Reviews:

Audio Mixers: John Frye; Marcella "Ms. Lago" Araica; Robert Marks; Ryan West; Supa Engineer "Dura"; Andrew Dawson; Jean-Marie Horvat; Ray Seay; Leslie Brathwaite.
Arranger: Larry Gold.
After a year on lock-down for illegal machine gun possession, the self-proclaimed king of the south channels his personal strife into his introspective sixth studio album, PAPER TRAIL. The title stems from T.I.'s decision to return to writing his rhymes down on paper; the lyrical craftsmanship shows as the ATL icon delves into personal issues--speaking on his legal troubles ("Ready For Whatever"), his prison experience ("You Ain't Missing Nothing"), and his fallen homies ("Dead and Gone"). T.I. also collaborates with former rival Ludacris for the grandiose "On Top of the World," speaks on the cannibalistic relationship between rappers' personal lives and their art on "My Life Your Entertainment," and joins Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Lil Wayne for the bombastic posse cut "Swagga Like Us." Production comes courtesy of Drumma Boy, DJ Toomp, Rob Knox, Jim Jonsin, Just Blaze, and Swizz Beatz, among others.

Personnel: Ricco Barrino (vocals); Stevie Salas (guitars); Ghislaine Fleischmann, Eliza Cho, Michelle Bishop, Igor Szwec, Emma Kummrow, Gregory Teperman (violin); Peter Nocella, Carol Briselli (viola); James J. Cooper III (cello); Canei Finch, David Siegel (keyboards).

Celeb-reality TV is generally relegated to trainwrecks. So it’s with some trepidation that we welcome T.I. to the fold, coming soon in an "inspirational" series that will "center on the rapper’s life on probation in the year leading up to his impending year-long jail sentence." Sounds more depressing than inspirational, but that’s only because the Atlanta MC is such a talent, and his music has owned the last couple of summers, from the pulsing braggadocio of "Why You Wanna" and "What You Know" on breakout The King to the, er, pulsing braggadocio of "Big S*it Poppin’" on last year’s follow-up T.I. Vs. T.I.P. Unfortunately, he’s also been arrested for trying to purchase guns from a federal agent, and is staring at serious jail time. That sort of tribulation leads to serious introspection, so look for deeper, more probing material… although we’d be shocked to hear T.I.P. stray too far from his dirty South good-time wheelhouse.