Tip Drill - T.I.

“T.I.P. Drill” came as a 2009 mixtape from the Atlanta rapper T.I. and it finds that it is dropped during his prison sentence from firearms charges. In the thing you get both some fresh cuts (tracks which were all recorded on the lead-up to his time serving at Forest City Correctional Facility) and also some of his biggest hits form earlier in his career.

1. “Welcome Back To The Trap” (Intro)

2. “Don’t Give Up”

...you see that the rapper comes in strong with an up-lifting track that seems to bring the thing up and give you a chance to actually have fun as you listen to his rhymes as he gets rid of all the Trap-Rap material and Gangsta Rap themes in order to talk on how he has come up from very little and has achieved a lot (even though this dropped whilst he was in prison serving for a year). It is a good way to get thigns going.

**Five Stars** ... more

“T.I.P. Drill” came as a 2009 mixtape from the Atlanta rapper T.I. and it finds that it is dropped during his prison sentence from firearms charges. In the thing you get both some fresh cuts (tracks which were all recorded on the lead-up to his time serving at Forest City Correctional Facility) and also some of his biggest hits form earlier in his career.

1. “Welcome Back To The Trap” (Intro)

2. “Don’t Give Up”

You get a banger of a track here as you see that the rapper comes in strong with an up-lifting track that seems to bring the thing up and give you a chance to actually have fun as you listen to his rhymes as he gets rid of all the Trap-Rap material and Gangsta Rap themes in order to talk on how he has come up from very little and has achieved a lot (even though this dropped whilst he was in prison serving for a year). It is a good way to get thigns going.

**Five Stars**

3. “That’s What I Thought”

He comes in strong here as he gets down to a raw Trap-Rap track here and appeals to his street fans as he does things and does one where he is out there purely to take out any opposition that he is seen to face, and it appears that he does it all incredibly well as he comes in with some hardcore raps and shows how well his rhymes have come on over the ten years he has been active and straight kills it.

**Five Stars**

4. “All The Time”

This is a fun little summery joint from the rapper and one that has him coming through in a big way as he raps in laid-back manner on top of some West Coast-feeling synth grooves to really get you going and bring up connotations of a music scene that is always connected to that season. It is one of the big ones on the mixtape and has him flowing about both dark issues and more feel-good ones too.

**Five Stars**

5. “Bread Up”

Here you get a nice little collaboration piece from the rapper as you see that the joins forces with the former Geto Boys member Scarface as they show how the Atlanta-Houston link up works, and it seems to translate into something highly effective for him as you get a track that is all about grinding and with the sorts of dingy beats that you get from this one, it seems to fit in well to the mind state that the rhymes put you in.

**Five Stars**

6. “Magic”
You see that you get a massive jam coming through as you find that he takes things towards the clubs with this one and comes through with a raw cut that has him working off Robin Thicke’s track of the same name and performs a funky jam with a Dirty South twist as you get some deep and dark bass added onto the mix as he does things in the way that he knows best and comes in strong with these club raps.

**Five Stars**

7. “Make You Sweat”

8. “All Night”

9. “Good Loving”

Working with Mary J. Blige here, you see that he follows up the track prior to this one extremely well as he comes out with a lively joint that is bound to get you excited as he comes in on some freaky beats and keeps everything in the club setting as he gets down to it all and just jams with it. It stands out as one of the biggest (officially) unreleased tunes he’s done and so really must be heard by fans.

**Five Stars**

10. “Remember Me”

Also finding itself on the re-release to T.I.’s “Paper Trail” album, this was the single form this album and one which seems to really represent what the release is about (although he doesn’t really dwell on it with other tracks) as on this one you have one where he works in desperation, with Mary J. Blige to display exactly how much he wants to remain at the forefront of everyone’s mind whilst he isn’t able to actively take part in the game.

**Five Stars**

11. “Way That You Want It”

This one was actually his 2001 demo tape and a track that has him performing incredibly as it is one that features some big beats that reflect the time well (when Kanye was on the rise) and has him rapping in a manner that out-does a lot of the work he brought through his career and has him showing the sort of potential he had to offer at this time and how he led to the creation of the hits the end this mixtape off. .

**Five Stars**

12. “Living A Lie”

Here you find that he comes out with a terrible track as he does something experimental and flops as he sounds as if his trying out something that is directly influenced by the Nu-Metal scene and so with lots of Rock influence he tries to do all the singing through the song and really doesn't too well in this position at all and makes for a tune that really doesn't do well to show that he's got something to say here.

**One Star**

13. “Hell Of A Life”

This fresh tune has him move things on a big as a change in the way things on as from an emotive one you get one which appears to get him advancing it somewhat so that he is able to show listeners his skills at storytelling when rapping and making everyone temporary forget about how he is unable to lead this sort of life for some time with club beats taking it to much more appealing places and livening things up.

**Five Stars**

14. “Big S**t Poppin’”

This was the big single from the album and it get s the album going in a big way as T.I. explodes with a club banger here with beats by Louisiana's Mannie Fresh to keep things flowing along. It seen to all work here as in the T.I.P. mode, he comes out roaring to get things hyped up. As an added note, it’s not often that you get a tune where the clean version is better, but to be honest, i think that I prefer having the more lively production from the clean edit, rather than having the unnecessary profanities found in this uncut version.

**Five Stars**

15. “What You Know”

In the UK, I felt that this was really the breakthrough track for the rapper whereas this may have come a little earlier in the US. It's good that such a track should be successful for him as it does round-up what he is about as an artist with DJ Toomp's production behind him rapping in the gritty way which the Southern states are known for as he comes in strong with a tunes that perfectly suits his Dirty South surroundings and its general ways.

**Five Stars**

16. “Top Back”

This was the final of the six singles from the “King” album, and was produced by Mannie Fresh. I felt as though the beat is what made this one as this was the main inspiration for T.I. as he rapped about the ideal production for him to perform on. The horns from Mannie Fresh are uplifting at the beginning, but he soon leads the tune with bass, and the sharp contrast emphasises the depth on the b-line, which T.I. is best at rapping on.

**Five Stars**

17. “ASAP”

This was one of the darker singles which came from the "Urban Legend" album. The build up for it with bassy drums increases the tension, the chanting of "A-S-A-P", continues to bring out this feeling before getting into the hard rhymes, which we like to see from the Bankhead rapper T.I.. This one is about how he doesn't mess around by procrastinating and such; he does everything 'as soon as possible', because time is money, and there's never an hour where you are unable to atl east set up a side hustle to fill your pockets.

**Five Stars**

18. “24s”

This was the first track from the album and it displayed a change in T.I.'s style from his debut album, "I'm Serious". This time, on a hard Toomp beat, T.I. talks about how he has to make the most of the success which he is receiving , because he knows that he doesn’t want to go back to his risky old life of selling drugs on the streets of Bankhead, Atlanta, Georgia. T.I. essential lists all the things he has bought since his struggle out of the ghetto where he is able to now relax and not feel threatened by his potentially dangerous surroundings. This track may have gained international attention for the rapper as it appeared on "Need For Speed Underground", one of the biggest games from the year.

**Four Stars**

19. “Let’s Get Away”

This was the final track to be released as a single from his second album “Trap Muzik” and it's a tune which Jazzy Pha took part in producing. The producer worked on his first album, but then I was as impressive that time around. I was also alarmed when I read that he featured in this track vocally too, but this is just a couple of words to end the song off, which was good, because I hate the sound of his voice. T.I. talks about dating girls all around the world for this one, and the style in which he does it is nice, but not all that original to end it reasonably well.

**Four Stars**

Aside from the wackiness that is “Livin’ A Lie” this is a strong mixtape from T.I. and features a good range of tunes. It is one that features lots of big tunes, and when you see the standard of the newer tunes, you can tell that big things will persist once he gets out. It is good to see that a few of his big tunes from as early as his 2003 second album are included as it gives you a chance to see that he has moved on over the years with such juxtaposition.
 

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