On the paper trail...

Changing His Tune?
written by K. Billy

I wanted to take some time to dive into a song that I have been spending a lot of time listening to over the past couple of weeks. I think we can all say with confidence that we have, at some point in our lives, been faced with some kind of adversity; a hurdle so daunting, you would even doubt your own ability to clear it. Well, T.I. has had his own issues, of the legal variety, and was kind enough to share them with us in the form of his first single (unofficial) off of the upcoming Paper Trail album.

I don’t really talk about T.I. much. In fact the last time I wrote about him, there was still snow on most people’s front porches. However, I have to give this man some ink because although I think he was incredibly stupid and inexplicably dense in getting arrested and brought up on fed charges (again), the joint I am referring to “No Matter What,” is possibly one of the more inspiring hip-hop songs I have heard in a long while.

Granted, T.I. is a man who is known to his fans as a didactic fellow. He can usually be heard preaching about why people shouldn’t follow in his footsteps (see “Doin’ My Job” and “Be Better Than Me”). Makes you wonder why he doesn’t follow his own advice. But, “No Matter What” trumps both those songs because of the raw sincerity. Listening to it, one thing becomes evident: T.I. definitely wrote this song. Now, for many of the people who are reading this post or who listen to rap at all, this may not be such a big revelation. However, it’s worth noting that Mr. Harris stopped reading from the pages after the I’m Serious album dropped. What does that mean for the listener? The emotions are still raw. When you’re reading something, a piece of prose, poetry, or otherwise, one usually vividly relives the feeling of what is written because the words are right there, in front of you. You are forced to involve yourself into them. Unlike going off the top of the head and memorizing or constructing bars, when emotions can shift and change just as quickly as Lil Wayne changes his flow.

The most jarring part of listening to this song is how vulnerable Tip sounds:
“I was born without a dime, out the gutter I climbed/Spoke my mind and didn't stutter one time/Ali said even the greatest gotta suffer sometime”

And suffer he is. You watch anyone of his interviews and he certainly SEEMS to be remorseful following a “severe lapse in judgment” to say the least. But there is something that this song offers us that his interviews can’t: a glimpse of Clifford Harris, being introspective and more importantly, revelatory, though for a man in his early thirties, many of life’s lessons seem to have fallen on deaf ears before now. However, ever the braggadocio, he makes several attempts to humble himself on this track:

"Apologies to the fans/I hope you can understand it/life can change your direction/even when you ain't plan it/All you can do it handle it/worst thing you can do is panic"

No one will ever accuse T.I. of panicking, but after this latest run in, his spirits are still high when they definitely could have been shattered and I won’t glorify his situation, but I will say that I am happy that it happened to him because he needs to take a long hard look and see what it is he’s doing. Honestly, if this song is any indication, the Paper Trail release should be interesting.

Unfortunately, despite the strong note of this track, his legal troubles will cast a shadow over what should be a much happier time for him. Regardless of how long his sentence is, or even what it is, Tip the hustler always seems to come around when things are really picking up for T.I. Hopefully, Paper Trail will lead to some better decision-making.