T.I. - King

Atlanta rapper Clifford 'Tip' Harris, or 'T.I.' to you and me, finally steps up to the big league with the modestly-titled 'King'. Following the outright failures and mixed successes of his first three albums, T.I. has evidently gotten his act together on number four, recruiting an arsenal of big-shot producers (Rick Rubin, Mannie Fresh, The Neptunes, Troomp…), boasting a swaggering, multi-tempo rapping style, and demonstrating a more level-headed, mature approach (within the context of gangsta rap) to his subjects than we've come to know. Although T.I. is every bit the multi-platinum hip-hop superstar stateside, his ego-driven musings on wealth and the trappings thereof will not receive such widespread acceptance among his British audience, now accustomed to Mike Skinner or Plan B and their humdrum tales of broken TVs and heroin abuse. But all this will matter little to T.I., who has produced a 75-minute album that rarely loses its punch. [Nick Mitchell]