TI Vs TIP (Parental Advisory) [PA] - T.I. > Reviews > Fighting Yourself, You Always Win

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	One hit and lots of B-sides
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Eminem, Jay - Z and oh yes  -  the man himself, TI
Disadvantages:	Not everything is perfect, but almost

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

If you've ever seen an album review from me before, you might know that I go on a bit. Well, today I'm going to try something different. Instead of boring you on what every track is like, I'll try and give you as thorough an over view as I can and then I'm going to need your feedback on what you like better, ok? OK! I'm quite happy I choose this album to be the first new look album review from me, because quite frankly I'm in love with TI, real name Clifford Joseph Harris Jr.

TI really doesn't look like a Clifford, and I would pay to see his mum calling him that because I just can't imagine it. Born on September 25th 1980, by my wisdom that makes him 26 years old and he hails from Atlanta, Georgia. TI vs TIP is the artists fifth album and was released just earlier this month. In the mainstream he is well known for his appearance with Justin Timberlake on the 2006 single, "My Love", although in the rap game is well known for being one at the top of his game and TI vs TIP is set to be his most successful album yet, with the title of the album representing a battle with himself.

2007's TI vs TIP is split up into three 'acts' that are based on three different moments of his life, and for each act there are songs that clearly TI believes relate to each subject of the acts. The first track released from the album is actually track one, entitled 'Big Sh*t Poppin'. There is also a clean version of the song known as 'Big Things Poppin' and at the beginning of the music video you see TI fighting himself at press ups where the street TI defeats the rich TIP. This track was an immediate success for me, sounding just as good as anything off his previous album if not better. Many will say sounding just as good as you did on your previous album isn't really progression, but I'm not sure how TI could have gotten much better. TI does show a very grown up attitude though in terms of who he signed on to guest star on his album.

Wyclef ("just cause she dances loco don't mean she a ho no") Jean and Slim ("cleaning out my closet") Shady AKA Eminem are the two guest stars on the album, in an age where most artists are very keen to get as many artists on their album as they can so that they can get wider sales. Just look at R Kelly's album release earlier this year, he got two megastars in Usher and Nelly to name just a couple to guest star. There is also a song featuring Jay-Z, love interest of Miss Beyonce Knowles, however other songs including Jay were rejected. TI actually produced songs with the likes of Andre 3000, Justin Timberlake, Ciara and Akon but did not include them at all on the final cut. Whether this is because they are terrible or if TI just wanted to keep it a more solo album I don't know, but I would love to hear some of those songs that have been left lying on the cutting room floor!

The second single from the album is due to be track three, 'You Know What It Is' featuring Wyclef Jean. This song follows on from 'Raw', which is good as far as an album track goes. The second single release has a very summery feel although it takes about 60 seconds for the song to really kick in. For a third single it is rumoured that track 12, 'Touchdown' will be the release - which wouldn't be a bad idea considering what a huge star Eminem is and it didn't do Akon any damage bringing out his 'Smack That' track from his most recent album featuring the original white rapper. The track is due to be a major success no matter whether it is released or not on the underground circuit.

Maybe I was being a tad bias in saying how great it was that TI didn't have too many people feature on this album, because really he did have quite a few. Although the likes of Alfa Mega and Busta Rhymes are no where near the huge fame status of Mr. Trousersnake. I personally would have loved to see Justin returning the favour and featurnig on a song on this album, however I guess TI figured that Justin wouldn't appeal to his fans as much as he appealed to Justin's fans. No matter what, they are both incredibly talented and I wouldn't be surprised to see them together again on a track in the future. Afterall, Justin has never been further away from his boyband history and even has a single coming out with richest rapper in the business, 50 Cent, later this summer. If you are easily offended this won't be the album for you, and the word ni**er does come up A LOT.

Jay-Z, at 37, sounds just as good as the young TI showing he can still keep up with the pace and it will be interesting to see what TI is doing when he is that age. For me, he has the longevity to be around in 10 years time helping out the younger guys. Hurt is a collaboration and it is probably one of the worst songs on the album, it just drags on a bit and I'm not a Busta Rhymes fan anyway. If you're not sure who Busta is, think of that 'Baby if you give it to me, I'll give it to you' Mariah Carey song. The second song on the album featuring Wyclef Jean is probably better than the single featuring Wyclef that is being released, 'My Swag', has quite an infectuous beat. Nelly is always great for a party song, ever since he burst on to the scene with 'Hot In Herre' and when you know that the song featuring him is called 'Show It To Me' you can guess what the song is going to be about showing. I really like Nelly, and I hope in his next album he can keep up the quality that he is known for and doesn't fall into obscurity because if that can happen to Nelly then there's a lot of questions about who else it can happen to.

Unlike a lot of albums I have reviewed in the past, this is not about love and sex, the main theme is probably violence and money. And they say rap music is a bad infulence. I'd been looking forward to this album all year, and whilst it doesn't have as many anthems as I hoped it would have, if it was a true disappointing I would have came to this review crying and bitching about TI. The fact that I haven't done that is a good sign, but sadly I'm still searching for that first 5 star product since my return to Ciao. This album is really good, but it's not perfect. Value for money though? Well depending what you're into, this is a bargain! 'My Type' is a brilliant track to end the album on, and it's clear a lot of thought has been put into the whole production of the album.

1. Big Sh*t Poppin (4:56) - FIVE STARS
2. Raw (3.52) - THREE STARS
3. You Know What It Is ft. Wyclef Jean (3.36) - THREE STARS
4. Dopeman (5.10) - THREE STARS
5. What You Say ft. Jay-Z (4.45) - FOUR STARS
6. Hurt ft. Alfa Mega & Busta Rhymes (4.50) - TWO STARS
7. Help Is Coming (4.26) - THREE STARS
8. My Swag ft. Wyclef Jean (4.35) - FOUR STARS
9. We Do This (3.34) - FOUR STARS
10. Show It To Me ft. Nelly (3.19) - FIVE STARS
11. Don't You Wanna Be High (4.00) - THREE STARS
12. Touchdown ft. Eminem (4.43) - FIVE STARS
13. Tell Em I Said That (4.55) - THREE STARS
14. Respect This Hustle (4.27) - THREE STARS
15. My Type (4.50) - FIVE STARS