T.I.

Unless your name is Kool Keith, you might want to think twice about making a hip-hop album where your various personalities battle each other for mental dominance. But T.I., arguably the biggest rapper in 2007, has done precisely that, dividing his fifth album between the more businesslike T.I. and the more street T.I.P. persona. Luckily, T.I. doesn't allow the concept to get in the way of making great songs, which are aplenty. And though nothing here is quite as ferocious as the emcee's early work, where his raps lurched out at you, this is perhaps his most consistent album to date.

"Get acquainted with the youngest in charge/Respected from East to West like he was
running the mob," rapped Atlanta native T.I. on last year's King, whose title referred to his
status as the reigning monarch of Southern hip-hop. This wasn't idle boasting. King was the
best-selling rap record of 2006, going double-platinum. T.I. was all over the radio and TV,
pimping Chevys and winning a Grammy for the killer single "What You Know." Th... More >