T.I. - "Porn Star" (mp3)

There used to be a certain mystique attached to albums released by rappers during or directly before or after serving prison terms, and that may have still be true as little as 4-5 years ago, when T.I. was first ascending to fame and catching his first case as a celebrity (I always think of Ethan's response when it looked like he'd be getting a 3 year sentence: "hopefully this will lead to his all eyez on me!!"). Now, though, there's so much prison rap that it's pretty much a genre unto itself, and a new entry into the canon, even a high profile one, is kind of business as usual. Paper Trail, though, is at least somewhat unique in that it's really a house arrest album, and that the end product actually reflects the state in which it was made; between his titular choice to start writing down rhymes again and the kind of contemplative (and sometimes almost preachy) lyrics that permeate even big pop singles like "Live Your Life," it's hard to forget the circumstances it came out of.

That's not to say there's not a good amount of silly shit on Paper Trail, though. It's actually alongside Urban Legend as the T.I. album with the most blatant R&B crossover bullshit, although that album had some classic hardheaded singles to balance it out, and Paper Trail instead just does the soft batch stuff much better. "Porn Star" seems to be a song that a lot of people are singling out as a weak spot on the album, but even if it's kind of a cheesy girl song, that beat is ridiculous. After his great work on Young Dro's album, I thought Lil C was headed for big things or at least a spot alongside Toomp and Khao as one of Grand Hustle's main in-house producers, but then all he did on T.I. Vs. T.I.P. was the unremarkable "Raw," and I kinda forgot I was even checking on him. Then "Porn Star" come outta nowhere, taking one of his recognizable synth sounds from "Shoulder Lean" and completely flipping it, and I kinda wish Tip had gone with a different hook or topic for people to take the track more seriously, even if Ricco Barrino's vocals on "Porn Star" aren't any more annoying than B.O.B.'s tuneless hook that damn near ruins "On Top Of The World."

Part of what sours Paper Trail and keeps it from being an ambitious and likable blend of contemplation and crossover is just how much of it T.I. spends obsessing over Shawty Lo and what people said about him on "the blog sites," as he calls them, after his arrest last year. He handles both topics so succinctly and perfectly on "What's Up, What's Haapnin'" and "Ready For Whatever," respectively, that revisiting them in every other song just becomes annoying and exhausting. "My Life Your Entertainment" is especially whiny, although it's kind of funny how T.I. and Usher unite to stand up to gossip-mongers, when one of them is talked about and speculated upon because of a serious legal situation and the other one just gets made fun of because he can't decide whether to let his mother or his wife run his faltering career. Still, I've always had more affection for thoughtful T.I. than most people seem to ("Praying For Help" might be my favorite song of his), and there's a lot of him in that mode to enjoy, even if the 3-track block of downtempo songs comes off as kind of a redundant downer, and only "You Ain't Missin' Nothing" really sticks and says anything interesting to me.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 at 10:22 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.