No Mercy

T.I.’s returning to freedom, his successful career continues

Atlanta is the motherland of more than one famous rapper, and each of them has his own story, but there is one MC among them who has defined himself from the very beginning with a confident intention to be in the head of lists, that is T.I. He has turned thirty this year, which has brought one of the most difficult, important and hardest ordeals into his life – a prison sentence. Of course, it is far from the first time that the artist has troubles with the law; this issue is almost a norm among his colleagues. Staying in jail, however, Tip has reflected on many things, viewing critically on his life and himself. The event could not help leaving a trace in the musician’s creative work – his eighth studio album No Mercy was finished in summer already. At first the artist wanted to call the record King Uncaged but something made him change the title shortly before the release. Announcing that the disc was going to end the trilogy also consisting of the albums T.I. Vs T.I.P. and Paper Trail, of 2007 and 2008 respectively, T.I. is proclaiming his returning to freedom and the continuation of the loud and quite a successful career.

No Mercy: samples, beats, melodious vocal parts

The album No Mercy is fourteen tracks lasting a bit more than an hour among which there are extremely little of fillers. Samples, beats, melodious vocal parts are mixed in the right proportions on the record, with only few exceptions which are fully compensated by the standout tracks. The album opens with one of the highlights Welcome To The World featuring Kanye West and KiD CuDi whose only presence witnesses that the returning is really triumphant and many a colleague is happy to greet and support Tip. The song How Life Changed expresses the rapper’s thoughts about things being different in his life now and pleases with a melodious chorus with female vocals provided by Mitchelle'L and a verse from Scarface. The musician is repenting for his mistakes with Chris Brown on Get Back Up, and despite of the sentiments non-characteristic of T.I., it is one of the better tracks here, but way much brighter is the Eminem collaboration That's All She Wrote. The chorus memorable tune, a faultless beat by Dr. Luke, smart lyrics – these are the signs of another hit. The title track featuring The-Dream, starting from melodious keyboards proves to be a monumental number with bell sounds, basses, a worrisome melody and dark lyrics. Strip in which Tray Songs performs the chorus is a traditionally T.I.’s club melody, and Young Dro’s verse only tones it up. One of the most long-term colleagues Pharrell joins the rapper on the track Amazing with a stylish minimalist beat, and the album closer is another highlight Castle Walls, an excellent collaboration with Christina Aguilera.

To think over the past and start to look in the future

While MC wrote the texts for his last works Paper Trail on paper, T.I. uses the mixed approach on No Mercy, so the listeners can estimate his ability to write wise lyrics as well as his free-styling skills. As always an whole production team and a constellation of rappers and pop stars has worked on the album, and the quality of arrangements on each track never disappoints. As for the songs’ themes the main one is obviously living in jail, a new view on things, reflection, understanding which never left the artist throughout the year which is coming to its end. Perhaps, it does not matter that much any more whether he is a King or not, and the title No Mercy is not just an occasion. It is quite probable that time will pass and the past ambitions will revive in T.I. again making him rap of his merits exclusively, but the appearance of such a really serious album as No Mercy in his discography will hardly let him write completely thoughtless texts which sometimes could be found in his previous works. Anyway, T.I. has started a new life today, and this disc is great means to think over his past and start to look in the future.