The Ruler's back! T.I. was released from an Atlanta halfway house yesterday after serving a 10-month sentence for probation violations and drug charges. And he's picking up right where he left off. Yesterday, in his first post-prison interview, an unapologetic Tip, balancing his son Major on his knee, discussed his critics, his legal troubles and much more with ATL radio station V103.
T.I. said he lost his way musically on his last album, Paper Trail, trying to put his legal troubles and his shadowy past behind him. But now he insists he's going back to the "old T.I." "When I went through everything I was going through, [I became] the new, sophisticated, Paper Trail, upper-echelon T.I.," he said. "All of those people [who liked the new T.I.] were the ones quickest to give me their back pockets to kiss. The ones who really stayed down with me was them Bank Head natives. The ones who supported them first two albums. So I feel like I'ma stay down with who stayed down with me."

T.I. said his new single, "I'm Flexin'" featuring Big K.R.I.T., is a perfect example, and just the tip of the iceberg. “I kept my word. I went back to that foundation—I’m Serious, Trap Muzik," he said, referring to his first two albums. "There’s more where that came from.”
T.I. also addressed his legal setback earlier this month, when he was sent back to prison after traveling to a halfway house on a lavish tour bus. “They’re trying to keep me from being me," he said. "I could abide by the law and do everything that I’m supposed to do on paper, but there are certain things that I do that my life allows me to do, i.e. ride a bus from so-and-so to so-and-so, which is totally within the law but because someone says, 'I disagree with it,' then that puts me in a certain public perception...People say, ‘Oh, he’s coming home and he has so much going on.’ Yes, because that’s my life. I have three parties because I have a lot of celebrating to do because I can and that’s my life. Y'all got to let me live, champ. I can’t live like you. I ain’t you. I don’t have a Honda Accord.”

To check out more of the interview, in which he also discusses his upcoming reality show and his remix of Jay-Z and Kanye West's "N----s in Paris," go to Rap-Up.com.

(Photo: Jeff Daly Photography)