Google still ranks him behind Texas Instruments…
[Video][Website]
[5.82]
Erika Villani: My main problem with “Whatever You Like” was the way T.I. couldn’t handle the singsong verses half as well as a bunch of adorable politically aware schoolchildren did, so I think it was awfully nice of him to go ahead and re-record it with rapped verses instead. Thanks, T.I.!
[5]
Alex Macpherson: As placeholders go, you could do a lot worse than vaguely bittersweet, vaguely celebratory returns to “Whatever You Like”. An extra point for “chicks with asses like Serena” because tennis references in popular culture should always be encouraged, even if this one’s now in its seventh year. Time for someone to step up with a line about “choking like Safina”.
[7]
Martin Kavka: It makes little sense to boast about not needing a credit card in the first verse, and then switch tacks in a later verse with a line about your credit card having no limit. Also, “women giving me love like tennis” really means either (a) that women are ignoring you or (b) that women are bouncing their balls in front of you, i.e. you’re fucking trannies like Eddie Murphy did (does?).
[3]
Anthony Miccio: “Where you going?” To jail, shorty! Nice of them to let you collect $200 beforehand, though. I couldn’t deal with the bullshit farm that is Paper Trail in full, but this may be the most palatable slice from it yet – better he parade his wealth than bask in self-pity or half-assedly feign penitence.
[7]
Martin Skidmore: I’m all for recapturing the greatness of “What You Know” and “Why You Wanna”, but preferably not by recycling the tunes. Then again, he is one of my favourite new rappers of the decade, and I particularly like him when the music sways like this, so I’m not really fussed that parts sound very familiar. Paper Trail showed he wasn’t out of ideas, but this does feel like a step back.
[7]
Jonathan Bradley: “Hell of a Life” is a textbook case of diminishing returns; T.I. manages to make his slippery flow and predilection for anthemic beats sound rote. Where the best moments of Paper Trail were typified by a precision and hunger derived from his impending incarceration, this sounds punched out like a license plate produced at a state prison.
[6]
Michaelangelo Matos: I’ve never been all that hot on T.I.–even knowing how talented he is, I had a hard time getting past the bitch-ho crud on Trap Musik, and have never, ever liked “What You Know” (sue me). The times I do like him tend to be scattered and against consensus; and the dirty-south-meets-church feel of this track, as well as T.I.’s slyly honeyed delivery, is one of those times.
[7]
Chuck Eddy: Pretty much the same thing I wrote about that Rob Thomas single earlier this month: “As for this new song, it seems to come with a story attached. A long one. If you can follow it, you’re better than I am. But [T.I.] does manage a few nice soul inflections. And if his gospel choir isn’t ‘I Want To Know What Love Is,’ well, what is?” This song’s catchier than “Her Diamonds,” though; if youtube comments are to be believed, there’s something South African in it, presumably said choir. So I’ll add two points.
[6]
Hillary Brown: Anyone else would grab an 8 easy, but he can do better than this, even if it is the kind of thick, sweet summer groove that they’ll still be playing on the radio in two years. I want to take a bite out of it, but a smaller one than I took from some of his previous singles.
[7]
Rodney J. Greene: How odd that the more Shawty Lo questions T.I.’s street cred, the more Tip’s crossover joints sound like Lo songs. It’s the most confusing flip of the “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” maxim ever.
[4]
Edward Okulicz: Effectively, it’s “What You Know” with about half of the menace and sheer enormity, so it gets half the score that would get.
[5]