Atlanta's T.I. found himself on the wrong side of jailhouse bars for a few months this year, thanks to a variety of probation violations. When he got out recently, rather than laying low, he promptly launched into a high-friction war of words with Houston's Lil' Flip. On Legend, T.I. claims victory but is still looking over his shoulder. The tension is audible in the generally joyless production, which is all ponderous drum machines and terror synths. Still, T.I. is a top lyricist: He makes the against-all-odds love rap "Freak Though" credible and is utterly menacing on "ASAP," warning, "I'm only gonna ask you to 'find the exit' once politely."

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."