147. T.I. - King (2006)

Now here's an album that isn't bad, exactly--but it's so punishing and unchanging and blank in its style that it seems to be twice as long as its already lengthy 75 minutes. You've heard "What You Know", right? And you liked it (of course you did--it's a great song!). Now imagine 70 more minutes of tracks exactly like "What You Know", except not quite as good, and there you have King. There are a few standard R&B ballads, but they aren't anything special, and the skit tracks are just as disposable as they generally always are on rap records. T.I. basically constructs gigantic truck-bangers out of thick bass and massive, regal-sounding synth lines. These are songs meant to be played loud, preferably out your window while you're driving down the street and slapping your left hand against the outside of the car's doorframe. That's this album's purpose, and in that context it succeeds wonderfully, but it doesn't transcend that milieu at all, and in the end it all just starts running together. Play it when you're driving around, or when there's a party, but don't think of getting much out of it anywhere else.

MY RATING: 6.0

T.I. - "Ride Wit Me"