It’s rare that a single album helps inspire the creation of a subgenre of music. But that’s exactly what T.I.’s “Trap Muzik” did back in 2003.

The Atlanta rapper’s sophomore LP was released 20 years ago on August 19. The project helped mark a transition from the crunk era — which largely featured deep 808s and loud, chiming synths, and sounds in a 1-2 style. “Trap Muzik” instead focused on tales of the drug trade that many in the South never escaped.

Many could draw the origins of trap all the way back to groups like UGK or 8Ball & MJG. But it was T.I. and “Trap Muzik”  that spun the Houston and Memphis duos’ lyrics about life and strife into a much more specific dimension. The album explored Black Southerner’s attempts to escape poverty and the methods through which they would do so.

“Trap Muzik” came just two years after Tip’s debut LP, I’m Serious, which was a solid first foray into the rap business. But that album was in many ways underserved by LaFace Records.

T.I. would then use the information he gathered about what worked from I’m Serious to create the fuller sounding, more vivid sophomore effort he released in 2003. Songs like “Dope Boyz” delivered some of T.I. 's most distinct writing about drug dealing among the backdrop of some of ATL’s most recognizable landmarks.

BET recently spoke with T.I. about “Trap Muzik,” its impact on the trap genre of hip-hop following its release, Kanye West’s involvement in the production, and some of the stories that helped make the project as organic as it sounds.

BET: It’s been 20 years since the release of “Trap Muzik.” Do you feel like it’s been that long?

T.I.: It does feel like it's been that long. But I've had the pleasure of having children raised during the process of trap music evolving. My son Messiah was born in 2000. And I was working on my first album when he was born. So seeing him, a 23-year-old man, it’s kind of just a reality check. It's an honor. It's a blessing. It's a privilege. I'm humbled.

The culture of trap music is more therapeutic than anything else. The war on drugs have made a lot of us refugees. Our communities was hit with that. We were supposed to be destroyed. And rather than accept defeat, we took the experiences, the stories, the philosophies, the perspectives, the culture of that and pretty much packaged it as a philosophical presentation set to music. [We] created a stream of revenue that will change the standard of living for generations. So I think it can't be enough said about that.

BET: What do you remember discussing with DJ Toomp when you started recording the LP?

T.I.: The creative process, especially back then, was very casual and cavalier. Toomp used to cut my hair. So I go to Toomp house and get a haircut, and the beat that he was making before he started cutting my hair would be playing. And I'd be like, ‘Okay, what are you gonna do with that beat?’ And by the time he finished with my hair cut, I’d have a song. And we'd go record it. I think the organic nature of how we put these songs together resonates and has a timeless quality to it.

BET: How did you go about gathering the individual production for the album? Because even though it sounds very smooth and transitions well, there’s many different people who worked on it from Toomp to Kanye to Chez and yourself?

T.I.: The concept of “Trap Muzik” derives from the data we received from the first album I’m Serious, which was released in 2001. That has a cult classic following. But [I’m Serious] didn't receive the mainstream attention that we felt it deserved. And [I’m Serious] didn't really receive the attention from the label that we felt it deserved. We found that people really responded to “Still Ain't Forgave Myself” and “Dope Boyz.” I think people love the entire body of work. But we collected the data that those records were what the people were really gravitating towards. So I concluded that if that's what they like, let's give them a whole album of it and call it “Trap Muzik.”

BET: Many consider the album the official forebarrer to the trap genre of hip-hop, which is still super relevant today. What does that mean to you? And was it a goal for you when creating it to make a new sound?

T.I.: I can't say that that was the intention. The intention was to make a jammin’ ass album and to use the stories and experiences of our childhood. How we came up and how we spent days as youth — we wanted to commemorate and memorialize that. Now, when we dropped it, we very quickly saw it was a lot of other m*****rf*****s who had similar stories that they wanted to share that resonated with people across the country and then across the world. But it wasn't my intention. The intention was just to make a jammin’ album to memorialize the bullshit me and my partners had been blessed enough to survive and the lessons we learned from it.

BET: Are there any lasting memories that stood out about recording “Trap Muzik?”

T.I.: Man, so many. I think recording “24’s” at Patchwerk [Studios] is one of them. I feel like my first album, again, I learned that call and repeat songs that crowds can participate when you go and do your shows. I learned that it'll give you an edge on the competition. And so “24’s” was a perfect melodic application of that notion. But it was still jammin’ like a m****rf****r, and it was still authentic to the culture. It was still speaking to people and was kind of like inside baseball at the time. It opened the door and allowed us to just be more flexible and more creative or more courageous with the decisions that we made.

I remember Kanye came in while we were in the session that we did “Let Me Tell You Something” and “Doin’ My Job.” And that was the first time he played “Jesus Walks” and “Through the Wire” for everybody. We were blown away. Everybody knew like, man, he's got some serious s**t going on. I was like, ‘Man, you've finna catch hell on the radio, bruh.’ But I think Kanye being the disrupter that he was born to be, I think It all worked out in his favor. But he tapped into a soulful application with “Just Doing My Job.” And that's probably one of my favorite records that I’ve ever done.

And also David Banner’s “Rubberband Man.” David Banner, man, we used to mix in the same circles. [We would] catch each other in passing in and out of clubs in Atlanta. We always heard about each other. And we exchanged numbers saying we are gonna link. I was actually recording with my partner Mac Boney. His mama had a beauty shop with a back room that she let us rent. We could record in that back room when the shop was closed. And I invited David Banner to pull up and play some beats. He pulled up in a van he drove from Mississippi. I go out to help him with the equipment and I see a big Mac 11 and a big big gun collection. I was like, ‘Man, you my type of guy. Bruh, we gonna get along just fine.’ We went in there and made “Rubberband Man” that night.

BET: That’s crazy, wow.

T.I.: I remember that s**t like it was yesterday. It blows my mind how the things that were seemingly small just turned into such monumental impactful things that pushed the album or my career forward.

One of those things is I was going to get my car washed on Peachtree. It was a car wash right next to a club called Kaya on Peachtree. This particular day I'm getting a car wash sitting out with my brother Big Phil. I'm rolling a Swisher Sweet with Atlanta’s finest at the time: Purple Haze.

So a Ferrari pulls up at the light, rolls the windows down, and they say, ‘Hey, you T.I.?’ I said, ‘Yeah, who is that?’ ‘This Puff [Daddy]. What's up? I've been f*****g with you and hearing about you. What's going on baby?’ So I get up to [his car] and say what’s up. Me and Puff exchanged numbers at that time. And I was still underground. I was still generally unknown at the time. So for Puff to acknowledge me or to see something that urged him to reach out, it seems small. But that led to him being in the “Rubberband Man” video — which was was one of the big breakout moments I had. It really blows my mind how effortlessly these things just fell into place.

BET: Speaking of Puff, I definitely think you’re a music mogul, especially in the south. And what’s unique about you is you had an intense street and mixtape hustle for both “I’m Serious” and “Trap Muzik.” But then you went on to start your own label and sign artists. Soyou’ve seen both elements of the rap business. What is your advice to artists coming up that either want to go the indie route or sign to a major?

T.I.: I think that answer would have to be kind of tailor made to the needs, wants, and desires of the artist. Some artists want to spend big money and market themselves. They want big billboards in Times Square and s**t like that. A lot of that comes from the infrastructure of a major record label. Then you have others that just want to reach their core demographic. They want to maintain ownership of their art and hold on to the equity in their intellectual property. It's more important to them to build and create a legacy that they can have ownership in as their career evolves. And they're willing to put in the work and make sacrifices. They're willing to sacrifice a good time now to have a great time later. So it's all about what works for the artists and what they would like to see for himself or herself.

Stream T.I.’s Trap Muzik below.