Tip had the hip hop world at his feet after the killer ‘King’ album but served up the lackluster ‘T.I Vs. T.I.P’ in a response that subsequently left him lagging behind Weezy in the title claims for King of the South.Thankfully (for us) T.I. ran into a few legal dramas (all discussed within this album) and has rediscovered the venom that had him being talked about with much dickriding back in ’06. Straight out the blocks the first two tracks ’56 Barz’ and ‘I’m Illy’ are straight fire spitters that leave you in no doubt as to T.I’s lyrical ferocity. Beats wise its back to the Southern synth sound that found him much success on ‘What You Know’, with tracks like ‘Whats Up, Whats Haapnin’’, ‘Whatever You Like’ and ‘Ready For Whatever’ using the Toomp banger as a blueprint for a good sub workout. On paper the track ‘Swagger Like Us’ featuring Lil Wayne, Kanye West and Jay-Z looks like a winner but doesn’t really sound like one. Someone please tell Kanye to leave the auto tune to T-Pain please! Overall a good return to form that should have ‘Paper Trail’ being talked about in bloggers record of the year lists come December.

Review by Shinobi