King

iTunes Review

“What You Know” was the biggest song of 2006, and with King T.I. intended to prove he was the dominant rapper of not just the South, but the hip-hop community at large. To accomplish this, he did more than just rhyme about being the best — he invested in every inch of King a confidence so immense that denying the album’s largeness would be pointless. “Ride Wit Me,” “Top Back,” and “Front Back” are stadium rap anthems, songs that have the thrust to bring massive crowds to their feet. Other songs show boldness in unexpected ways. “Live In the Sky” is ballad that is reflective without being sappy, while “Why You Wanna” audaciously reworks a decidedly uncool piece of ‘90s club music (Crystal Waters’ “Gypsy Woman”) into a great song. Although King is the album on which T.I. becomes a giant, “I’m Straight” and “Undertaker” show that he hasn’t forgotten the soulful ghetto raps that made a classic of Trap Muzik. Even when he is riding the impossibly monstrous beats of “Get It” and “I’m Talkin’ To You” T.I.’s effortless singsong flow remains anchored in the jump rope chants of the Atlanta schoolyards in which he grew up.