Rapper T.I. talks Obamacare and Iggy Azalea

Rapper T.I. attended a private dinner and cocktail reception at the Carolina Kitchen before his concert on Jan. 16 in Washington. (Courtesy of AKOO)

It’s not until the DJ starts spinning that the back room of the Carolina Kitchen on Rhode Island Avenue in Northeast tips from soul food restaurant to something like a speakeasy. Rapper T.I. (real name Clifford Harris) plans to drop by for dinner before his concert at Echostage, hence the proliferation of spandex (the unforgiving kind) at a place with Southern fried lobster tails on the menu. We managed to squeeze our way past the flashbulbs and clamoring fans to ask the 34-year-old rapper, actor and clothier (his line, AKOO, stands for “A King Onto Oneself) about the politics of hip-hop.

Do you think hip-hop has a role in politics?

I think hip-hop is the best way to shed light on subjects, whether it’s registering to vote, whether it’s the disparaging treatment of minorities by law officers, or sub-standardized educational systems or just a lack of employment in our communities. Hip-hop is the way that we get these things out there.

As opposed to what?

We don’t really necessarily, excuse me, pick up The Washington Post everyday and get our news from that. A lot of times it comes, you know, from a verse spit by your favorite rapper. So I think the hip-hop community, our first responsibility is to shed light.

So you do have a responsibility?

Absolutely. That’s what it’s about. It started to speak on the topics that come from the streets because people didn’t know about it. Of course we observed these things a million times in headlines but when you hear it in a song…

Would you like to go to the White House?

I didn’t clear security.

Did you vote for President Obama?

Yes.

The State of the Union is coming up. The president’s approval rating is about 46 percent.

To be honest with you, given the amount of pushback he’s had on everything that he has tried to do, you know, all those things being considered, I would say, yeah, he did the best he could. I know people who couldn’t even spell insurance now got insurance.

Are you looking ahead to 2016 already? 

I’ll wait till they narrow it down and all the other riffraff gets out of the way and we have the final four candidates.

Speaking of riffraff and critics, I have to ask you about the Twitter wars your artist Iggy Azalea has gotten into lately.

I think Iggy will be just fine, man. She just feels like she needs to answer to everybody and everything and have a rebuttal. Look around your big house and make your music and do your thing. I think the success shall speak for itself.

“I was like, ‘Hey, wait a minute. How does dude feel about me using his voice? I don’t know if I need that,’” T.I. says regarding the Jay Z sample on his 2004 single, “Bring Em Out.”

“I was like, ‘Hey, wait a minute. How does dude feel about me using his voice? I don’t know if I need that,’” T.I. says regarding the Jay Z sample on his 2004 single, “Bring Em Out.”

While discussing the lead single “Bring Em Out” off his third studio album Urban Legend, T.I. recalls feeling uncomfortable regarding the Jay Z sample used by producer Swizz Beatz on the cut.

During an interview with XXL’s Dan Rys, T.I. recollects not wanting to simply take somebody else’s voice without their clear permission.

“I remember I didn’t want to make it because it had a Jay Z sample [from “What More Can I Say”] and I was like, ‘Have y’all cleared this with dude?’ I just didn’t ever want to just take somebody’s voice,” T.I. recalls. “You know, this was the beginning of when that was made popular. This was the very beginning of when people started sampling other people’s voices and taking pieces of other people’s verses and putting them in hooks. Before then I think nobody but Premier was doing it.”

T.I. also remembers likening the situation to when Jay Z sampled Nas' voice on “Dead Presidents.” The Atlanta native says he was wary because of the subsequent issues that broke out between the two rappers following the aforementioned Reasonable Doubt cut.

“[Jay sampling Nas on 'Dead Presidents'] was more underground hip-hop popular,” T.I. adds. “If you recognize, the biggest problem that everybody has with Reasonable Doubt is that it never reached a true commercial success the way it should have, you know what I’m saying? When he did it, it was popular underground, and those of us who really loved hip-hop [loved it]. But on the [charts] it was never that. So that fad, that approach to music, never caught on until after this. And I was uncomfortable with it, kinda because of the way that situation played out; Jay used Nas’ voice for that record, Nas had something to say about it and then it turned into [the beef].

“So at that point I was like, ‘Hey, wait a minute. How does dude feel about me using his voice? I don’t know if I need that,’” T.I. continues. “And [Swizz Beatz] was like, ‘Man, listen. Let me deal with Jay. You just record the song.’ So I went on and did the song and it was one of my biggest hits up until that point.”

Elsewhere, T.I. spoke about the record’s widespread usage, calling it “flattering.”

“I don’t know if I ever heard it at a game, so to speak,” T.I. says. “I mean, I know it’s been licensed and used for so much, it’s definitely flattering. I don’t know if I have any added feeling because it’s at a sports arena, you know what I mean? I know a lot of comedians and a lot of people who come out on stage and have to be introduced, they step out to it. Which is cool, man. Whatever people see fit to use it for, man, except for balancing the coffee table.”

T.I.’s latest album Paperwork, received a 3 out of 5 rating from HipHopDX.