T.I.
Paper Trail is the new offering from Atlanta’s hottest export T.I. set for release in the U.K on November 24, through Atlantic Records/Grand Hustle. The album made a phenomenal arrival in the United States last week, topping the Billboard 200 and marking the multiple Grammy Award winning superstar’s third consecutive no.1 chart entry following 2006’s platinum certified KING and 2007’s platinum certified T.I. VS T.I.P.
With total first week sales in excess of 568,000, PAPER TRAIL also enters at number 1 on a number of other US Billboard charts including ‘Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums’, ‘Top Rap Albums’ and ‘Top Digital Albums’. The album’s unparalleled first-week sales success represents a personal best for T.I., as well as Atlantic Records biggest-ever one-week scan since Nielsen Soundscan began tracking data in 1991.
Arguably his most potent and important LP to date, PAPER TRAIL sees the ‘King of the South’ collaborate with the cream of A-List production heavyweights - including Swizz Beatz, DJ Toomp, Drumma Boy, Danja, Just Blaze and Justin Timberlake, to name a few. Lyrically, Paper Trail is T.I. coming full circle and revisiting his older, more traditional methods of writing – the album’s title is a direct reference to T.I.’s return to literally writing his lyrics down (as opposed to free styling in the studio booth) - a practice he hasn’t engaged in since his debut, I’m Serious, in 2001.
Ironically, he found that going back to the basics has helped him evolve into a better MC - “I’ve had phenomenal success on my previous albums by just going into the booth, letting the music flow through me, and being spontaneous with it. This time I wanted to try something different. My writing is a little more structured and thought out, but it’s still art at the end of the day. It’s still free-flowing.â€
A sizzling taster of the album’s calibre, buzz track ‘Swagger Like Us’ signals a historic moment for hip-hop as rap’s “Olympic Dream Team†join forces: T.I., Jay-Z, Kanye West and Lil Wayne. Each MC not only displays his distinctive cool, but each ferociously attacks the M.I.A.sample with brash wordplay showing why they all tower over rap's most elite. The No.1 US single, ‘Whatever You Like’ is the definitive declaration of T.I.’s stance as a man undeterred and an artist unrivaled.
It is also a testament to how his faith in a higher power helped him get through a very public period of turbulence in his life. The track recently broke Billboard Chart history by jumping a phenomenal 70 places from No.71 to hit the No. 1 top spot and remaining there for the last five weeks and counting.
Forthcoming UK single – ‘Live Your Life’ pairs T.I.'s distinguished smooth-as- silk delivery with the bold, attitude-full, but sweet harmonies of fellow Grammy Award winner Rihanna. It is official – T.I. has delivered a killer album once again. Since 2001, T.I. has grown to become one of the most revered and successful artists in his genre, racking up millions in album sales and a myriad of awards, among them two Grammys. In July of 2007, his conceptual masterpiece, T.I. vs T.I.P., debuted at the top of the Billboard charts, selling nearly 500,000 units in its first week of release - on its way to RIAA platinum certification. Paper Trail is the latest chapter in the extraordinary story of T.I.