DX: This may seem kind of stale, but a lot of people are still looking at fellow Khaled All-Star, Rick Ross, with the leery eye. Do you think that beef with T.I. isn’t what it seems and do you believe that Rick can come back from such an incident?
T.I.: None of my issues are ever WWE inspired. At the end of the day, with Ross [click to read], it’s none of their business. Real talk, I don’t care… We being stars! And with us being stars that means we put out a record for people to listen to. We put out movies for people to watch it. I mean that to say that you don’t need to know everything about our lives. Matter of fact, you’re not supposed to know anything about our lives because we stars… you supposed to know less about a star, then you do about a normal person. No one ever dug around [1930s villain actor] James Cagney’s closet to find any skeletons. You can’t rate or judge a person for what he or she has been through until one has sat through it or heard the other one say it.

DX: You had your trial and your sentencing are appreciative of the support you’ve received in the mainstream and from the regular folks?
T.I.: I really appreciate it and I know that they wish the best for me. I concur with them wholeheartedly. I wish better for myself, but now… I ain’t got the wish. I just got to make the necessary adjustments.

DX: When does the countdown show run?
T.I.: The show…? Smart guy… It’ll be on TV around the first quarter of the year sometime. We’re still filming, did a few episodes, most of them being in Los Angeles, quite a few in Atlanta. I can’t really tell you what to watch out for, just watch the show, baby…

DX: You’ve done quite a few songs with Just Blaze now – can you talk about the song “Live Your Life”…?
T.I.: Just Blaze did “Live Your Life” and it’s features Rihanna and the song is just talking about what we were just speaking on – how people think that just because you’re a celebrity that they should be so involved in your life. I’m like – well, you can cut your TVs on – and you’re in my world. The rest is just entertainment for you; I’m actually living it. I’m doing the things that you scared to death of doing, surviving the things that you think you’ll never through. So, it’s my life, the entertainer, you know I assumed the position and accept the responsibility of, you know, living through the things that you couldn’t probably make it through in order for you to be thoroughly entertained.

DX: Joe Budden kind of mentioned it by saying that he understood why you needed to get some ratchet. Can anyone understand this game that you’re in?
T.I.: I mean… In order to understand my thinking – and even though it was poor judgment – it was bad decision and to understand my train of thought, you’ll have to live my life and experience my danger. Live through certain situations and circumstances that I have and ask me how you feel. You got to put yourself in my shoes. You can’t think with your mind, being in your situation, about what you would do. You got to think as though you were in my situation and then ask yourself what you would do.

DX: So what advice would you give you the kids on the street who are feeling the crunch during this rough financial crisis we’re going through?
T.I.: I’d tell them straight up and down that I ain’t the last person out there who got guns. It’s other people out there who definitely got guns. Someone can be breaking into your house, right now. You ain’t gonna find out until you see the light, baby. It’s all the same thing, you know… clear and present danger. You need to be aware of that before you get yourself involved in something that could cost you your life or your freedom and they don’t wanna know that first hand.

DX: On “Whatever You Like,” fam… you switched it up a little. You’re not going full-on Ja Rule, are you?
T.I.: A full-on Ja Rule [click to read]… [Laughs] Man, I’ma do whatever my heart desires. Wherever my creativity leads me is where my artistic expression leads me to do. I’m not finna intentionally do something or not intentionally do something. I’ma do whatever is necessary to make some music.

DX: How was house arrest?
T.I.: It was house arrest. I’m blessed. I was able to be around my family and my children. I was able to go in my refrigerator, watch my TV, drive my car around the neighborhood and live my life before I go in the box.

DX: You and Jay-Z have a lot of similarities and are the king’s of your respective crafts. Would you and him ever do a song for Blueprint 3?
T.I.: I don’t know… that’s a good question, man. It would depend on the song, on what kind of song it is. If he gets that record like a “[Dirt Off Your] Shoulder” [click to listen] then I’d probably come off the top of the dome. Whereas, if he gives me a record like “Renegade” [click to read] – that Eminem joint – then I’d probably write things down. In the end though, it’d be classic whatever myself and Hova [click to read] cook up.