“They want to be the king BY DEFAULT, and hoping for openings, Pray to see the day they hear [T.I.] says he won’t flow again, BUT Oh {On the contrary], I GUARANTEE year after year THEY’LL SUFFER, as long as I’m here, I fear no man alive, I don’t care, you don’t run &*&^, BE CLEAR!!!!! “, T.I. – “Raw”.

I bet the day T.I.’s parents named him Clifford Harris that they never expected one day that their baby boy would have the highest grossing hiphop album in a particular year and have a sector of critics contemplating if he was actually the “new king of rap”. Well in 2006 T.I. accomplished that feat with the release of his 4th album KING which was ironically his worse album ever but the highest grossing hiphop album in 2006. Yes his lead single was probably one of his best ever in “Whatcha Know About That” but besides that song, the album was mostly average to below average and Benz0 personally chose not to review it and/or buy it.

To complicate matters T.I. suffered a huge tragedy when his friend Phil Johnson was shot to death in Cincinnati at a club called The Ritz in April, 2006. According to T.I. he didn’t even want to rap anymore after that. At that point I was wondering if T.I. had gotten lazy like most rappers who gain unexpected fame and start living an alternate reality in which they think they have become the god of rap and can do whatever and still sell just because they get extensive radio play for a year.

A lot of times people forget that hiphop is cannibalistic in that the old get eaten by their young constantly. Yeah go ahead and play hop-scotch and get high on weed and coke with model chics and actresses all you want instead of sharpening skillz in the studio cause you’re one bad single from being unemployed and joining the old folks tour with Doug E. Fresh and Run D.M.C. Before his last disappointing album I saw T.I. becoming part of the New School of the South that was started with Poison Clan’s debut album 2 LOW LIFE MUTHAS (when Debonair was still part of Poison Clan partnering with J.T Money) and solidified by Outkast and the Dungeon Family.

But here’s the weird thing about T.I. Despite releasing a subpar album in the eyes of critics that actually know good hiphop, this dude managed to use his savvy to entice the market that commercially matters the most and that’s the white media and white fans cause they buy the albums and give the artist worldwide exposure. Consider what T.I. accomplished just from 2001 to 2006. Just looking at his businesses, T.I. now has a construction company in which he employs a lot of his family, he has a clothing line, owns a custom car company called Elite Auto Concierge and he even was able to help push his artist Young Dro to platinum heights (That Young Dro was FIRE though!!). That’s the least of his recent accolades though. How about TWO Grammy awards? One for this last album which I say was his worse (Which actually shows you the Grammy award is hollow in hiphop as it RARELY credits good hiphop) and another Grammy for partnering with Justin Timberlake in “My Love”.

It’s that collaboration right there that may be the most important as it introduced T.I. to an audience that hadn’t a clue about who he was. It gets better though. He racked up in the hit movie A.T.L. and is now coming out with a 2nd movie in November. And guess what y’all? In that new movie he’s acting alongside one of the greatest of all time in none other than DENZEL MOTHER$%#$#%^ WASHINGTON in the movie AMERICAN GANGSTA! Now that’s big time. But what we’re here to talk about is HIPHOP and the rap world is not going to let him off the hook just yet with a subpar 2006 album. Which brings us to 2007. 2007 his name is bigger than ever and this time the release of his next album has him even being MusicChoice’s “artist of the month” as he releases T.I. Vs. T.I.P. So he goes to drop two singles off of this album that frankly are OK but they are no where near his previous club bangers like “24’s”, “What You Know” or “ASAP”. Things were looking like a classic case of little boy strikes it rich and suddenly craps out until my manz Jamil Austin hit me up and told me to cop the new T.I. album ASAP (pun intended). I did just that and JESUS CHRISTO!! The rumors of T.I.’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. First impressions of this album are that it’s going take a lot for this album not to be ALBUM OF THE YEAR. Let me explain.

Moving quickly past the so-so singles of the Mannie Fresh produced “Big Things Poppin” and the Wyclef Jean collaboration called “You Know What It Is” let’s get to the real gems of T.I.’s new album. As is the case with an artist who sells a lot, the most anticipated thing on that chart topping artist’s next album is usually the major star collaborations. In this arena T.I. doesn’t disappoint and in fact unexpectedly impresses. He has a collaboration with none other than Jigga, Jay-Z himself. I guess Jigga Man is a left for dead man getting his pulse back cause Jay unleashes a classic verse on “Watch What You Say To Me”. Peep the genius: “Rap music is something ain’t it?, the way these pictures get painted, you’d swear this [guys] are dangerous, the gangsta &^%$ they be saying, lock em up in the booth with a half ounce of that cannabis, sit back and watch the outlandish &^%$ they portraying, but…… Sooner or later I’ll take you up on your offer and put you all in your place LIKE I’M RE-PLACING YOUR FATHER, You’re talking to the author, THE ARCHITECT OF THE BLUEPRINT, MY DNA IN YOUR MUSIC MOTHER &^%$#@!!!..”. Whew!!!! HELL YEAH!!!! Young Hov!!!!!! It’s like after that collaboration all other collaborations are truly second best on this album but hiphop heads will perk up when I mention T.I. also has a duet with none other than Slim Shady on “Touchdown” in which Eminem actually produces. Things of note on this song are mainly the chemistry Eminem actually has with T.I. on this song as T.I.’s influence actually has Eminem talking about “candy paint”(which of course refers to types of car paint color popular Down South).

Wyclef Jean bounces back from the average “You Know What it Is” to collab on the silky smooth “My Swag” which is best described as “brilliant”. Perfect blend of T.I. lyrical dexterity and smoothness. My favorite line is when T.I. mentions Ibiza, Spain which of course Benz0 has been to cause like T.I., Benz0’s been around the world. Here’s the line though: “I went to Japan and made a [million] in a week bro, you can see me in London or out in Ibiza, that time I didn’t sleep for bout 3 days maybe, you can see me in Haiti with Wyclef Jean and a selection of ladies..”. Benz0 had similar sleep deprivation experiences as Ibiza clubs stay open for 24 hours (Ibiza’s mostly techno though so you gotta be diverse to enjoy it). I literally entered the club in Ibiza at 10PM and stayed till 4PM the next day and people were still partying hard. But heck man T.I. done gotten so big that even Busta Rhymes makes a surprise cameo on “Hurt” that gets the blood pumpin’. Last but not least is an actually very nice collabo with Nelly on “Show It To Me” which nicely walks the fine line between R&B and hiphop.

OK now that we got the star-studded collaborations out the way. What really makes the album is T.I. himself. T.I. takes his talent to a whole new level on the amazing “Raw” which is some of the best hiphop out there as he shows off a new rapid fire flow. “Raw” is a classic example of the evolution of the Southern Rapper. I can’t get enough of this song. I’ve literally been late to work simply because I had “Raw” on repeat in the company garage and I just simply had to listen to it again and again and again….Then you have a T.I. classic club banger in the mold of “24’s” in the song “We Do This”. Incredible club banger that representsT.I.’s split personality T.I.P. (who is the hardcore, unbridled side of T.I. the businessman and professional). Mannie Fresh pops up again on “Da Dopeman” which is another classic T.I.P. production. And for those still sleeping on T.I.P.,“Help is Coming”, lets the hiphop world know to “Say hello to the man who can save hiphop”.

T.I. the laid back business man does make cameos on the album too. “Don’t You Wanna Be High” has that “old school, doing house chores on a Saturday, listening to the radio” feel that is more than likeable and isn’t even soft. Meaning Benz0 is even more in love with this album cause there are no sappy R&B cruddy songs on this album. “My Type” finds T.I. imitating the all too familiar foreshadowing of one’s own death due to haters theme but it’s sincere so it’s cool. The album climaxes on “Tell Em I Said That” that addresses the sad state of hiphop today in which artists come out with fabricated hardcore images trying to fool impressionable kids that they’re hardcore and trying to pretend that living in the ghetto is a great life. Yeah right. T.I. sets them straight on this song that features a passionate chorus with soulful undertones. The theme on this song pretty much sums up all that T.I. (and the phenomenon that has become T.I.) ISN’T and that’s fake.

T.I. or T.I.P. if you prefer came into the game with no connections or gimmicks. Just realness and a confident swagger. His swagger was such that he left Arista after the first album and pushed his own label Grand Hustle himself and made himself a superstar. So at the end of the day I’m happy that realness wins out this time. I feel bad though for the artists that still have to drop albums this year. Perhaps Kanye West (Who has another classic with “Stronger”) or 50 Cent has a chance to challenge T.I. for album of the year but the fight to dethrone T.I. in 2007 is no doubt going to be more vicious than a Michael Vick pit-bull fight event!!! For now this album is ALBUM OF THE YEAR in my eyes.

Benz0
Contact Benz0: BenzWritings@Hotmail.com

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