Australian female rap phenomenon Iggy Azalea has a new American friend to help her produce her debut album. The buzzworthy emcee tells MTV News that none other than The King of the South, T.I., has taken on executive producer duties for the project, which is tentatively titled The New Classic.
"T.I.'s gonna be helping me with it, kind of A&R-ing, kind of executive producing," Azalea said. "He called me up like, 'Please?' and I was like, 'Definitely. You're Tip! I love you. Of course.'"
Azalea said T.I.’s role as a guide will include using his well-connected position as a star to gather resources for the project.

"He's gonna be helping me out, just reaching out to people and helping me find production and pointing me in the direction of things that I might like."
The 21-year-old upstart recently inked a deal with Interscope Records, with Jimmy Iovine reportedly counting himself a fan of her breakout singles "Pu$y" and "My World." Both songs were featured on the mixtape Ignorant Art, which Azalea released in September.
For her debut album, Azalea said that it would be finding the right sound that would present the biggest challenge.
"In terms of writing the record, that's not the part that really worries me; that's easy," she said. "It's finding the production and finding something cohesive that's right for the direction of the album. It could happen next week or I might go until the end of February and not find it. You just never know when you're gonna have that magic."
If all goes according to plan, The New Classic will be released in June.

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(Photos from left: Ethan Miller/Getty Images, Courtesy Interscope Records)