Interview with T.I. and DJ Toomp

T = T.I.
DJ = DJ Toomp
S = James G. Spady

S: T.I., what music did you hear in your home while you were growing up in Atlanta?

T: L.L. Cool J…

S: What music did your parents play?  Were they playing L.L. Cool J?

T: Nah, nah, nah.  They were playing Luther Vandross, Frankie Beverly and Maze, Isley Brothers, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Anita Baker and Whitney Houston.

S:  What was the first rap album you bought with your own money?

T: Mannnnnnn!!  The first album I remember buying, or actually, I persuaded my grandmama to buy it for me was 2 Live Crew's "As Nasty As You Wanna Be."  She didn’t know much about the music and so I got her to get it.

[T. I. turns to DJ Toomp and says, "Toomp, didn’t you do something on Luke’s album"?]

DJ: Yeah, I did a lot of Luke's stuff back then.

S: For a long time, the most popular and best-known Hip Hop artists were in New York, Philadelphia and the West Coast.  At that time, ATL was not even mentioned in the same breath.  But in the last few years, Atlanta has really come to the forefront of the Hip Hop Cultural Movement.

T: I think it was a combination of things... What do you think, Toomp?

DJ: Really, just from it being a growing city and having a lot of talent. Folks like T.I. and Jeezy and a lot of other new rappers and singers whose success has just like, been to a very high level, they have become businessmen, too.  You know what I mean?  A lot of us are entrepreneurs.  We are getting into buying property and stuff.  That's helping the city to grow as a force. A lot of us are businessmen, as well as artists.

S: T.I., for you as a leading world artist, how important is it for the chemistry to be right between you and the producer?

T: It is key, you know what I'm saying?  It's number one. If you ain't got no chemistry... Then, you know... Anybody can get a beat and rap on it. Anybody can do that. But the ability to have someone making music for you who knows where you are coming from and when you hear their music you know where they're coming from, and to be able to build and have a strong foundation, that's special. Then you can continue to build and build and build.  You can go as far left and as far right, or we can shoot straight up and down in the middle.  That way you can have a signature sound that no one can capture, no matter how many other producers I work with and it doesn't matter how many other artists Toomp works with, when we get together, it's a signature sound that no one can duplicate. It is definitely a special, special occasion.

S: Do you prefer performing in large venues, big stadiums or smaller clubs? Or do you like mixing them up?

T: I mix them up.  Of course, everybody loves to be in large venues, man. Headlining arenas!  But it is real intimate when you can go in them lil' clubs and rock the house right quick man and get on about it, though.

S: Any plans for an African and European Tour?

T: Yeah, I'd love to go everywhere as soon as possible.  I'd love to go everywhere and put it down: Africa, Europe, China, Australia. I'd like o go everywhere and give them a show.

S: Toomp, how did you and T.I. first link up?

DJ:  It was in 1997 that I met T.I. through a neighborhood friend and when we brought him into the studio... Man, we cut four songs that same night.

S: When you first heard T.I. no one knew him outside of Atlanta. What was it you saw in him at that time?

DJ: I just knew he had it.  The day he walked up in my driveway.  I saw he was a star.  He was holding his head up and he was walking like he was a millionaire. Once I heard his raps, I said, "Wow!"

S: What was it about the way he was walking up your driveway?

DJ: He was holding his head up.  He was just walking like he was a millionaire, already one.  I heard his rap  and I was like, "Oh, I done ran across something."

S: But did you expect the whole world would see what you saw at that time?

DJ: You know what?  What's crazy is that I saw it in him!  I was like, "Yo, there is something special about this dude."  I saw it already.  But when I heard him, it all made sense.  I was like, "Okay!"  At that time, there were only a few artists down South that was really rapping with true country values and a true, country down-South accent.  Spitting them lyrics like that, you know what I mean?  I knew that with the new sound I was introducing, that I was trying to put a lot of artists on, T.I. was the one that fit with that new sound that I was bringing.

S: What was that new sound like that you were bringing?

DJ:  It was kind of like a Trap Style of music, you know!  Tempo, slow Drag, 808 Beats with real string melodies. I used to do a lot of Miami Bass music, you know!  Shy-D, Luke...  I'm DJ Toomp.  I was mostly like a Battle DJ, but I ended up producing a lot of stuff with Luke, Shy-D and Lil' Jon.  Like I say, for the new style that I was bringing to the table, it took T.I.  He's the one who introduced it the way it really needed to be heard.  'Cause at first everybody was like, "I hear what you are doing Toomp, but it's not really what we doing." So I had to find an artist who could display it.

S:  Who are some of the other pioneers in Atlanta who helped to set off Trap Music and the Hip Hop Cultural Revolution in the ATL and throughout the American South?

DJT:   Shawty Redd.  You got a few people, man. Organized Noise.  And there are a lot of classic groups like Brick, Cameo, Millie Jackson.  So, it's all sort of classic people who came out from the city.  All of these people blessed ATL.

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