When T.I. released his fourth studio LP, King, on March 28, 2006, he transitioned from urban legend to suburban star. But the album’s title wasn’t entirely symbolic of his copping the hip-hop crown. “I just had my son, King, at the time,” the now-35-year-old T.I. remembers. “People think the album’s [name] is about me, but it’s really for him.”

The former Atlanta dope boy popularized his King of the South distinction on his 2003 sophomore album, Trap Muzik, but with King T.I. claimed a larger throne—sovereignty over all hip-hop. The album sold 522,000 first-week copies, boosted by a headlining role in his first film—the skate-culture classic ATL—alongside fresh faces like Big Boi and Lauren London. His thespian-by-day, trap-rapper-by-night double life led to King becoming the film’s official soundtrack, released three days before the movie.

Ten years after its release, Genius rounded up some of King’s key contributors to look back on the making of the album’s most magical moments.

I don’t remember where Tip was at in the process of recording the album, but I went down there and came up with a couple of ideas, made the beats from scratch. I prefer to work that way—you get the best results.

The first thing we did, I flipped “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” I sampled the track pretty quickly. Everybody was going crazy. One of the A&Rs, Gee Roberson, called [Atlantic Records CEO] Craig Kallman. Craig is flipping, he’s excited. The song was recorded and everything. Then we find out that Fat Joe already had a single with Jennifer Lopez about to go to radio using the same sample. He was on Atlantic at the time. Trying to work a record at radio using the same sample as another artist on the label, that could get politically weird. So we ended up scrapping that.

Everybody thinks the sample I used for “King Back” is from The Exorcist, but it’s not. It’s a library record called “The Sting Of The Serpent.” Back in the day you had music houses that had in-house musicians that would record tons of music that could then be licensed to TV shows, movies, commercials. They were like a hidden secret among producers because they were subscription service only. You could get samples that nobody else had access to. You couldn’t buy them in stores; they maybe pressed up 500 copies of each. I started collecting those in the late ‘90s.

So we put the track together. It has that similar sinister feel to The Exorcist with the bells, but it starts out really boisterous and big with the horns, then it breaks down to this melancholy sound. I like the juxtaposition. The tempo was perfect for Tip. That was a no-brainer. It didn’t take me long.

I hadn’t heard anything back from Tip about that track, and I felt that everybody was so hyped off the “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” flip that once that didn’t happen, the mood kind of just went. I figured he wasn’t using it. So I had a No Limit artist by the name of Fiend—we put a hook on it and demoed it for Twista. Then I got a call out of nowhere from Tip, like, “Yo, let’s mix that record, that’s going to be the intro.” Luckily, the Twista thing didn’t happen.

T.I. (Artist): I knew immediately that it was going to be the intro.

Just Blaze: It started out with just those horns. I wanted it to be more dramatic if it was going to be the intro; I wanted to set the tone. I went back and put that skit on it that sounded like something from Gladiator or Braveheart. I was like, “What would it sound like if we were capturing a pivotal moment in one of those movies?”

T.I.: Just had a very [prophetic] approach. He embodied all the things that I would’ve wanted spoken on my behalf. And it had a cinematic dramatization—it seemed like a sample, but it was just him doing what he does. I just wanted to do the record justice.

Just Blaze: There’s a song on X-Clan’s first album called “In The Ways Of The Scales” that starts out with these strings in the background while Professor X is talking. I always liked the music on that intro. I didn’t sample that music, but I used it as an inspiration to create the sound bed for what’s happening under the Braveheart-type talking. If you go back and listen to those two records, you’ll see they feel similar. It’s just me giving props to one of my favorite groups.

T.I.: I put so much effort and energy into the performance on that record, because I knew that the production value is so high. I wanted to rise to the occasion in contributing as much as was being contributed to it by Just.

“Front Back” Feat. UGK (Produced by Mannie Fresh)

It was originally just me and Bun—Pimp was locked up when we did this record. Right before the album was turned in, Pimp got out, so it was a mad dash to get his verse in. It was a blessing that we were able to get that done. I actually have a third verse—it’s still in the vaults.

One of my secrets—when you’re looking for dope progressions and samples in records, the end is where the band goes in. I always wanted to sample Roberta Flack’s “Gone Away.” My dad used to let me flip through his records and just listen to shit, around 9 or 10. I always loved the end of that record.

I had this engineer named Wonder Arillo—he was engineering and producing with me. We figured, we can’t sample it, let’s recreate the music. That was my first time getting into software. So he was teaching me the software at the same time, which I use to this day: Reason, by Propellerhead. We put that melody together, and I marinated with it for a few days, put the track around it, the bass line, all the extras.

People were blowing my phone up for that shit. Benzino wanted to do a song with Baby from Cash Money—they were calling about that instrumental. I played it for Jeezy—he went crazy, like, “I’m gonna get to that shit.” He caught strep throat and his voice went out real bad. That’s what kept him from doing it. 8Ball and MJG put a song to it called “Alcohol, Pussy, And Weed.” The song was dope, but I kept telling them, “How can we clean that up?”

Before I hit the play button for Tip, I was like, “This is a special track right here.” When I hit play, he gave me a look. The whole room lit up. People outside walked in that room like, “What the hell is that?”

T.I.: Most of these records are done in like a half hour because I had so much to say, so much on my mind. I wasn’t writing at all. Now, if I do a record in 30 minutes, I’ve got to spend another hour and a half making sure I’m not saying some shit that I’ve already said. [Laughs.]

Jason Geter (Executive Producer, A&R, Former Manager): I remember radio in Atlanta wasn’t really excited about “What You Know” initially. I remember Tip going into the radio station and being like, “Yo, what y’all talking about?” At that time was the end of the crunk era, and the snap movement came right after. There were so many of those records in the city that it just didn’t interest them. I remember going to the radio station and having that conversation, like, “What are you guys fucking hearing?” Obviously the record really blew up.

DJ Toomp: Everybody was snapping their fingers. Me, Jason, and Tip always made sure that our shit was either above the rest or totally different. We made it our business to put out something unique.

T.I.: That was a very interesting time in my career because I had enough experience to know how high to raise the bar. And I was fresh enough to the scene where there were expectations but not enough expectations to make it not fun. It was still like, what is he going to do next—that’s the sweet spot.

DJ Toomp: He said, “I’ll snatch you out that Bentley and take that shit to the chop shop.” Lil’ Flip was known for having a Bentley back then. And Flip was trying to squash the beef, but he was still making [diss] records. So Tip said, “You say you want to squash it, what you still talking shit for?” [Laughs.]

T.I.: It was echoing the same thing that we were speaking of on Urban Legend. It wasn’t anything fresh. [Me and Flip] were supposed to be at a squashing situation, and there was still negative conversation. Of course that provides frustration. It’s all water under the bridge now.

I came up with the “I’m Talkin' To You" track pretty quickly, in 20 or 30 minutes. It was one of those things where you hear something and you automatically know what it is. The idea just clicked.

The original version started out with Tip talking and he just goes into the record. I like records that have a slow build and then the beat drops. We didn’t have that with “I’m Talkin' To You,” so I had to make one. I put the air horn, extra synthesizer, and scratches, then I had that outtake of Tip taking saying, “What’s up, homeboi.” So I was like, “Alright, we’ll set it up like me and Tip are sitting in the studio together. We didn’t do that one in the room together. I sent it to him.

I didn’t know what Tip was going to do with it; I just knew it was going to be one of those important records. He sent it right back with the rhymes. We were blown away by what he put down to it.

T.I.: I harbor a lot of feelings for people who I feel have opinions on my success or what they thought my success was missing. We’re in a competitive sport, we’re all striving to be the best at what we do. So when people offered opinions of me at that point in my career I took it a lot more personally than I do now. I was still looking to establish myself in a certain light, which didn’t allow me to kind of take it with a grain of salt.

Jason Geter: Tip wasn’t a part of a crew or a clique. He was coming out and trying to establish his own place. That was years of fighting for your position. Everything he got he pretty much had to get it the hard way.

T.I.: Urban Legend, the album that preceded King, I kind of dedicated to one particular person. So this album, even those songs that I wasn’t talking about anybody, every time I performed with high energy, people are like, “Who are you talking to?” People just assumed I was talking to someone. I felt that rather than give one person a bunch of shine, I probably would do a better job saying these are the people that I’m not talking about, so they can draw their own conclusion.

Just Blaze: The fact that he never actually said the person’s name makes it that much stronger of a record. It’s never been clearly defined. Me and him talked about it. People always ask me—I never tell anybody. It adds to the mystery of the record. If the shoe fits, it might be about you.

Jason Geter: I have no insight, no opinion. I might’ve knew who some of the stuff might’ve been about. I just thought it was a dope record. What’s clever is having people in the position of guessing. You gotta have your own judge and jury going.

DJ Toomp: The people he was talking about on that record, most likely he’s done records with them now. But at that time he wasn’t cool with them. All you’ve got to do is listen and read between the lines. One name that he said: Mr. Carter. But there might’ve been a time when they weren’t that cool. People go through phases, and once you say it on Pro Tools and that shit gets mastered, and you and dude get cool, you can’t pull that shit back. It’s there.

T.I.: There may have been people I had in mind. The reason I took that approach is because it’s best not mentioned. I don’t think there’s any reason to confirm or deny anything. The record, whoever it was about—if anyone at all—the sheer purpose was to provide inspiration in order to bring the best out of me. If that’s what was done, I appreciate them just as much as I appreciate anyone that went out and bought it.

“Live In The Sky” Feat. Jamie Foxx (Produced by Keith Mack)

I came up with the hook first. I had a hook in my head and heard a beat that I could fit the hook to. Jamie Foxx definitely was my first choice. Keith Mack has a lot of soul in all his projects. I wanted to be like “Tha Crossroads.” The only way to do that was to make it heartfelt, meaningful, and sincere.

I remember my cousin Toot was adamant about me discontinuing my activities. I took it as a challenge to provide other opportunities. So he introduced me to Toomp, then Toomp introduced me to Jay Grant. Jay took me up to Patchwerk, introduced me to P.A., which is K.P., Reese and Mello from Organized Noize, who then introduced me to the rest of LaFace Records. And everything started happening from there. Of course this process took a lot longer than the description of this process. But all in all that’s the way it worked. Looking back at it, it is kind of dope.

Khao is a producer from Montgomery, Ala. I met him some years prior, and he always had a different kind of sound. His drums were always a little different. The sample—the record we always remembered—was so big.

T.I.: I knew that was going to make a hit record. When I heard the sample, I heard the opportunity to make a hit record. The demographics of the original record was far different from what we were going for. I felt that might be a lot more intriguing.

Jason Geter: Lyor [Cohen] loved that record so much. When I think of that record, I think about Lyor dancing. He thought it was gonna be the biggest record in the world, ever. Honestly we all thought it would’ve been a little bigger than what it was.

T.I.: [Referencing Q-Tip] wasn’t premediated. It was just kind of, it just flowed. Sometimes things just come to me.

I did “Top Back” on some old equipment: a EPS and an SP-1200. It was originally a Juvenile record—I still have it saved as “Juvenile.” I had Tip do the hook. But Juve didn’t like the record. He was like, “It’s too loud.” I told him this is gonna be a big record. Tip was like, “Can I have it?” It was like he was counting on Juve not to like the record. He did all three verses, full-on. He already knew what he was gonna do, he had it memorized. I was like, “This is one of your singles, bro.” He gave me a modest, “We’ll see.” Juve was like, “Man, I should’ve set up on this one.”

T.I.: A lot of the details escape me because so much has gone on between now and then. I just remember going back in the booth. I don’t think I had time to think. I just went right in and did it. But I appreciate it. I’m sure it would have been a great record had Juve taken it. I appreciate him passing on it.

“Hello” Feat. Governor (Produced by Kevin “Khao” Cates)

We’re in relationships at a young age and different parts of the relationships, different energies and experiences, lend themselves to certain emotions. There’s always an intriguing factor because it’s so new and fresh—things you haven’t experienced before, ways you’re not used to feeling. You go from what wanting to be with somebody forever to thinking the best thing is to completely walk away and never see them again. Sometimes you take that opportunity and say, “What the fuck am I doing?” It’s the carousel of love. When you’re an artist and you have the ability to apply those emotions to your music, it’s quite interesting.