ARTIST: T.I.
ALBUM: Trouble Man, Heavy is the Head
LABEL: Grand Hustle/Atlantic Records
RELEASE DATE: December 18, 2012
The King Lives
Photo by Matt Jones
Written by Jeremy Weeden
After two long years acclaimed Atlanta rapper T.I. returns to the music scene with his 8th studio album, Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head. This follow-up to 2010’s No Mercy is sure to reemphasize the fact that despite all the newcomers and new styles to come out of Atlanta, T.I. is the still the undisputed king.
On Trouble Man, T.I. seems much more sure of himself than he has on his past couple of albums. He was seemingly unsure of how to portray himself through his music with his ongoing legal troubles, as evidenced by the lackluster response to No Mercy. All of that behind him, T.I. immediately reasserts himself with the opening track, the soulful Marvin Gaye sampled “The Introduction” where T.I. reminds us just why they call him trouble man, and unlike on his last album, he is through saying sorry for it. He unrepentantly raps “Shit I am who I am, fresh up out of apologies/Sometimes I ain’t get in trouble, trouble got in me/Guess it follows me but I stays on my hustle man.” This song comprises T.I.’s troubles and issues in the past few years and how he has worked through them and come out on the other side.
On the very next track T.I. lets the listener know right away that he is back to his roots with the rowdy “G Season” featuring energetic young rapper Meek Mill. T.I. more than held his own against the youngster with blazing lines like “What can I say, another year, another case/Another sentence completed, I’m confident and conceited/I’m sucka free, sucka duck and so tell them suckas to beat it/Don’t fuck with me, buster trust me your future will be deleted/Such a G, ain’t no touching me/ Luckily I defeated the odds.”
On the next song, T.I. goes back to the trap with “Trap Back Jumpin” and displays his rapid fire flow over a bass heavy DJ Toomp produced track. The chemistry is obviously still there between these two long time collaborators as this track is very reminiscent of Trap Muzik era T.I.. “Wildside” is a collaboration with Harlem’s newest star A$AP Rocky and finds the two rapping about the wild and crazy lives they have led. A$AP Rocky lives up to the hype with hot lines like “From the land of the lead where they spit chrome/Where most kids never get to live long/Get their pistols, get pissed on/Pistol whipped and stripped, homey/Left for a minute and they switched on me/Caught them talking down, tryna bitch on me/And they snitch on me, ain’t got shit on me/ So my guess is death is what they wish on me.”
“Sorry” is a collaboration with legendary rapper Andre 3000 of Outkast. This song is worth listening to for Andre’s verse alone as he gives the listener some insight into his personal life and the hold up on a new Outkast album with the lyrics “And this the type of shit that’ll make you call your rap partner/And say I’m sorry I’m awkward, my fault for fuckin up the tours/I hated all the attention so I ran from it/Fuck it if we did, but I hope we ain’t lose no fans from it/I’m a grown-ass kid, you know I ain’t never cared about no damn money/Why do we try so hard to be stars, just to dodge comments?”
Trouble Man also features R. Kelly on the soul cleansing “Could You Learn,” Pink on the guitar tinged “Guns and Roses” a definite future single, as well as Cee Lo, Akon and Lil Wayne.
Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head is a fitting return for the King of the South, as T.I. has returned to the balance between street and radio music that helped make him a superstar in the first place. Trouble Man is an excellent album that is sure to keep T.I. on top and maintain his current status as the King.