T.I. Reveals His Top 10 Atlanta Rappers — Including 'Unexpected' Picks

T.I. has revealed the top 10 rappers from his hometown of Atlanta, including some picks he thought might surprise fans.

The “What You Know” rapper stopped by Shaquille O’Neal’sThe Big Podcast with Shaq on Wednesday (February 28), and the NBA legend asked Tip to rank his favorite MCs from the ATL.

The episode’s other guest Jamal Crawford helped T.I. out a bit, noting that OutKast could be number one.

“Yeah, OutKast got to be number one. OutKast, Goodie Mob, Thugger, Future, [21] Savage…” Check out the clip beginning around the 55 minute mark.

Tip then explained his decision to put 21 on the list: “Savage hard. Unexpected, though. You ain’t expect him to say a lot of the shit that he be sayin.'”

T.I. continued by mentioning his own son, Domani Harris, noting that he was one of the most overlooked MCs in the game.

He added a massive shoutout to some of the pioneers of Atlanta rap.

“Kilo Ali,” he said. “Atlanta rap kind of started with MC Shy D, Kilo Ali, Sammy Sam, Ghetto Mafia, A-Dam-Shame.” He then wrapped up the list by offering an additional shout out to 2 Chainz.

Back in 2022, the rapper born Clifford Harris shared his top five Atlanta Hip Hop albums, and the list doesn’t veer too far from the one he compiled on Shaq’s show.

“Outkast [Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik], Goodie Mob Soul Food, Thugger Slime Season, Future Dirty Sprite, 21 Savage, his last album. 21 Savage, the one where he got ‘A Lot’ with J. Cole on there,” T.I. said on Uproxx’s show Fresh Pair.

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Last year, Tip spoked about the greatest trap artists of all time in an interview with AllHipHop.

“There were always three figureheads in trap music: myself, Jeezy, and Gucci,” he told Chuck Creekmur. “That was always like unanimous, and nobody could even question or you can’t add or remove anybody from that. Over time, there have been conversations about who else should be allotted.”

After explaining that the fourth figurehead was where the debate really began, he added: “We finally came to the conclusion from the people that the fourth figurehead is Future.”

Elsewhere on the podcast with Shaq, T.I. weighed the pros and the cons of investing into sports — but unlike many of his Hip Hop colleagues, he showed no interest in owning an NBA team.

“So many of my contemporaries — like Nelly, you know, he got a piece of Charlotte — and Usher’s got a piece of Cleveland,” he began around the 29-minute mark. “You know, people be asking me, ‘would I ever do it?’ And I don’t think I would, you know? Because I just can’t see me taking so much of my money, investing it in something, and I can’t do what the fuck I wanna do.”