T.I. stopped by The Breakfast Club to tell his story recording and debating on “Ye’ vs. The People,” where the Atlanta legend went back and forth with Kanye West over his support of Trump, far-right personalities, and wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat. A video was released on Kanye’s website that showed the two talking about their point-of-views before recording the track.
The two hadn’t seen or talked to each other in 6 years before bumping into each other in a hotel lobby. The two agreed they wanted to work together before Yeezy went on his conservative and “free thinking” Twitter storm.
“This is the fastest record I’ve ever recorded in my life. It happened at the end of a four-hour long discussion we were having,” T.I. said. “We stepped outside and had a discussion and I was like ‘whats up, man? I’m sure you have a very logical explanation to all of this. What’s the punchline? I’m sure you got something that’s going to make sense in my head, I’ve just got hear it.’ He said, “man, just being a free thinker, man.”
Kanye continued his explanation according to T.I., saying, “I just felt free to think whatever it is my mind leads me to think without some monolithic view of what society wants me to think’ I’m like, “hmm… whats up with the hat bro.” He is like, “man, my subconscious spoke with my conscious and it just moved me to wear the hat.’”
“I just felt free to think whatever it is my mind leads me to think without some monolithic view of what society wants me to think” I’m like, “hmm… whats up with the hat bro.” He’s like, “man, my subconscious spoke with my conscious and it just moved me to wear the hat.”
According to TIP, when he confronted him about what the MAGA hat represents, Ye said, “Not when I wear it though. Just like we did with the word n***er We took the power from the word and now we use the word as our own,” I was like, “that’s not the same.’”
“Have you thought about the people who supported you that you hurt when you put the hat on,” and then he looked different. I could see an epiphany. “Hurt someone for having my own opinion? I said “yeah, people believe in you and they see you as a certain way. They support you and you go support someone who is directly against them. It’s like supporting the enemy. He’s like, “I didn’t think about that.” I can see in his face he’s like, “I didn’t mean to do that.”
T.I. also talked about seeing Meek Mill once he was released from prison, who invented Trap Music, and much more. Watch the full interview below.
Dee Beasley is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of FreshAsFrankie.com. After starting out as a musician-producer he went on to study the music business and work in Urban Promotions, followed by artist management. Mr. Beasley entrepreneurial spirit has led him to launch numerous businesses in music and fashion marketing. He’s a huge fan of the ’80s and ’90s Hip Hop and R&B, and he’s a firm believer that Hip Hop Music will never die.