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T.I. has shut down the notion that he and Lil Wayne weren’t on the best of terms when they collaborated on the Grammy-winning hit “Swagga Like Us” in 2008.
Tip serves as the latest guest on Fat Joe‘s STARZ show Fat Joe Talks, where the pair visit the Grammy museum and get real about the new generation of rappers, Tip’s foray into comedy, the history of trap music and more.
The superstar rappers also revisit the aforementioned smash (that included JAY-Z, Kanye West and M.I.A. as well), and Joey Crack recalled the rumors of the early aughts that Tip and Wayne were battling for the top spot and wouldn’t work together. T.I. says that was all gossip.
“Many we got many records together,” he replied. “And I think that some people talk because they got lips. And it’s respect there. The toughest fight you had, regardless of who it was you fought, you left with a respect for that person. It got to be that
Tip also spoke on how “Swagga Like Us” came together: “We weren’t together [in the studio]. To my knowledge, how I knew it, I was first. Because Gee Roberson gave me a beat that Kanye produced that had the M.I.A. sample. He got it to me with Kanye on the hook. And then he said, ‘You know what would be dope? If I could get Wayne and Hov on here too.’ And I said, ‘Man get the fuck out of here!’”
The song went on to be nominated for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 51st Grammy Awards, winning the latter.
You can watch an exclusive preview of Fat Joe and T.I.’s conversation below. Their full Fat Joe Talks episode premieres on the STARZ app on Friday (November 15).
More recently, T.I. and Lil Wayne clashed in 2016 after Tip disapproved of Weezy’s comments brushing off the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I KNOW you wired a bit different than most other responsible adults, but still n-gga U TRIPPING!!!!” Tip wrote in a lengthy Instagram post. “I don’t know what you goin thru, or what you are attempting to avoid but this shit is absolutely unacceptable!!!! You’re disrespecting yourself, bringing shame on your family name & tarnishing your legacy.”
Wayne’s daughter Reginae Carter quickly hopped into the comments and blasted T.I. for not picking up the phone and talking to her father rather than trashing him online.
“You should’ve copied and pasted this and sent it to him thru via text but you wanna seek for attention. You lost his number,” she wrote.
T.I. later took the time to clarify his response to Wayne during a sit-down interview on Sway’s Universe.
“One thing I will not do, I ain’t gonna let nobody sit around and bash bro,” he said. “I feel like I have that relationship with him where I can say that. I’m not gonna sit around and listen to nobody else say that. However he feel about me saying that, me and him we can deal with that when we see each other. He still a legend, he still in my eyes one of the greatest to ever do what we do.
“In a way, I kind of did it so the people wouldn’t be able to do it. I felt like everything I said I said out of love and I used Instagram as a forum because it was such a public matter. It wasn’t really me speaking to him as much as it is speaking to the kids I know that’s following him.”
Wayne himself eventually apologized for his words and also fired his publicist in the process.
“When the reporter began asking me questions about my daughter being labeled a bitch and a hoe, I got agitated,” Weezy told TMZ. “From there, there was no thought put into her questions and my responses. Apologies to anyone who was offended.”
However, a year after calling Wayne out, Tip admitted they still hadn’t spoken. But finally in 2022, the pair reunited on stage at J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival in North Carolina and all has been well since.
