The other day, some of my followers on Twitter.com questioned how rapper T.I., aka Tip, manages to balance his Cosbyesque family man persona with his street life thug mentality.

T.I. answers those questions and more in this interview with MTV News.

“When I go home, that’s who I am, what you see on the show. Now, what you’re gonna hear through them records is when I hit the streets, when I’m out movin’ and groovin’. This is the person that must maintain this personality because it’s a cold world out here,” T.I. tells MTV News in this interview where he discusses Mr. Harris the family man as opposed to T.I. the performer as opposed to T.I. the performer. It’s been eye-opening to see what T.I. the family man is like thanks to T.I. And Tiny: The Family Hustle (Monday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT!), but as he explains, in the real world, he has to switch from daddy mode to being Tip because “that’s what it takes to make it out here.” Source

Watch T.I.’s interview with MTV News and episode 5 of T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle after the break!