*T.I. is officially done with rap. The Atlanta icon, 45, confirmed his retirement in a new PEOPLE cover story, calling his recently released album “Kill the King” his farewell project.
“I’ve gotten everything I prayed for from the game,” the Grammy winner told the outlet.
The timing carries weight. This October, the rapper celebrates 25 years since his 2001 debut, “I’m Serious.” His catalog includes early-2000s staples such as “Whatever You Like” and “Bring Em Out,” plus guest turns that powered Justin Timberlake’s “My Love” and Rihanna’s “Live Your Life” up the charts.
“I feel blessed to have had such a long career, to go from the kid that was praying to be a part of something to having such a significant role,” he said.
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Retirement will not keep him off the road entirely. T.I. plans to tour on the King Succession run alongside his sons Domani and King.
The PEOPLE interview unfolded at his massive Atlanta property, a home he calls the Black House. He lives there with his wife Tiny, 51, and the couple’s seven kids between them, from 30-year-old Zonnique down to 10-year-old Heiress.
“It’s always great when I get all the kids and everybody together at one time, because when they move out of the house, they have their own lives. They’re doing all their ripping and running,” he said.
His marriage has endured plenty. He pursued Tiny for years after seeing the Xscape singer perform in a music video during the 1990s. They became a couple in 2001 and married in 2010, weathering storms that included his 2009 prison term on federal weapons charges.
“When somebody’s endured treacherous circumstances with you, been with you during your darkest hours, it just makes the bright moments that much brighter,” he said.
The star also revisited his hardscrabble Atlanta childhood. Raised mostly by his grandparents in a struggling part of the city, he drifted into crime as a teenager before music redirected his life.
“Around 17, 18, I was really willing to do the most outlandish s—,” he said. “I was on a high-speed chase with civilians.”
He added, “I should have been somewhere reading or writing, learning to play the piano. I would tell my younger self, ‘Man, focus this time and this attention into something that could better serve you later on in life, because you going to need it.’ ”
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