T.I. Says Streaming Has ‘Watered Down’ The Music Industry & Explains Why He Has No Desire To Return: ‘They Don’t Give A Damn If You Retire’

T.I.

T.I. Says Streaming Has ‘Watered Down’ The Music Industry & Explains Why He Has No Desire To Return: ‘They Don’t Give A Damn If You Retire’

Rapper T.I. is sharing why he believes streaming has dramatically changed the music industry — and why he has little interest in making a comeback.

During a recent conversation with DDG, the Atlanta rapper pointed to the massive amount of music being uploaded to streaming platforms, claiming roughly 150,000 songs are being pushed onto services every day. “They don’t give a damn if you retire,” he said. “You retire, it’s gonna be somebody else falling in that slot, man.”

T.I. compared today’s music landscape to a professional basketball team suddenly allowing anyone to walk into the arena and suit up. Referencing the Golden State Warriors, he explained that established artists spent years developing their craft before earning their place in the industry. “You done did all that work,” he said, before arguing that today someone can seemingly “walk straight from the liquor store in here and get a uniform.”

The Grammy-winning rapper ended the analogy with a question about whether veterans would even want to continue competing under those circumstances: “Would you still want to play?” His comments appear to reflect his frustration with the lower barriers to releasing music in the streaming era and what he sees as an increasingly overcrowded industry.