T.I.'s US Or Else Proves The South Still Has Something To Say

If you’re still complaining about rappers not speaking out about social issues, you’re listening to the wrong ones.

2016 has been one of the most trying years in recent history. We’ve been dealing with multiple police shootings every other month, and those are just the ones that have made it to social media and television. Our presidential election choices have many considering to forgo voting altogether and just “stay my ass at home.”

With Hip-Hop still considered to be a mirror of what’s going on in America, artists are still expected to step up and speak on issues effecting their communities. By now, we should know that we can’t expect every rapper out there to have something to say. Some of them don’t care, which is their right. Some of them don’t know what to say, which is their problem. Some of them just choose to stay quiet altogether, which is fine by us.

But the ones who do choose to care and speak up are speaking louder than ever. The latest example being T.I. and his new EP US Or Else.

T.I. raised eyebrows over the summer when he dropped the first single from the politically-charged project, “We Will Not.” It wasn’t the first time T.I. used his music to speak directly against injustice. He released “New National Anthem” in 2014 and all but predicted the song’s fate by opening the track saying “I know radio probably won’t play this.” While the song was a commendable effort, the sh*t wasn’t jamming.

But with “We Will Not,” T.I. was able to make a song that was a good example of “edutainment.”

He followed this with “Warzone” which was even more direct, and jamming.

Those two songs easily became the most talked about T.I. songs in 8-10 years. Yes, he’s had Billboard hits and songs that got played on the radio and in the clubs, but those were the only places they lived at. The might have made you move, but did they move you?

Photo: Instagram

T.I.’s new six song EP US Or Else, that includes those two tracks, is better than every album he’s dropped since KING. This is the first time in a long time that T.I. sounds like he is trying to say something more than he is trying to sell something.

On T.I.’s first four albums, and the mixtapes that came between, he rapped like man who felt like he had to represent a certain community. The dope boys, the fly blue collar workers, the hustlers with morals, the Southerner. Or as he he rapped on “Motivation” from 2004’s Urban Legend, anybody that was “5-foot-9 with the soul of a 6’4 n*gga” and “the real stand up guys of the A-town.” In essence, he rapped like a man who was out to prove that he could live up to the “King Of the South” title that he bestowed upon himself before he ever sold one record. By the time he released his magnum opus KING in 2006, there was no disputing him. Even Pimp C himself spoke on the album and gave T.I. his blessings. But after he earned the crown, he didn’t do much to advance his kingdom, lyrically. Instead, he sounded trapped in it, trying to convince the rest of us that it was still a cool place to be.

2007’s TI vs TIP, with its big budget rollout and producer roster, sounded like a king flaunting his riches. The audacity of releasing a double album with alter egos proved that. He bounced back the next year with Paper Trail, which wound up being his most successful album to date. But the pop singles and braggadocio had him sounding like he was rapping from a pedestal looking down on the people. A stark contrast from the image of him rapping on the corner in the “Rubberband Man” video. The first half of the apologetic No Mercy was strong, but not good enough to make up for the lackluster second half. 2012’s Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head saw him seeking to regain his footing after coming home from prison while 2014’s Paperwork as a whole was just flat out unentertaining.

But after an uninspired last few years, T.I. sounds urgent again on US Or Else and there are two reasons why. The music is inspired by civil unrest and turmoil that is currently tearing America apart. Two, T.I. is now an independent artist. Meaning that he is back in that space of having to fight his way to the top, again, and free to say what he actually feels rather than what he thinks will sell.

Unlike how he opened “New National Anthem,” T.I. offers no disclaimers, he just goes in. Clocking in at just six songs, US Or Else is the perfect package for the message T.I. is wanting to get across. The short listen forces him to be direct and doesn’t allow him to drift all over the place and muddle the message with any “for the ladies/fellas” songs or tracks where he’s trying to prove that he can still trap with the best of them.

Every song on here is for the person who is equally pissed off and ready to do something about the troubles facing Black America right now. Instead of relying on his A-list rolodex for features that would all but guarantee a spot on the Billboard charts, T.I. recruits appearances from artists that he either genuinely rocks with or would have something to offer to the context and content of this effort.

Killer Mike delivers a scathing verse on “40 Acres” that strikes the fear of God in listeners by virtually saying there isn’t one to “come back” and save us. He gets Big K.R.I.T. to assist him on “Switchin Lanes” where they challenge listeners to find something worth dying for. He also features new Hustle Gang associate RaRa on “Black Man” that invokes the spirt of 2Pac’s unapologetic stance on police from “Holla If You Hear Me.” Decatur, Ga. newcomer B Rossi also gives a solid showing on the aforementioned “40 Acres.”

T.I.’s effort is the latest in a series of projects this year that prove that Andre 3000’s statement, “The South Got Something To Say” still rings true some 20-plus years since he said it at the Source Awards.

Slim Thug quietly dropped the most “woke” album of the year this past summer with American Thug. Big K.R.I.T.’s verse on “Might Not Be OK” is a punch to the chest of anyone acting like racism and police brutality is “made up.” Killer Mike is always Killer Miking everytime he speaks. David Banner’s current single “Black Fist” and his upcoming #TheGodBox album are sure to set some fires when it drops. Young Buck’s calls to shoot back at police officers may have turned some off, but it definitely showed that he at least cared to do or say something.

Hell, even Dre himself has popped up twice this year with something to offer.

Haters will say that a six-song TIDAL exclusive isn’t enough to make up for the decades of rapping about trapping on full length albums. US Or Else may draw even more side eyes if T.I.’s upcoming album Da Dime Trap goes back to the street sh*t and leaves the social commentary on the cutting room floor. But let’s at least for now, appreciate T.I. for using his platform and celebrity to bring attention to some important issues when it clearly doesn’t benefit him to do so.

As the self-proclaimed “King Of The South,” he can’t afford to be silent in times like these.