T.I. has made it clear what it would take for him to sign a new recording contract.
As the “King of the South’s” deal with Atlantic Records has expired, the hip-hop star has been pondering his next move. Back in January, after his Atlantic deal was up, Tip was reportedly at the center of a major label bidding war. He made it clear then that he expects a lucrative deal with any major that he chooses to do business with, and in a recent interview, he reiterated his position.
Anyone that expects serious consideration will have to pony up some serious money for T.I. to sign.
“I am currently a free agent,” Tip revealed in an interview with Streetz 94.3. “Everything’s coming out my pockets. Y’all do me all the favors you want to. [laughs] There’s nothing wrong with a helping hand. [laughs] You know what the problem is, nobody wants to pay fair market value. I done went into all the distribution houses, the Sony’s, the Universal’s and the Warner’s of the world and it’s across the board. The consensus is pretty much unanimous, they want to be in business, they just don’t want to pay to be in business.”
“And so I’ma tell you like this — you might be able to catch you-know-who’s out of you-know-where but you ain’t gonna be able to get no ‘King’ on your roster, man, for anything less than eight-figures,” Tip said adamantly. “I’m just gonna tell everybody, let that be a message to you. I can nickel and dime myself to where I’m going. You got the recording industry, publishing, you got touring, you got merch, you got film, you got television, you got fashion, you know what I’m saying? Technology. That’s eight areas of business, right now currently, that I’m generating streams of revenue from. If you feel like you want to participate in all eight of those things, it’s going to cost you about $50, $60 million. But if you only want one or two of those things, then come to the table with 12 or 15 [million dollars], we can talk about that too.”
