His best album to date? Well that’s what they’ve been saying. And given that the Atlanta-based rapper and the self-proclaimed “King of the South“ has had to make his fourth studio album twice in response to the growing pirate interest in ‘Tip’ Harris, it’s probably just as well. Not that it was going to be easy. The first version leaked months ago, prompting the unofficial mix-tape release of DJ Drama’s Gangsta Grillz: The Leak. Now it’s back again for a second shot. It may only share a couple of songs from the original but most folks are going to be fairly happy that T.I has not strayed from the right royal intention his 2004 platinum disc, ‘Urban Legend’.
With cameos from Common, Pharrell Williams and Young Jeezy as well as Travis Barker and Jamie Foxx, the disc slides from region to region, leaping from roaring dance cuts to your typical, gun-totting gangsta screamers. T.I. even recaptures his form with DJ Toomp to score his synth-buzzing lead single ‘What You Know’ and the Grand Hustle anthem ‘Bankhead.’
Opening with the stirring blaxploitation grooves and tubular funk of ‘King Back’, ‘King’ pretty much announces a confident return to form. Nuff said.