If Tip was a ball player he'd be D-Wade. Their career arcs are identical.Trap Muzic to King id say....he could've outrapped anybody in the game....he just lost his delivery id say,a lot like Jay to me....both can still spit with the best but a lot of what made me like them was the condescending tone in which they delivered they rhymes if that makes sense....I still rember him dropppin that 3 Kings verse in Houston still doin his victory lap on Flip.....then he gave us another gift in Young Dro,
...t.i's contributions to hiphop are sorely under appreciated,classic beefs,legendary protege,classic albums,solid discography,classic interviews,classic verses.....id say it all started with his "Ain't Never Scared" verse,I actually owned I'm Serious cuz I liked em on that Beenie Man song
....tried to get dudes to listen to em cuz I thought he could spit and had potential to blow....nikkas ain't hear me tho
....but as soon as that Neva Scared verse hit nikkas opened they eyes and even moreso after 24's dropped it wuz a rap....dude couldn't do no wrong
Trap Muzik era = Marquette Final Four run/Wade's rookie season
Urban Legend era = Shaq/Wade era
King era = 06 Finals
TI vs TIP/gun charge = 07 & 08 seasons
Paper Trail = 08 Olympics/2009 comeback season
Honestly, my favorite era is his 04-05 run. Basically Down With the King through Urban Legend. shyt, im contemplating making a Urban Legend-album cuts appreciation thread.....everybody knows the singles but what about the album cuts? (The Greatest, Freak Through ft. Pharrel, What It Is, My Life ft. Daz, Stand Up ft. Wayne and my favorite Why U Mad at Me). But look at the features during this run, he killed everything moving....
3 Kings
Dem Boyz remix
Round Here
Look at the Grill
Royalty
Stomp
Grand Finale
Go Crazy
Like D-Wade he kinda got overshadowed by Wayne crazy output(Kobe) and Jeezy's historic buzz(Lebron) but TIP was steady as fukk during that run.