T.I. on Justin Timberlake: ‘I think he’s one of the greatest to do it’

theGRIO Q&A - TheGrio caught up with T.I. to discuss his latest role on the big screen, what he thinks of his friend Justin Timberlake’s return to music and if a possible collaboration is on the way...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

I don’t think we’ve ever seen you in a comedic role. Was that a challenge to prepare for?

You haven’t, man. That’s why I’m looking forward to it because it’s my first comedic role and people don’t really look at me as a serious comedy actor but I feel like I can hold my own with the best of them. I don’t know what it is, why people don’t think I can do comedy? Maybe it’s the machine guns. I don’t know what it is (laughs).

Yea, that might have something to do with it. They say the hardest emotion to convey on screen is humor.

Yea, I look forward to challenging myself. I try to shock the sh*t out of people with my music and with whatever it is I present for the world. My intention is to shock people. Do sh*t that people never thought I could do.

At the top of 2013, it seems like we’ve heard a lot of good music from artists who we haven’t heard from in a while. I know you are a frequent collaborator with Justin Timberlake. What are your thoughts on his return?

I think he’s one of the greatest to do it. Anytime one of the greats chooses to come back out to deliver music to the people, it’s always appreciated because they’re going present classic material man. It’s gonna be something that the game has been missing.  Of course I’m going celebrate and applaud that.

Has Justin Timberlake reached out to you for his new album?

Yea he reached out to me. I don’t know if it’s for his album or for the album him and Timberland are doing together but I spoke to him on the phone while him and Tim were in the studio and they sent me some records. It’s a possibility.

For the latest music news, follow Kyle Harvey on Twitter at @HarveyWins.

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