T.I. swagger

T.I. has swagger, and he's not going to let anyone forget it.

The charismatic trait gets a shout-out in a good portion of the songs on the Atlanta rapper's new album, Paper Trail. The release is his first since the underachieving T.I. vs. T.I.P. and his last before he serves jail time on weapons charges.

The self-proclaimed "King of the South" shows why he can get away with such hyperbole on the new record, which has already scored three high-performing singles. The first, "No Matter What," is an expertly crafted piece of self-promotion with Southern-flavored organ trills and a fantastic drum line. The chorus is defiant and fierce, with T.I. drawling that "I ain't dead/I ain't done/I ain't scared/I ain't run," as electric guitars howl in the background.

T.I. continues to make these brash statements over the course of Paper Trail, and the remarkable reality is that you believe him. You believe him on "Ready for Whatever," when he explains the rationale behind his crimes: "If your life was in jeopardy/every day, you tellin' me/you wouldn't need weaponry/just because of your felonies?" (That said, probably still shouldn't buy machine guns from federal agents.)

His flow is a rolling growl that remains lucid throughout. The rhymes are impressive, particularly when dealing with his personal issues. Not to discount the more traditional "I'm great" bits, but the man has a talent for introspection.

Reflections aside, T.I. will still get you moving. "Whatever You Like" is a strong contender for the year's best club song, and "Dead and Gone," graced with quality vocals from Justin Timberlake and production from Timbaland, should take over the world any day now. In contrast, a string of four beat-centric dance songs on tracks 9 through 12 range from mediocre to solid, but none dazzle.

Leave that to "Swagga Like Us," a behemoth of a track featuring rhymes from Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z and T.I. set to a sample of M.I.A.'s hot-hot-hot "Paper Planes." While Kanye mails it in and Lil Wayne is characteristically nuts (he stands out in situations like this), Hova ties it together with a vicious turn. No one on the corner has swagger like these guys, and since it's T.I.'s album, that makes him the swaggerest of them all.