“Man, somebody gonna trip,” he said in a familiar, deep baritone drawl. His voice is almost surprising, coming from a man with a wiry frame, striking features and a square jaw, who at a quick glance appears young and spry. The authoritative voice and staunch gaze tell a different story of an old soul, wise beyond his 24 years. It is the voice of a man who has rolled around the block a few times—in his own words—a real OG.

T.I.’s booming cadence is easily identifiable to anyone who pays attention to Billboard playlists or to the sounds of the streets. His powerful delivery has solidified his firm hold on superstardom with tales from his third album, Urban Legend (Atlantic, 2004), bumping from car speakers across America.

Turning to look at the uneven steps on the bus, he watched as members of Pimp Squad Click (P$C) exited onto the midtown New York City sidewalk. Called Tip by his cohorts, T.I. watched in silence, seeming ready to step in if someone tumbled. T.I.’s Grand Hustle label artists landed the drop squarely, and, like a squadron, gathered to make their next move—studio bound.

T.I. pays attention to details—from the phrasing of questions about his native Atlanta to the specs on one of his Chevys. Make a wrong inference about one of his cars, and he is quick to correct. “I got a ’96 Impala. It’s got an LT1. They didn’t have that engine in the ’94 and ’95, but I got a ’96,” he explained. “The LT1 is a Corvette engine.”

Explaining his tastes, his lifestyle and his history is a part of every day life for T.I., who is currently on tour with Nelly and Fat Joe. He keeps busy with the normal flow of photo shoots with P$C, decisions to be made about matters like clothing logos, and a rigorous interview schedule. Despite the hectic pace, his actions are measured, calculated and meticulous—the kind of qualities characteristic of both a master craftsman and the kind of guy you might run into while perusing his next purchase at a car show.

For T.I., these passions are often one and the same. He does not mind talking about his cars—old and new, foreign and domestic, or posing with cars, whether they come from his modest fleet, from his Atlanta shop, or from one of his regular stops on a promo tour.

DUB caught up with him as he breezed through L.A.’s NEXT Motorsports to peep an exotic Ferrari 575 Maranello sparkling with HRE 840R rims wrapped in Pirelli tires and a BMW 745i decked out in a full AC Schnitzer body kit and NC Forged Xtreme 10 rims.