Not even house arrest from pending gun charges will stop T.I., whose new album Paper Trail was released Tuesday Sept. 30. MTV.com says he has been making the most of his mandatory stay by recording at his in-home studio. He’s also changing things up for the first time since his prior albums by using a little something called paper.
“I’m actually writing the lyrics down, pen and pad, old school style. I used to just listen to the music and go in the booth and rap. And now that I’m writing things down, I think it’s a lot more eloquent,” T.I. told Rollingstone.com.
Unfortunately the entire album cannot be described as eloquent, but about half of the 16 tracks are certainly more articulate than T.I.’s previous work. He feels he had no choice dealing with his recent gun charges; the lyrics from “Ready For Whatever,” which is entirely about his legal situation, address the issue: “Either die or go to jail that’s a hell of decision/ But I’m wrong and I know it my excuses unimportant/ I’m just tryin’ to let you know that I ain’t think I had a choice, for real.” The feeling that he needs guns to protect himself from being killed is a common theme throughout the album, especially on other tracks like “Dead and Gone” and “No Matter What.”
The other half of the tracks revert to less expressive form of rap similar to T.I.’s older albums. Tracks like “You Can Have Whatever You Like” and “Porn Star” are as far away from T.I.’s vision for the album as you can get, unless you can eloquently express hooking up. Whether particularly articulate or not, lyrics from “You Can Have Whatever You Like” such as “Late night sex, so wet and so tight/ I gas up the jet for you tonight” paired with catchy repetitive beats are propelling Paper Trail into a huge hit. NME.com reported T.I. set a new record with this song in the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart by jumping over 70 other songs at once to the No. 1 spot.
All the credit for this successful album cannot be given to T.I. himself, as the tracks with guest stars like Rihanna, John Legend and Justin Timberlake among others are the strongest. They combine T.I.’s unique lyrics with a music track from each guest’s genre that can be described as nothing less than baller. Legend’s collaboration on “Slide Show” has a slower R&B vibe, where Rihanna and Timberlake’s tracks, “Live Your Life” and “Dead and Gone,” respectively, have pop backgrounds.
All but a couple of tracks on the new album, whether they have meaningful lyrics or make someone want to drop mad G’s on their first grill, have something special that will resonate with a listener. Unlike many other new albums that have one or two hits, T.I. has reassured fans that, as he says in his song “No Matter What”: “I’m officially the realest/ Point blank period.”
4 stars out of 5.
