T.I. to Release 'No Mercy' From Jail December 7

T.I.'s long-percolating next album has been slated for a December 7 release, according to a note the rapper posted on his website late Wednesday:

"The wait is almost over," he wrote. "My 7th album entitled No Mercy will be out on December 7th. This album represents some of my best work inspired by my most recent best and worst life experiences. They say adversity brings forth inspiration so y'all can imagine how inspired I've been during the recording process for this album. I've been taking stock of myself and digesting everyone's comments and criticisms. Now it's my turn to express myself and take you into my mind. The real won't hate and the truth won't wait! If God is with me who can be against me. — TIP"

No Mercy underwent a title change — it was originally called King Uncaged — after T.I. was sent back to prison last month; he was arrested in Los Angeles with his wife, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, in September on drug-possession charges. The incident was ruled a violation of his probation, stemming from a weapons-charge conviction handed down last year, and he received an 11-month sentence.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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