It's crazy how forgettable T.I's discography is

[winb83]

He's a singles rapper.

U pick a few gems from the albums and that's it.

This is revisionist history. The run T.I. went on with his first several albums was amazing. His first 4 albums are all very good.

 

[O.Red]

TI had "arguably" the best year in '06. He was at his peak but he was never a day in his career bigger than Hov, who dropped that year; he wasn't bigger than Wayne, who dropped a legitimate classic in Dedication 2 that year right after dropping two classics in '05; he wasn't bigger than Kanye who had just dropped another classic in Late Registration; and you can argue he wasn't bigger than Sno who had one of the GOAT tape drops in '05 and was still riding that success in '06...

These are the names he was competing with, so yes, I agree Tip was "arguably" the hottest rapper in '06, but a)it's only ARGUABLE, not definitive, and b)as bright as his celebrity was at peak, at bare minimum one of those names (Hov) was always a bigger deal, and honestly Kanye and Wayne were always bigger too...

I'm a TI fan, bro. At his peak he was a Top 5 guy, that's an accomplishment. And he had a real 6-year run of peak popularity, that's more than commendable. But it stops there...



Bro I'll take that debate with anybody in another thread bro

Revisionist history

Hov was quiet and still "retired" up till October leading up to Kingdom Come. Outside of nikkas discussing him running Def Jam nobody was talking about Jay-Z like that

Wayne wasn't that big for most of 06, ESPECIALLY in May when Dedication 2 came out, that was mostly hood love. Wayne started bubbling fast like grits toward the end of 06 and was EVERYWHERE in 07

TI was the hottest rapper in 06 I remember that energy vividly

 

[O.Red]

No rapper in 2006 was bigger than T.I. king was easily the biggest Hip Hop album of 2006.



T.I.'s legacy is trap music. He legitimized the trap rapper in the mainstream. There wasn't anyone in the mainstream doing that before T.I. Because of this, Trap Muzik is a classic album.

We gotta be honest outside of the name of his album TI has no actual connection to what trap music is and became

Nothing on Trap Muzik sounds like actual trap music come on

 

[JustCKing]

We gotta be honest outside of the name of his album TI has no actual connection to what trap music is and became

Nothing on Trap Muzik sounds like actual trap music come on

You haven't heard the album then and further more, nobody was referring to anything as trap anything before T.I. Without T.I., there isn't a point of reference to trap music. You don't get a trap rap or anything trap related to music. Before T.I., trap was just a place where hustlers moved work. That's all it meant. After T.I., it was a reference to actual music. In 2003, nobody knew what a trap music sounded like. From there it evolved. Sonically, it really didn't become what it is now until Lex Luger/Waka/Rick Ross.

This is definitely a trap record in every way that matters (sonically and content):

 

[UNCLE JAM]

for someone that refers to himself as the king of the south.

no classics to go back to. Even shyt I enjoyed from him are boring. Top Back, Dont know me, motivation . I am 29, I am always going back to listen 50, Rick Ross, Jeezy and Weezyy but T.I

I agree!

 

[Sad Bunny]

You haven't heard the album then and further more, nobody was referring to anything as trap anything before T.I. Without T.I., there isn't a point of reference to trap music. You don't get a trap rap or anything trap related to music. Before T.I., trap was just a place where hustlers moved work. That's all it meant. After T.I., it was a reference to actual music. In 2003, nobody knew what a trap music sounded like. From there it evolved. Sonically, it really didn't become what it is now until Lex Luger/Waka/Rick Ross.

This is definitely a trap record in every way that matters (sonically and content):

Those bars and flow so trash lol.

 

[murksiderock]

T.I. in 2006 was bigger than Jay Z. That isn't even a question. Jay Z ain't even impact until like November/December 2006 meanwhile "What You Know About That" dropped in January 2006. The King album dropped in April. "Shoulder Lean" dropped that Spring/Summer. "Why You Wanna" held down the Spring/Summer of that year and "Top Back" and the remix held down the rest of that year.

Wayne was not bigger than T.I. in 2006. I would give Wayne 2007 with only Kanye being bigger. Kanye definitely wasn't bigger than T.I. in 2006.

Wayne was not ALWAYS bigger than T.I. You rewriting history. In 2004, T.I. was also bigger than Wayne. Urban Legend was a bigger album than Carter.

Nah yall must wasn't catching the vibe off the streets...

Wayne's run started in late '03 with those Drought tapes, he started bubbling in the aftermath of Cash Money. He caught attention...

TI was bigger than Wayne in 2003...

Wayne kept releasing and the real "oh shyt, what's this" moment from Wayne was Tha Carter, which dropped in '04. It was his strongest work to date and I'd say it and Urban Legend are a coin flip in quality...

TI was bigger than Wayne in '04, though...

In 2005, Wayne began separating himself, not just from TI, but everyone...

From Summer 2005 thru Spring 2006, Wayne dropped, in consecutive order in about a 9-month span, The Dedication, Tha Carter II, Dedication 2. I first heard D2 in March 2006, it was on the streets, this was the same time Tip was rolling out King with What You Know...

The Dedication hit the same summer as Trap Or Die and those were the two records that had summer '05 on lock, TI was of course still hot. Carter II upped the ante and D2 raised the bar even higher...

In real time you could have argued TI and Wayne in '05 and '06 sure, I remember the period too, but I'm not focusing on singles and pop hits, I'm talking quality of music. In retrospect it's clear Wayne was separating even if it wasn't crystal clear in the moment...

It was clear Wayne was putting out classics, something that wasn't attributable to Tip even when the masses fukked with his music...

TI was never BIGGER than Jay Z. He was in the forefront when Jay wasn't releasing but no one can seriously say he was ever "bigger"...

Kanye was bigger than Tip from the start, back then the joke was we preferred Tip's street music and fukked with him more but he wasn't a bigger artist than Ye. Look at singles and sales for those two as they dropped their works in the same year (College Dropout/Trap Muzik, Late Registration/Urban Legend, Graduation vs KING or TI/Tip)...

Tip had this window in real time that these other guys were elevating over him but it was a transition, it wasn't instant. In retrospect the quality of their music is miles ahead even though we fukked with all three at the time...

Revisionist history

Hov was quiet and still "retired" up till October leading up to Kingdom Come. Outside of nikkas discussing him running Def Jam nobody was talking about Jay-Z like that

Wayne wasn't that big for most of 06, ESPECIALLY in May when Dedication 2 came out, that was mostly hood love. Wayne started bubbling fast like grits toward the end of 06 and was EVERYWHERE in 07

TI was the hottest rapper in 06 I remember that energy vividly

 

[JustCKing]

Nah yall must wasn't catching the vibe off the streets...

Wayne's run started in late '03 with those Drought tapes, he started bubbling in the aftermath of Cash Money. He caught attention...

TI was bigger than Wayne in 2003...

Wayne kept releasing and the real "oh shyt, what's this" moment from Wayne was Tha Carter, which dropped in '04. It was his strongest work to date and I'd say it and Urban Legend are a coin flip in quality...

TI was bigger than Wayne in '04, though...

In 2005, Wayne began separating himself, not just from TI, but everyone...

From Summer 2005 thru Spring 2006, Wayne dropped, in consecutive order in about a 9-month span, The Dedication, Tha Carter II, Dedication 2. I first heard D2 in March 2006, it was on the streets, this was the same time Tip was rolling out King with What You Know...

The Dedication hit the same summer as Trap Or Die and those were the two records that had summer '05 on lock, TI was of course still hot. Carter II upped the ante and D2 raised the bar even higher...

In real time you could have argued TI and Wayne in '05 and '06 sure, I remember the period too, but I'm not focusing on singles and pop hits, I'm talking quality of music. In retrospect it's clear Wayne was separating even if it wasn't crystal clear in the moment...

It was clear Wayne was putting out classics, something that wasn't attributable to Tip even when the masses fukked with his music...

TI was never BIGGER than Jay Z. He was in the forefront when Jay wasn't releasing but no one can seriously say he was ever "bigger"...

Kanye was bigger than Tip from the start, back then the joke was we preferred Tip's street music and fukked with him more but he wasn't a bigger artist than Ye. Look at singles and sales for those two as they dropped their works in the same year (College Dropout/Trap Muzik, Late Registration/Urban Legend, Graduation vs KING or TI/Tip)...

Tip had this window in real time that these other guys were elevating over him but it was a transition, it wasn't instant. In retrospect the quality of their music is miles ahead even though we fukked with all three at the time...

This is still false. Wayne nor T.I. had 2005. Jeezy was bigger than BOTH of them in 2005. Then you still had Game, 50, and Kanye. Wayne wasn't even top 5 hottest in 2005 because T.I. had the 5th slot and he still would've been competing with Houston (Mike Jones, Paul Wall, Chamillionaire). Wayne wasn't arguable in 2006. T.I. was hands down the biggest rapper of 2006. Jay Z was still retired until the tail end of that year and even then Kingdom Come was still not hotter or even better than King. "What You Know About That" was still a bigger song than anything Jay had. In fact, the "Grammy Family" freestyle was the biggest thing Jay had going in 2006. Kingdom Come wasn't looked at favorably and the biggest hype surrounding it was that it was Jay Z's return.

And sure Kanye was always the bigger artist and it wasn't a joke that people preferred street music to what Kanye was doing. The only noise Kanye was making in 2006 was with "Touch The Sky", "Heard Em Say", and "Drive Slow" (and the single/video version features T.I.) and none of those songs were bigger than "What You Know About That". What you're leaving out though is when Kanye looked to appeal to the streets, he went and got Toomp, who was still T.I.'s go to producer. "Can't Tell Me Nothin" got Kanye the streets and that song is produced by Toomp.

 

[Master Teacher]

You can't tell me to study up when you're misquoting Kast. Big Boi said "trap, just that trap, now marinate on that" on "Spottieottiedopalicious" from Aquemini in 1998. Andre 3000 was talking about the trap in 1994 on SPCM.

Who said T.I. was the first to talk about a trap? He was definitely the first mainstream rapper to present trap as a genre when he called his album Trap Muzik. Jeezy nor Gucci were poppin until AFTER Trap Muzik. Jeezy completely changed his style his style after Trap Muzik. He was a Trick Daddy/Pastor Troy clone before T.I. dropped Trap Muzik. "So Icy" wasn't a definitive trap record. It was a typical Southern club record. And Shawty Redd was producing Crunk records before he started doing "trap records" and Toomp says he got the sound from him. Toomp created T.I.'s sound, so there's that.

Then to reduce "24's" as stunting music all while trying to prop up "So Icy" as the mentality of "trap". Then you ignore "Rubberband Man" completely, which is definitely trap mentality.

You are an idiot, I literally said Andre said that what are you talking about

lastly TI did not create a genre with Trap muzik

which is why you haven't posted one rap song

Toomp never made trade beats you don't understand music, that's why you have no idea what you are talking about

You also don't understand lyrics

24s mentions nothing about trapping or drug dealer or that life style

So Icy they are literally rapping about the dope game in the lyrics, Gucci Mane is literally rapping about trapping and extorting nikkaz the whole song lmao

What are you talking about

TI never raps about trapping, never gives any details into what it's like being a drug dealer, his mention of dope selling and drugs is so vague it isn't even believable that he ever sold drugs, somebody who never sold drugs in their life could come up with his lyrics about dope

you gotta be white

 

[Master Teacher]

You haven't heard the album then and further more, nobody was referring to anything as trap anything before T.I. Without T.I., there isn't a point of reference to trap music. You don't get a trap rap or anything trap related to music. Before T.I., trap was just a place where hustlers moved work. That's all it meant. After T.I., it was a reference to actual music. In 2003, nobody knew what a trap music sounded like. From there it evolved. Sonically, it really didn't become what it is now until Lex Luger/Waka/Rick Ross.

This is definitely a trap record in every way that matters (sonically and content):

This is not a trap record

for one the beat is not a trap beat, this is just a generic down south hip hop beat, these type of beats were a dime of dozen back then, as jeezy rapped on these types of beats yes, because jeezy did commercial rap to which is how he brought the trap sound to mainstream
The Manne Fresh song on his first album was a single and was not a trap beat

But this is a trap song, the beat, the subject matter, and the flow, the lyrics, how he's rapping on the beat, you cannot rap like this on that TI beat or rap like how TI rapped on this beat, it's an entirely different style



The swing is entirely different on trap beats than the southern beats that came before it, this is what you don't understand, TI never made music that sounded like this is whole career
If you honestly believe that TI songs sounds like the same type of music as this song from Gucci Mane, you disqualify yourself for ever talking about rap
I can break down the technical aspects of the beat and what it's a wack beat for one, but also not a trap beat, here's a hint, the drums, every sub genre of rap music can be identified by the drums, trap has a definitive structure to where the snare/clap drum is placed in comparison to other beats

 

[A Tribe Called Quest ™]

At the end of the day.....TI, Jeezy, Luda, Shawty Lo and most rappers from the ATL will not be remembered now or in 20 years. These rappers where pushed by big record label to young kids for bubble gum radio hits and CDs, with the purpose to be heard once and never be heard again. Just how most of these shows on Disney+, apple+, parmount+, ect. are trash and are made for simple consumption to fill a void. They are a product of the time.

If it wasn't for youtube, or apple music, ect. how many would even be thinking about or diggin up old TI, young joc, gorilla zoe, luda, or jeezy Cds. Most people who grow up on that music thinking of it in nostalgia (myself included, it takes me back), but its not classic.

When I think of 2000s hip hop/rap (when TI was at his peak), I think of NAS, Jay Z, and respectable trendsetter rappers like Kanye West, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne maybe T-Pain, Lupe Fiasco or Outcast.

but TI, Luda and Jeezy, Nelly, Big Boi, Killer Mike, Rick Ross, The Game, Young buck, shawt lo, ect. was simple disposable entertaining music to be consumed. Sure they have some hits but nothing conserdable to be a classic.

Same way the 2010s will be looked at as Kendrick Lamar decade while rappers like future, drake, migos, 2 chianz, freddie gibbs, young thug music will fade.

nikka said Drake music will fade, I’m not even a Drake fan but this is a crazy take

 

[A Tribe Called Quest ™]

Those bars and flow so trash lol.

Your a known TIP hater, prolly cause Wayne didn’t become bigger and more respected until 07-08

 

[JNew]

nikka said Drake music will fade, I’m not even a Drake fan but this is a crazy take

Drake is this generations Eminem or 50

Only difference is drake doesn’t have one classic album or song. He’s got hits but no classics.

 

[JustCKing]

This is not a trap record

for one the beat is not a trap beat, this is just a generic down south hip hop beat, these type of beats were a dime of dozen back then, as jeezy rapped on these types of beats yes, because jeezy did commercial rap to which is how he brought the trap sound to mainstream
The Manne Fresh song on his first album was a single and was not a trap beat

But this is a trap song, the beat, the subject matter, and the flow, the lyrics, how he's rapping on the beat, you cannot rap like this on that TI beat or rap like how TI rapped on this beat, it's an entirely different style



The swing is entirely different on trap beats than the southern beats that came before it, this is what you don't understand, TI never made music that sounded like this is whole career
If you honestly believe that TI songs sounds like the same type of music as this song from Gucci Mane, you disqualify yourself for ever talking about rap
I can break down the technical aspects of the beat and what it's a wack beat for one, but also not a trap beat, here's a hint, the drums, every sub genre of rap music can be identified by the drums, trap has a definitive structure to where the snare/clap drum is placed in comparison to other beats

You have no idea what you're talking about. That Gucci song sounds nothing like a trap beat at all. For one, listen to Waka's "Hard In Da Paint" and then list to "Look What I Got". The difference between the two is the hi hats and the kicks. Trap beats are pretty much categorized by triplet drums and stuttering hi hats that repeat. If these beats were a dime a dozen Down South, you saying Jeezy brought the sound to the mainstream is laughable. Sounds nothing like the "Trap Or Die", "Air Forces" or "Thug Motivation 101" intro. Trap beats also have that dark, menacing aesthetic to them. "Look What I Got" is more of a predecessor to beats like "Who Dat" and "Hard In Da Paint".

You are a faketeacher my friend because you have absolutely no idea what you're talking. All you're doing here is being a fake, wannabe Art Barr.

 

[JustCKing]

You are an idiot, I literally said Andre said that what are you talking about

lastly TI did not create a genre with Trap muzik

which is why you haven't posted one rap song

Toomp never made trade beats you don't understand music, that's why you have no idea what you are talking about

You also don't understand lyrics

24s mentions nothing about trapping or drug dealer or that life style

So Icy they are literally rapping about the dope game in the lyrics, Gucci Mane is literally rapping about trapping and extorting nikkaz the whole song lmao

What are you talking about

TI never raps about trapping, never gives any details into what it's like being a drug dealer, his mention of dope selling and drugs is so vague it isn't even believable that he ever sold drugs, somebody who never sold drugs in their life could come up with his lyrics about dope

you gotta be white

Andre 3000 never said the lyrics you quoted. The only thing remotely close to what the lyrics you cited that Andre 3000 said was his verse from "Ya'll Scared". Do your homework.

Poor teacher you are. How are you going to use "lastly" and then continue to make additional points.

T.I. did create a sub-genre. No one would be referencing trap anything in regard to a style of music without T.I.

Breh, you have NEVER listened to "24's", he literally sings "I'd probably be trapping if I wasn't rapping right now" in the third verse of the song. He also mentions refusing to get a 9 to 5 because he's flippin kids. There's trap talk all over Trap Muzik and he definitely detailed being a drug dealer and furthermore, trapping ain't even limited to selling drugs.

I am not white, but you probably are. As white as you are, you'd probably blend in with some of the substances found in a trap.