which already features T.I. and Bun B and is a remake of UGK's 1994 hit of the same name. In an interview with MTV T.I. said that he was actually still recording songs for King and said he'll be making music right up to the deadline. On February 6, 2006 T.I. churned out roughly 65 tracks but only selected the hottest joints. In another interview with MTV T.I. stated and described the album King is like Trap Muzik on steroids, he said. He also stated that everything you loved about his albums in the past has been reincarnated and hit with some nuclear sewage that made that shit mutate into something of catastrophic proportions. On February 21, 2006 T.I. talked about one of the songs that would be on the album that one was one of the more popular songs off T.I.'s The Leak CD is "Live in the Sky", on which he sings the hook "Life's ups and downs, they come and go." Well, on his album King, T.I. will feature a reworking of the piano-driven song with Jamie Foxx singing the hook and playing the keys. T.I. stated that It's dedicated to his cousin Toot, who died right before Trap Muzik came out T.I. said. He also stated that "the song was also dedicated to his homeboy Jay-Ru, who died right before I'm Serious came out. T.I. stated it's about people's misperceptions of T.I. and his life. T.I. said How I feel, it's the exact opposite. It's a lot more problems than people may realize. I had to show them my life is not all that it's cracked up to be, he stated.

Toot is the same cousin who tried to steer T.I. toward positivity and is most notably shouted out on "Rubber Band Man". Jay-Ru was a buddy T.I. used to hustle with. The two had a falling out and Jay-Ru died before the two had a chance to reconcile. "Me and Jay-Ru was still close partners," T.I. explained. We lived together, we was in the streets hustling together. I had got involved with my older son's mom at the time. I moved out of the apartment into my own spot with her. Me and Jay-Ru fell out about that it took a toll on me. To this day I still think about him, especially when I see his daughter T.I. stated. Securing Jamie Foxx on piano wasn't too tough of a task, according to T.I. himself. I sent the word I wanted him to get on it and he got on it the next day, T.I. explained. I was thinking about everybody who could play the piano as well as sing, and Jamie was at the top of my list, T.I. added. T.I. said that he was just about done with his album, but he's not ruling out a last-minute guest appearance by Jay-Z. Hov was supposed to get on a record called "Why You Wanna," but due to scheduling conflicts he didn't make it and Common took his place. The two hooked up while both were in Los Angeles for the Grammys. T.I. would also have recording sessions for the album with record Producers Just Blaze, Keith Mack, Travis Barker, The Neptunes, Kevin "Khao" Cates, Nick "Fury" Loftin and Tony Galvin.