The king of the south? Young emcee T.I. has crowned himself ruler of the entire down bottom region, after building a steady fanbase with his first two releases, I’m Serious and Trap Muzik. With Urban Legend, the hungry and now familiar face looks to solidify himself as one of hip-hop three kings, seated next to Nas and Dr. Dre, arguably. 

    While not exactly a lyrical mastermind, T.I.P. still holds the knack for churning out a decent song or two. The boastful opener, “Da King” combinds old school influence with today’s popular southern drawl, as T.I. stakes claim for his region. But his talent is best evidenced by this LP’s lead single, “Bring Em Out”, a Swizz Beatz produced banger that is currently filling up dancefloors, and or the equally catchy “What They Do” that’s liable to shake an ass or two. But it’s not all off the wall club bangers that hold Urban Legend together, as some of his best selections come in the form of slow rollin’ Cadillac anthems. Such is the case of the so fresh, so clean “ASAP”, which bangs with 808 drums and a horn section ala Outkast’s “Spottieottiedopalicious”. Again on “The Countdown”, a slow head-nodder led by a funky guitar session with perhaps the albums most infectious hook, if the blissful simplicity of “U Don’t Know Me” doesn’t have you singing along first.  

     Despite a few solid solo bangers, unfortunately much of Urban Legend is dominated by collaborations that just don’t deliver. The usually on point Neptunes deliver perhaps one of their laziest contributions yet on the hum-drum “Freak Though”, while the dated “Get Your Shit Together” includes contributions from soon-to-be-irrelevant co-conspirator Lil Kim; or even stranger yet “My Life”, featuring Daz Dillenger. Nelly adds zero the equation on “Get Lose”, while leftovers from the Cash Money Records crew help each “Stand Up”, “The Greatest”, and “How They Do” run into each other. Still, his best collaborator remains Jazze Pha, who follows up last year’s “Lets Get Away” with the equally melodic “Chillin With My Bitch”, plus both “Get Loose” and “The Greatest”, respectively.

    While T.I. may be a southern messiah to today’s generation, those that have been around the block a little bit longer won’t be as quick to crown him rap royalty this early in his career. Scarface, Ludacris, Lil Jon, and many others have a much closer stranglehold on the South’s crown, and unfortunately for T.I., Urban Legend does nothing to inch him closer to it – especially considering he still needs to rely heavy on collaborations with the peasants.