Opening Opinion: 96
Wow its hard to believe its been over 20 years since T.I. released one of (if not his best) albums, King. The album is just amazing. It didn't leave my CD player for a while after I got it. Let's get into the review. I believe it was heavily used in the movie ATL which I saw on my 18th b-day.
Let's start with the DJ Toomp produced "What You Know" and man, this is probably his best solo song. The beat is infectious. I love the hook too. "Somebody get bet get bruh, fo he get sent for, say you wanna squash it, what you still talking shit for", raps T.I.. The 2 songs before this are really good too. "King Back" which is produced by Just Blaze is also amazing. The song is so triumphant. It really gets me hype. A perfect opener. I love how he tells you to listen to his past albums to get a feel for who he is. "Front Back" features UGK (Bun B and Pimp C) and is produced by Mannie Fresh. Man this beat is just fire. All 3 rappers bring the heat. The song pays homage to UGK in the chorus with the "Front-Back, Front-Back, Side to Side" part.
Next up is "I'm Talkin' To You" which is a diss track of sorts but I haven't been able to figure out who he's going at. The song is a lyrical assault if I ever heard one! The beat is great too with the loud horns. "I'll give it to you straight n*gga, I don't need a metaphor." This was a Just Blaze beat too which I didn't know or forgot. Next up things smooth out with the Jamie Foxx assisted "Live in the Sky". A guy named Keith Mack produced it. I really enjoy this song. T.I. speaks on his homies/family members that have passed on. It's a really sentimental song.
"Ride Wit Me" has a nice bounce to it. Honestly on this album it's a pretty standard song. Lyrically he's really good here. Afterwards is a goofy skit starring Mike Epps and Malieka called "The Breakup". It's worth hearing and it leads into the next song. "Why You Wanna" is for the ladies and its smooth as hell. It's produced by Khao. T.I. is basically rapping about taking another man's place in a relationship. I really like the music video here. "Wanna tell a n**ga no with an ass so phat? Why you wanna do that?"
"Get It" has an insanely good Swizz Beatz beat. I like the way the beat breaks down on the chorus. So far the album hasn't missed once. Mannie Fresh lends a monstrous beat for "Top Back". Yeah this is one of my favorite songs here. Mannie Fresh produced a little bit on Urban Legend but the tracks on King have been noticeably better. Things take a slight dip with "I'm Straight" which features decent verses from B.G. (remember him?) and Young Jeezy. Afterwards is a Pimp C skit which is ok but its just him explaining what T.I. means by King of the South.
"Undertaker" is a dark sounding song and it features DJ Drama, Young Buck, and Young Dro. It's an ok song but nothing special.That and "Stand Up Guy" are produced by Khao. This guy really has some dope beats! Yeah I think this has a serious argument for being one of 2006's best produced albums. On "You Know Who" T.I. kinda interpolates past lyrics with "You know who and you know what". It's a good song but nothing amazing.
"Good Life" is the only Neptunes produced song. It features Common. I like the message of this song. "Hello" featuring Governor is probably the worst song but I honestly like it a lot. Another ladies cut. This time tho T.I. is asking how she's doing and how her man is treating her. Khao produced that one too. "Told You So" is pretty damn good. T.I. gives some background on himself and the ATL here. This song has grown on me.
Last up is the DJ Toomp produced "Bankhead" which features P$C and Young Dro. I like Dro's verse here. It's funny but when I heard that chorus "where am I supposed to go?" I was getting ready to leave high school and I was wondering what college I wanted to go to lol.
So overall this might just be T.I.'s best album. It's between this and Paper Trail. I actually did a discography battle blog post between those two. Honestly the two are tied imo now.