T.I. 'looks up to Jay-Z, Will Smith'

T.I. has praised fellow rappers Jay-Z, Will Smith and P Diddy for their cross-over successes in a variety of media.

The rapper, who appears in the new crime-thriller Takers, also revealed his admiration for hip-hop moguls Master P and Russell Simmons.

"Jay-Z has done the rap sh*t to the best it could be done. He's done it better than anyone who's ever done it. Master P came from the same ghetto and bullsh*t that I came from and turned himself into a corporate conglomerate," he told Rap-Up.

"I look up to Russell Simmons because he started this sh*t and he still here. Will Smith got it right. Will transitioned from rapping to acting and did it at a stellar level of performance.

"Diddy’s fly as I am; just as conceited, pompous and arrogant as me, but he managed to maintain a humble sense of self. Puff got enough sense to know - even though he feels like he's more the sh*t than anybody else - when they got something going on that [he] ain't got. He knows when to take pages out of other people's books."

Earlier this summer, T.I. described Lady GaGa as a "phenomenal talent".

Takers arrives in US cinemas on August 27 and releases in the UK on September 17.