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What's Beef? Houston's Wine-O Says "Happy Birthday T.I.," Doesn't Mean It

If you want to have a squabble with a rapper, you're going to need just cause. And Houston's own Wine-O believes he has all the right in the world to set his sights on T.I.

Known mostly for being a feared presence on a microphone and in stature, Wine-O has come out of his own "retirement" to take aim at T.I. -- and, to an extent, Iggy Azalea -- on new single, "Happy Birthday T.I." a stabbing record ironically titled around the Atlanta rapper's recently celebrated 32nd birthday.

According to Wine-O, it all starts with Iggy, the Australian-born bombshell who's come into national prominence with the mixtape Ignorant Art and her signing to Interscope/Grand Hustle. Back then, she was an 18-year-old when she met Wine-O and the two began dating.

"I taught her how to rap, how to finish a 16-bar verse and got her exposure initially," Wine-O explains. "I took her to New York, L.A. and all these places and introduced her to people."

As the story goes, once the relationship between the two soured, Wine-O sent Azalea back to Australia. However, she made her way back on her own, caught T.I.'s attention and the rest is history.

Only one small problem: Iggy signed a deal with Wine-O. Since she was still under contract, Wine-O felt disrespected when Iggy made the rounds of her supposed "free agency period," ultimately leading to a conversation with T.I. that went left, ending with threats against Wine-O's family.

"I retired from rap but T.I. brought me back," he says. "Do I let a man disrespect me? No! His prayer is that he keeps it music."

The track itself, like many T.I. barbs before it, calls for T.I.'s paperwork (or jail records) in the same way Democrats are calling Mitt Romney's tax history, street credibility and more into question. Wine-O does get quite disrespectful with lines such as:

Your little phone call, that was the last take

You licked her pussy, huh?

Well tell me how my dick taste

You kissed her huh?

Well tell me how my cum taste

At the current time, there has been no word from T.I. or Iggy Azalea as Wine-O preps his upcoming mixtape The Killing Fields.

Hear "Happy Birthday T.I." here.


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Brandon Caldwell has been writing about music and news for the Houston Press since 2011. His work has also appeared in Complex, Noisey, the Village Voice & more.
Contact: Brandon Caldwell