T.I. Says Kill the King Is His Final Album, Talks Pharrell, Comedy and a Possible Jeezy Project

After a quarter-century of wearing the South’s self-appointed crown, T.I. is treating his latest move like an exit with intent. The Atlanta rap veteran says Kill the King, his 12th album and final full-length release, is the last stop on a run that began with I’m Serious in 2001 and helped define trap music’s commercial era. The project, which arrived in June via Kill the King, is positioned less like a curtain call than a deliberate clearing of the runway.

The album rollout has already had the kind of scale T.I. has spent decades making look easy. In January, he linked back up with Pharrell Williams for “Let ’Em Know,” the first signal that retirement, as he framed it back in 2021, was actually happening. The single went gold and peaked at No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Tip his first solo top 40 entry since 2014. Then came the noise. A very public exchange with 50 Cent spilled into family territory, with T.I.’s sons Domani and King getting pulled into the back-and-forth and, briefly, into the center of hip-hop conversation.

That kind of mess has never been foreign to T.I., who built a career on hit records, tabloid gravity and the kind of self-mythologizing that turns into shorthand. Four No. 1 songs, eight solo albums in the top 10, Grammy wins, movie roles, viral feuds, public scrapes and a federal case have all been part of the package. For years, “King of the South” was more than a boast. It was branding, posture and, for a lot of listeners, a useful way to file him away.

Now he says the file is closing. Kill the King features production from Pharrell, Dr. Dre, DJ Toomp, Organized Noize and others, plus appearances from Usher, The-Dream, Summer Walker, Young Dro and more. T.I. describes it as a final reminder of why he occupied the space he did for so long. After this, he says, the focus shifts to family, film, comedy and whatever else sits beyond the album cycle.

In late May, XXL met T.I. at a studio outside Atlanta, where he was rehearsing ahead of his 2026 Birthday Bash headlining set. He spoke about the logic of ending on his own terms, working with Pharrell again, the King Succession Tour with Domani and King, the 50 Cent dispute, and why comedy, for now, has to wait.

“Kill the King” as exit strategy

XXL: Kill the King. Is this officially the final T.I. album?

Mm-hmm. I feel like I’m going to do a deluxe or something to extend this album. It ain’t going to be another album. It’ll be an extension of this album.

He doesn’t frame that as a sacrifice. If anything, T.I. sounds relieved by the idea of closing the book voluntarily. The pressure, he says, is lighter now than it ever was.

It actually comes with more freedom. And to be able to walk away on my own terms. That is a blessing that I’m celebrating. It’s not a sad moment for me. I can’t ask the game for nothing more. I got everything I prayed for and more.

And I don’t want to just be taking up space fighting for the same opportunity, fighting for the same position. I done had my shot. I don’t need the money from it. So, it’s really just an ego play at this point, which is why the album is called Kill the King. Kill the King is really like a metaphor for killing the ego.

That idea runs through the way he talks about the record itself. He calls it “self-gratuitous” before explaining the logic of it, which is that ego has to be fed before it can be starved. He’s still interested in sounding like T.I., but the posture has shifted.

Because the idea is to kill the ego but in order to do that, you got to get the sh*t out your system. It’s really just heavy on this is what the f**k I do. I pride myself on being a sharp MC, a songwriter, a hit-maker, a philosopher, a free-thinker, a truth-speaker.

I’m going to throw some sh*t out there that make a muthaf**ka think a little bit. And regardless of how much I make you think or don’t make you think, the sh*t going to be jamming.

Elsewhere, he sounds more measured than the version of Tip that came up in the 2000s. Parenthood and age have changed the filter, even if they haven’t dulled the edge.

I’m more mindful of the things I say. It’s a lot less, for lack of a better word, crotch-grabbing. I’m more aware of the words I speak, now that I have not just children but grandchildren. I still toe the line. I still walk the ledge.

You got to learn. You got to show what you’ve learned. And I don’t think I can do that being as unhinged as I once was. I got to show some levels of discernment.

Asked if he’s said everything there is to say as a rapper, he doesn’t leave much room for debate.

I feel like I’ve said everything I care to say. Absolutely.

Pharrell, family and the long tail of T.I.

Pharrell’s presence matters here in a way that goes beyond a guest credit. T.I. points out that among the people who shaped him, Pharrell is the one with whom he had never had a hit, which gives this reunion a kind of delayed payoff. The partnership, he says, feels earned.

As far as the people who have had a significant hand on my development as an artist, Pharrell was the only one that I didn’t have a hit with. I just feel like we have earned and deserve that moment. So, I’m happy that we have the opportunity to share this moment right now.

He describes Pharrell as someone who can drag a record far outside the obvious lane and still keep it rooted in the culture. T.I. cites Clipse’s “Grindin’” as the kind of thing Pharrell knows how to make feel both abstract and unmistakably of the street.

Pharrell is just a genius, creative mind. I feel like he has mastered the ability of taking some sh*t way far out there, but still grounding it in the culture. He’ll take some sh*t like [Clipse’s] “Grindin’,” that’s seemingly abstract, but give it that authenticity that makes it so identifiable by our culture. He kind of stepped me out of my comfort zone a little bit.

His pivot into retirement-era thinking also runs through a line from “MR Him,” one of the songs he released earlier this year: “Never chase bread, chase the vision.” He says that outlook wasn’t always there.

No, it’s something that I developed over time. I evolved into it. You have to pick up things from trial and error. I’ve chased money before and I caught it. But I find that there’s just an undeniable priceless piece that comes with executing a vision. And whatever the vision pays, that value is immeasurable.

The 50 Cent situation, meanwhile, is something he mostly declines to relitigate. Even when asked whether he wanted to address it on the album, he makes it clear he was not interested in turning the dispute into content.

Everything that I did address, I went back and changed it. This is not worth my time. As far as news goes, it isn’t newsworthy. And then this moment of mine, I don’t want to share.

Still, he does acknowledge that the episode revealed more than people saw on social media. Not necessarily closeness, but something else about how the family operates under pressure.

I hadn’t thought about that. I think it showed us different things about each other. I think it shows us the capabilities of one another. Not even just in things that was revealed, publicly. I mean, you know, in private discussions. [It showed] how far some ones of us are willing to go that might not have been acknowledged.

When asked if his sons got a bump from the attention, he brushes off the idea that any of it was orchestrated for promotion.

I don’t do sh*t for promotion. That’s not my M.O. That just ain’t me. I would much rather not be bothered. I’d rather go about my business and just live a life of peace and separation if necessary. Rather than being in the mud, unnecessarily, with people that like being in the mud.

He says he’s long known Domani had the ability to stand on his own, and he’d rather see positive development than conflict become the catalyst.

I’ve been known he was dope. I know he has every capability of doing all that he has done and more. You know, Domani has a different side to him. Anything negative that it takes to bring a certain something out of someone, I’d rather not see that. I’d rather see everything that the positive can bring to the surface.

The King Succession Tour with Domani and King, set for July, arrived after fans began asking for it, not because the family had manufactured a neat rollout. T.I. says he never fully ruled out performing with his sons, especially as Domani has carved out his own lane.

We just all kind of connected. Just hearing people asking for it.

I never ruled it out. As Domani grew into his opulence and into his authority as an MC, he has done an excellent job of separating himself from anything T.I. So, I never thought that it would even be a consideration for him.

King, on the other hand, remains a different kind of energy. T.I. says the conversation is less about protecting the bag than about time and maturity.

Only thing he can f**k up is his own. That’s the thing about him being an adult. He’s responsible for his own sh*t. But more so than not f**king the bag up, I want him to get through his rambunctious years, so we can develop the wisdom and patience that comes with experience.

There is still a legacy question hanging over all of this, especially with the “King of the South” title attached. T.I. says he’s willing to step back from the claim while keeping the significance intact.

I’ll step away from it and remain incumbent. What I learned along the journey as I earned and held the title, is that it comes with a lot of responsibility. And whoever feels that they accept and don’t mind that responsibility, if they can earn it and hold it and maintain it, then it’s theirs.

On trap music itself, he avoids treating the genre like a museum piece. For him, its shape has always reflected the conditions around it, from the crack era to the opioid crisis and fentanyl.

Well, trap music has always been, and will always be, a reflection of the environment. So, if the music seems a certain way, that’s just telling you how the environment is. Trap music is a result of the crack era. That’s evolved. The crack era turned into the opioid epidemic. Then, it turned into fentanyl.

So, whatever the music is turning into, it’s just a reflection of what the environment is turning into. So, you can’t judge the music, without acknowledging the environment.

Comedy, collaboration and what comes after

T.I.’s comedy ambitions are real, but for now they’re shelved. He says moving between record-writing and joke-writing asked for too much mental switching, and he wants to finish one lane before properly entering the other.

Man, it’s on hold right now. I don’t think I fare well in hopping back and forth, focusing on trying to put myself in the mind state or the mindset to write records for this album and focusing on developing material, hit the stage and get laughs. It’s completely different mindsets, completely different sets of skill. So, I’m gonna focus on doing this. And then when I’m done with this, I quit.

When asked which of rap, comedy or acting is most vulnerable, he picks the one with the least insulation.

Comedy. [Music and acting] can be both enhanced by other team members. And it could also be blamed upon other team members. Comedy ain’t nobody but you. If they didn’t laugh, it’s your muthaf**kin’ fault. So yeah, I think it’s definitely the most humbling and the most vulnerable art form. And the most challenging.

He also resists the idea that Kill the King is some tidy victory lap. To him, it’s more of a reintroduction for listeners who may know the name but not the work in full.

It’s a reminder. There are people who are listening to hip-hop who probably wasn’t around when [I] was showing the world why I should be considered amongst the elite. So, now let me introduce you to this sh*t and show you what I do. And then, I can leave.

That leaves the future open in a few specific ways. A T.I. and Jeezy project, for instance, is not off the table, though T.I. says collaborative albums are more likely than another solo outing.

If Young wanted to do it, I probably would. I’d be more apt to do collaborative albums more than I would a T.I. album.

He is clear that retirement does not mean silence, only a different kind of selective engagement.

Yes, if the song is right. Or there’s a genuine interest to do the record. Yeah, that’s still possible. I’m going to still make music. I think music is inside of me.

And if this last album is doing its job, it should feel less like a farewell than a reset of the terms. T.I. thinks it may also be the most complete portrait of him for listeners who haven’t followed every chapter.

Yeah, I do because it’s going to be reintroducing myself to a lot of people. A lot of people, it’s going to be their first time really hearing an entire project from me. I definitely think it’s going to show them more than they already know.

Rap changes fast, he says. Generations come and go. The audience keeps getting younger. That, at least, doesn’t bother him.

Rap moves so fast, man. You got fans that weren’t even born when you first came out. So, you have to let them know, pun intended.

I don’t mind that.

Listen to T.I.’s Kill the King album.

The 2026 XXL Freshman issue is available to purchase here now as well as merch. In addition to interviews with the 2026 XXL Freshman Class and DJ Drama, there are also conversations with T.I., Swae Lee, Sexyy Red, Young M.A, Cash Cobain, Skilla Baby, Lil Tjay, high-profile defense attorney Brian Steel, singer-songwriter Odeal and more, plus a look back at what the 2025 XX