T.I.'s Paper Trail: guilty of phat beats

10/16/08 - He's been called Clifford Harris Jr., "the King," "the Jay-Z of the South," T.I.P, and most often, simply, T.I. Unfortunately, the Atlanta rapper can also add something else to the list of things he's been called: "guilty." Having pled guilty to a weapons possession charge, the rapper is now awaiting one year of incarceration. The majority of his new album, Paper Trail, was written during his house arrest leading up to the sentencing, and the lyrics of many of his songs reflect that. The rest of the album's tracks amount to typical Southern hip-hop fare, though of a very high quality.

Paper Trail is so named because the MC decided to write his rhymes on paper rather than prepare all of his material mentally. This return to the pen and the pad marks the first time since his debut album, I'm Serious, and the switch is a good fit for him.

The album takes a few tracks to get interesting, with the first standout being "Ready for Whatever," where the rapper addresses his arrest and conviction directly.

T.I. admits his guilt but defends his actions, rapping "I'm a man, I ain't perfect, I admit it, I'm guilty / but understand, feel me, I will ride filthy / 'cause niggas out there plottin' to rob me and kill me / 500,000 every year spent on security."

T.I. also defends his past as a drug dealer on the next track, "On Top of the World," rapping, "I sold dope and dropped out of school, seems it's all they can see / they don't notice none of my family did that since me."

It should be noted that Ludacris steals the show on this track, however, delivering a hysterical verse with the lines ".celebrating coming from nothing, to winning Grammys and rappers winning Oscars / and they say rappers shouldn't act, nahh suckers / we see Samuel Jackson like 'what's up motherf***er?"

There are some clear clunkers on the album, however. The single "Whatever You Like," featuring lame lines like "shorty you the hottest / love the way you drop it / brain so good / coulda sworn you went to college" is a poor man's "Lollipop," right down to the faux-singing, electronic influences in the beat, and depraved lyrics. The only difference is that "Whatever You Like" is not nearly as great.

If it's possible, "Porn Star" is even worse, and will not be quoted here.

There's more good than bad here, though the upcoming single, "Live Your Life" featuring Rihanna (and sampling the Numa Numa song: for real!), features an uplifting message and impressively complex rhymes, like "I'm the opposite of moderate, immaculately polished with / the spirit of a hustler and the swagger of a college kid / allergic to the counterfeit, impartial to the politics/articulate but still would grab a nigga by the collar quick."

Another example of T.I.'s formidable lyrical skill is found on the all-star collaboration single "Swagga Like Us," where he trounces guests Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lil' Wayne with an amazing verse, dropping lines like "you kick it like me, no exaggeration necessary / living revolutionary, nothing less than legendary / gangster shit hereditary, got it from my dad / flow colder than February with extraordinary swag."

The King's got the skill to back up the swagger, especially now that he's leaving a Paper Trail by writing out his lyrics, and will doubtless improve further after a year in jail with no distractions. However, for now, Paper Trail is worth your paper.