TI, who mere days ago, was at the center of a prison
escapee mishap, raised more eyebrows this weekend, when he aggressively challenged
Houston rapper Lil Flip and accused him of trying to take his self-proclaimed
“King of the South” title.
Just days after being accused of taping a video
in jail without permission, the rapper called out Flip at his “welcome
back” performance at Atlanta radio station 107.9’s 9th annual birthday
bash.
“Me and that guy [Flip] have an issue man,”
he revealed to AllHipHop.com. “He steadily saying that he don’t have
an issue with me, but I have an issue. I’ve created an issue if that’s
what they want to say.
Kanye West, Lil Jon, Lil Scrappy, Trilleville
and others performed before TI took the stage.Dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit,
TI performed and then broke into a tirade that lasted almost 15 minutes, all
aimed at Lil Flip.
TI said the problems started when Lil Flip did
several shows in Atlanta during TI’s incarceration.
“He was opening up his shows saying “Who’s
the King of the South?” TI said. “When my name was mentioned, he’d
say, “Oh yeah, well tell that ni**a TI I wrote this song for him’
and he’d go into [Flip’s####] ‘Game Over.’”
In what is reminiscent of the well-publicized
incident at Hot 97’s Summer Jam involving Jay-Z’s feuds with Nas and
Mobb Deep, TI showed pictures of Flip on big screens, dressed in what one concert
attendee described as “a puke green leprechaun suit.”
“He thought I was gonna be locked up for
a lengthy period of time and he wasn’t gonna have to see me,” Flip
said. “The ni**a just felt comfortable in my absence.”
Lil Flip, who was slated to take the stage after
TI, never had a chance to respond because officials abruptly ended the show
before the Houston emcee ever took to the stage.
And in the end, the video, which has officials
at the Fulton County Jail pointing fingers at each after an inmate escaped,
was never even shown.
On the video, TI apologized to fans for not being
present to perform, due to his incarcerated status. The plan was for TI to appear
on the stage to surprised audience members.
“The deputies and the sheriffs were kind
of bogarting the screen to keep me from playing the so it never got
shown,” TI said, but noted that there was an upside to being muscled by
the law.
“I couldn’t pay for this kind of promotion.
In this industry, I have been told many times that all publicity is good publicity,
all press is good press. When Peter Jennings carries you on the news, you are
one of the biggest rappers in the world, it’s got to be positive, even
if its in the midst of something negative.”
TI’s next album, Urban Legend, is
set for release in November.