AceShowbiz -

T.I.'s had enough of people taking shots at his protegee Iggy Azalea. In a new interview with Hardknock TV, the rapper praised the Australia-born star for her talent and expressed how he felt about haters criticizing her music because of her nationality.

Talking about whether Azalea should be categorized as pop star or hip-hop star, Tip said, "I think her influence in music should be attributed to her work ethic, her artistic views, her impeccable ability to - she has a vision for herself and she will not compromise."

"She has a certain idea of how to present herself. How to platform her art and she won't compromise it. So, I think she should be judged based on that rather than her creed, her nationality, her - What country she's from. I think all of that - Those are stereotypes," he added.

When asked about which category, pop or hip-hop, he thought Azalea is in, T.I. said the "Fancy" hitmaker should be placed in whatever category she's making the most noise.

"I think that when you start trying to classify people in different categories I think that's when you kind of - You diminish the purpose of what we do. What we do [is] we try to bring people together. And you trying to take time to meticulously separate us by pop, rap, this, that. I think she can go in a lot of different genres because she's cross-pollinated," he explained.