Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head

Atlanta rapper T.I. was in jail for a parole violation when his last album, 2010’s No Mercy, was released. But now he’s a free, and unrepentantly swag, man: “Bankroll on loco/Still ride with that .44/Don’t let my P.O. know,” he boasts in his infectious drawl on the crisply stomping “Go Get It.” Incorporating everything from sex rap with R. Kelly to power-balladry with Pink to trap-rap with Meek Mill, his eighth LP fuses lordly self-mythologizing with self-searching; “Hallelujah” puts the T.I. saga in perspective: “‘Cause I’m special, they gonna make me suffer/Like they crucified Jesus right in front his mother.” Even in torment, he only rolls VIP.

Listen to Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head