T.I. does not appreciate his name mentioned as one of rappers who use violence in their rhymes. Not that he doesn’t feel it’s accurate, but he feels it’s unfair.

“You ain’t bringing Martin Scorsese up for ‘The Departed’? He won an Academy Award,” he told MTV. “[In the movie], they threw a white man out a window … shot so many people,” he continued. “Ain’t nobody bringing these people up because [‘The Departed’] was artistically done, it was very creative. Everyone went to the movie and they enjoyed it. What about … ‘Saw,’ ‘Saw 2’ and ‘3’?”

Now, he is prepping the release of T.I. Vs. T.I.P., and he also spoke up about the significance of the record.

“This is my life, this is the struggle I had to go through to bring myself to release another album,” he said. “After all the stuff I went through following the success of King, it took a lot to even muster the effort or even care enough about the world outside my circle to even care about doing another album. … All I did was take notes and record it along the way.”

When he began recording this, he openly stated he wanted Eminem to record with him. Now, that has actually happened.

“It was an experience…He’s probably one of the most lyrical cats in the game right now. Me being known as one of the most lyrical cats in the game, I had to get myself up. He lived up to all my expectations. He’s a rappin’ fool. He made me step my game up,” he said.

But, it seems the two didn’t stop with one record.

“We did three records…One we did for him. You know how Marshall Mathers and Slim Shady have their beefs? Well [on that song], T.I. is trying to tell Marshall how to deal with Slim based on how he deals with Tip. Then Tip butts in, like, ‘You can’t tell nobody nothing.’ Then Em comes in and tells me, ‘Who are you to tell me anything?’ I was like, ‘I’m just trying to help, homie.’ “

There’s another track he spoke on called “Touchdown”.

“It’s out of Eminem’s norm, if Eminem has a norm…It’s a record you wouldn’t expect to hear him on, kinda like how you heard [him] on ‘Smack That’ for Akon or [Em’s] ‘Shake That’ with Nate Dogg. You’ll be like, ‘OK, he’s switching it up.’ [‘Touchdown’ is] basically [him] talking about when you touch down in everybody’s city, what you do. Hit the mall, buy a car or leave the club with all the girls. We have yet to finish that one.”

“The one we finished is ‘Whatever You Want It to Be,’ …It’s saying, ‘I’m a man, if I ain’t nothing else. Before I’m a rapper, before I’m anything else, I’m a man. If you don’t respect that, it can be whatever you want it to be.’ “

The album will feature production from Mannie Fresh, Wyclef Jean and more. Aside from Slim, expect to hear Justin Timberlake, Timbaland and more.