T.I. released his debut album a few years before this, featuring popular artists like Pharrell, Too $hort and others - yet it was met with mixed reviews from critics and poor commercial performance. It was still very much rooted in Dirty South, sometimes flirting with other sounds too.
His sophomore album Trap Muzik shows him finding his footing and becoming the main pioneer of Trap. It has a packed tracklist, only a few features but 16 tracks stretching to over an hour of music. Four singles were released for it, including a music video for 24's. Production is handled by many people but notably DJ Toomp, Sanchez Holmes and T.I. himself.
"It's called trap music, so you know it's gonna be dealing with all aspects of the trap. And if you don't know what the trap is, that's basically where drugs are sold. In this country, the majority of us live in a neighborhood where drugs are sold, whether we like it or not. Whether you in the trap selling dope, whether you in the trap buying dope, whether you in the trap trying to get out – whatever the case may be, I'm trying to deal with all aspects of that lifestyle."¹
The title track is one of the best openers to a Trap album during the genre's early years - including a solid verse and chorus from T.I. along with a feature from fellow Atlanta rapper Mac Boney. After a beat switch near the end T.I. does a short verse about his first album, stating it didn't succeed because it wasn't accessible enough but that he won't change his style for the industry.
I Can't Quit showcases another element about this album I love which is the production's depth. Though it's still grounded in Dirty South, serving as a transition into the Trap sound - it has surprisingly layered instrumentals often with guitars, bass or amazing sampling. It prevents the album from getting tiring considering its length while still serving as a good basis for everyone it influenced.
There's a good mix of moods here, you get hard cuts like the previously mentioned ones along with melodic, Chipmunk Soul ones like Doin' My Job. The tracklist is generally very smooth, making even the longer tracks go by quickly and not ruining the pacing. T.I. carries each song with such confidence, consistently delivering amazing rapping both in terms of lyrics and flow. He's a great storyteller and always maintains a strong presence on each song, not just in the rapping but also his memorable choruses. Even on the longest tracks here that are around five minutes long, being quite repetitive, he still carries them seamlessly across their runtimes. Bezzle is another highlight, a hard posse cut featuring other Southern legends Eightball, MJG and Bun B. The two tracks after it are too slow-paced for my taste, but the outro track Long Live da Game is a decent albeit short ending to the album.
There aren't many albums of this century that are influential to the degree of music released decades before it. Trap Muzik, despite being released in 2003, represents the transition from the old school of Rap to the new school. Trap has often been criticised as killing the standards of Hip-Hop but it undeniably started as a continuation of the genres that came before it. It represents an artist finding their footing in the genre while also pioneering something new - not just T.I. himself but also the talented set of producers who help execute this album's vision. This record stands as a sort of rebirth for Rap, at least to a degree - there's nothing quite like it before or after.
9/10
See also: Gucci Mane, Jeezy, [late] Juicy J
- kreyzi
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