T.I. Final Album With Dr. Dre
T.I. is working with Dr. Dre on what he calls his final album, "Kill The King." This collaboration marks a significant moment for hip-hop fans, as both artists are considered icons of the genre and rarely work together.
While the two have collaborated on tracks like 2016's "Dope," Dr. Dre has never had a production credit on one of T.I.'s official studio albums. Their previous work also includes unreleased songs like "Popped Off" and "Topless," which was originally intended for Dre's perpetually delayed album, *Detox*. The new collaboration is a track titled "Where I'm From," which also features frequent Dre collaborator Anderson .Paak and singer Stallone. T.I. noted that Dre's production process is meticulous, and he flew to the producer's house to record his verses for the song. For years, T.I. has publicly discussed retiring from music. In October 2024, he announced he was officially retiring from live performances, stating, "I don't want people to pay me to hop around and sweat for their entertainment anymore.” His last scheduled show was at the Jingle Ball in Atlanta on December 19, 2024. The album's title, "Kill The King," was inspired by advice Outkast's Big Boi gave T.I. early in his career. Big Boi warned that claiming the "King of the South" moniker puts a target on your back, turning life into a chess game where the objective is to "Kill The King." This final album follows a period of commercial decline for the Atlanta rapper. His 2008 blockbuster *Paper Trail* sold over 2.2 million copies in the U.S., but his subsequent albums, such as *No Mercy* (2010) and *Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head* (2012), sold around 500,000 copies each. His eleventh studio album, *The L.I.B.R.A.*, was released independently in 2020. Dr. Dre's last full-length album, *Compton*, was released in 2015 as a companion to the N.W.A. biopic *Straight Outta Compton*. Since then, his production work has been selective, including executive producing records for artists like Eminem and collaborating with Snoop Dogg on the 2024 album *Missionary*. T.I. confirmed at the 2026 Grammy Awards that this would be his last musical project as he transitions his focus to other creative and business ventures. The album's lead single, "Let 'Em Know," was released in January 2026, though a final release date for the full album has not yet been announced.
