Last week, T.I. stopped off in Chicago as part of his nationwide promo tour for Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head, and above is our informative and highly entertaining new sit-down with Julian On Da Radio!
Informative? Because T.I. reveals a couple of interesting anecdotes in relation to the album, including the one artist he had not really known before collaborating for the album. And which were some of the toughest tracks and collabs of the 127 (!) that he recorded for the album, that didn't make the final tracklist. (SPOILER: One is "Trap N****" f/ Pharrell).
Highly entertaining? Because Julian premieres a new segment called "60 Second Quickies", where he asks rapid-fire questions to Tip in 60 seconds, where he has to answer with the first thing that comes to mind. Watch and see an unfiltered T.I. be caught off guard, or have the exact answer that will make you laugh out loud.
"60 Second Quickie" Examples:
What's the largest sum of money you've ever deposited in your bank account?
Who is someone, living or dead, you would have dinner with?
What is something perfect to have on a date?
Furthermore, check out the story behind the interview that I posted last week when, literally at the conclusion of our interview, T.I. bumped into Marlon Wayans at the elevator. Crazy! It warrants mentioning that, even though T.I. was on a time crunch, he was real genuine and grateful to us and we'd like to reciprocate the same to T.I. for his time and positive energy. Gowhere You Love!
And lastly, the video also contains some footage from the Trouble Man listening party we attended later that night, and I'd be remiss not to drop some thoughts on one of my favorite artists' new album.
- Of the singles that were previewed prior to today, "Sorry" f/ Andre 3000 and "Trap Back Jumpin'" are heavy in my rotation.
- "Can You Learn" featuring R. Kelly features a strong chorus from the latter and is a track with substance that I was expecting from Kellz' other high-profile rap collab earlier this year.
- "Guns And Roses" featuring Pink will be that Billboard single that charts the highest off this album. And it's a legit one with a relatable concept (how you can't stand someone not being with you, but can't stand them when they are), some dope rhymes from Tip, and sultry vocals from Pink. Another *Tibs Fav.
- "Wonderful Life" featuring Akon is my favorite concept from T.I. on the album. In a couple of verses, he speaks to himself from the perspective of his dad, and late friend Philant Johnson. An all-caps *TIBS FAV. off that alone (and Akon does his thing as well).
- "Hallelujah" is perhaps the most left-field of records you'd expect from T.I., but when you think harder about it, it's really not. Tip channels a gospel style singer for the chorus and an appreciation to the one above! The type of feel-good record I've been vibing with the most these past few months, and a fitting conclusion to the album.
- Everyone went bananas for "Memories Back Then" featuring B.o.B & Kendrick Lamar - a track that unfortunately won't make the album with the sample that's intended (as described in my post of the download for it earlier today)
- Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head is a strong album from beginning to end, and continuing to grow on me. I hesitate to put it on the tier of Paper Trail and King, however, but as a T.I. fan since the beginning, I'm not disappointed in the album. A must-grab come tomorrow, December 18th.
T.I. talking with Julian On Da Radio (left) and all smiles with Srirachana (right)
Talk about a great day... yesterday, we arrived at the classy Waldorf Astoria Hotel in downtown Chicago, expecting to interview T.I.. In came the King Of The South to a 16th floor hotel room where we, and the good people at Consequence of Sound, were set up to conduct an interview surrounding the upcoming release of Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head.
Julian On Da Radio got some great answers from Tip that we can't wait to share later today (including an entertaining new segment) so more on that later. After the interview, T.I. had to rush to his next obligation on his promo run here in Chicago, but graciously said thank you and goodbye to each and every one of us on the way out (he was really appreciative with us throughout).
Just outside the hotel room, T.I. is about to enter the elevator and as the doors open... out comes Marlon Wayans. Wait... what? Random.
Both stars were surprised to see each other, asked what they were doing in Chicago, and T.I. invited Marlon to come through to his listening party later that night. Marlon was just wrapping up some interviews of his own literally down the hall for his upcoming movie A Haunted House (which looks like it'll be hilarious), but unfortunately for Tip, was headed straight to the airport. They connected though for the future and after one classic T.I. salute to everyone, he was on his way out.
In the same hallway a short time later, we introduced ourselves to Marlon, made some small talk (for example: me telling him how The 6th Man was my sh*t back in the day... and by back in the day I really meant, everyday... to which a surprised Marlon was thankful for) and took a series of cool photos seen below. For those who are unaware of the awesomeness of quite possibly the greatest basketball movie ever made, you're welcome. A&K all the way!
Julian On Da Radio, Srirachana, Marlon Wayans, Sgt. Tibs, & Chris Shields
Julian On Da Radio, Srirachana, Marlon Wayans, Sgt. Tibs, & Stan Perry
As you can now see, Srirachana has a couple of adorable couple photos with two universally known entertainers in a matter of minutes. And really, the whole experience was a trip for all of us, with Marlon coming up to our floor out of nowhere, right after having the type of 1-on-1 access we just had with Tip.
After we gathered ourselves and transferred our focus toward food, we made our way back to the office to do some work before venturing over to CRC Studios for the private listening party for T.I.'s Trouble Man album. I'll have more specific commentary on the album when we post the interview, but in brief, Tip is not messin' around with this one. Really lookin' forward to sitting down with the album next Tuesday. And speaking of Really, Really Doe was one of the many familiar faces we caught up with at the party, and it's exciting to hear what he and some others in the building have coming up next.
Listening to @Tip's new album with @ReallyDoeChi - #TroubleMan sounding real good... 12.18
Chris Shields, FaShoDoe, Really Doe, & Sgt. Tibs
So to conclude, I straight up love 'small world' stories and this one is one of my all-time *TIBS FAVS. It's a nice validation that nothing is coincedence. And to think of the day from a bird's eye perspective, it's truly an experience in itself to view all of the experiences that unfolded.
This wasn't our picture. Just Marlon Wayans tweeting when he got to the airport, "Gettin my Pacquiao on at the airport... Look at the white folks reactions though... Ha".
Last week at The Hideout here in Chicago, we were on hand for Kids These Days' Traphouse Rock release party and above, you can catch a quick video of the energetic scene with the Kids interacting with their fans. Plus, Vic Mensa & Nico Segal give us one of our favorite shoutouts to date, hah!
Listen/download Traphouse Rock here and give my commentary a look-see as well here. Watch out for the Kids to make another big jump after this one!
Plus, who won the "Kids These Days Award" for the 2012-13 NBA Season? Check that out here.
Follow GWHH in this new video above on our road trip from Chicago, IL to Austin, TX where we attended SXSW 2012 earlier this year! We were rollin' in double digits, rented a van, rented a house in Austin, and attended all of the big-name events that were going on all week at SXSW. Seen in the video is a compilation of some of the fun times we had together on the road trip and a glimpse at some of those events and interviews we got during the week. Easily one of the most memorable team trips ever, shoutout to #TeamGowhere!
We just got back from Public Chicago Hotel where T.I. was hosting an exclusive, private event for Chicago VIPs and tastemakers. After talking about what to expect from his upcoming album, Trouble Man, he went ahead and previewed some of the songs for the audience for the first time.
T.I. played us a versaitile selection of six songs, which is actually a small percentage of the 86 he says he has to choose from. Yup, you read that correctly.
First, we got to hear "Trouble Man (Pt. 1)" and "Trouble Man (Pt. 2)". Part 2 features Chi-Town's own R. Kelly belting a memorable chorus and T.I. following with some heavy, personal lyrics. I can't wait for this one the most. I'm also on the lookout for the potential club hit with Lil Wayne titled "Ball", which boasts the hottest production of the previewed tracks. And then there is a crossover collab with Pink that he closed the session with named "Guns 'N Roses". Tip prefaced this potential mainstream hit by saying, "for anyone who doesn't like rap music, this may be the one song you can best identify with." After hearing Pink's strong, sentimental vocals and another lyrical verse from T.I., I'd say that's a pretty accurate description. Longtime T.I. fans, don't fret. Tip also previewed a couple joints that fit right in with his Trap Muzik days, backed by some great production and T.I.'s signature slick flow.
It's a safe bet that these big-name collabs make the album also because of T.I.'s high energy intros and the excitement that he couldn't contain when vibing to the new tunes. The whole room felt that energy. One more bet I'd feel safe about: Trouble Man making a big impact on hip hop in the near future.
Also at Pitchfork this summer was ASAP Rocky as he brought out the Mob for his performance at Union Park. Our own Stan Perry & Invisual Media Pro were on hand to document the energetic rendition of "Goldie" with multi-angles and high quality audio/visuals. You can get really close with both Rocky & the Mob as they even venture into the rockin' Pitchfork crowd. Really dig the ending so stay tuned all the way through!
There were many highlights of this year's Pitchfork Music Festival. Throngs of hip-hop fans came to see live performances from rap new school acts like Kendrick Lamar, Big K.R.I.T., Schoolboy Q, ASAP Rocky and more. I definitely enjoyed those sets. Another personal favorite unexpectedly came from The Sleighbells. They rocked. And so did Flying Lotus and the 2008ighties crew during the live Adultswim/Pitchfork afterparty sponsored Eric Andre show. Too many solid sets to mention. Comedian Hannibal Buress had me cracking up also. I would be remiss if I didn't talk about bumping into indie spitter Danny Brown before his set at Pitchfork. He's another dude who had me laughing.
My interview with the Detroit emcee was singlehandedly the most entertaining portion of Pitchfork, overall. Outside of jokes, Danny Brown spoke on progression, genuinely living in his own world, his relationship with his label, and favorite past times during Pitchfork.
Special side note: This my first post on the new Gowhere site. It's cold right? Peep my Danny Brown interview above....
"Really I just made music and I didn't care who listened to it or who didn't. And then people started, and I didn't expect to. Now I'm at Pitchfork Festival so I don't really care what go on in the hood (hahaha)..."
