Paper Trail (Explicit Version) (2008)

Bio

T.I.

Father, astute businessman, fashion icon, King of the South, future Hollywood A-Lister, and hip-hop standard bearer. With all these titles, no wonder Atlanta, GA native Clifford Harris needs two monikers to tell his whole story. And with the release of T.I. vs. TIP, we get both sides of one of contemporary music's most compelling characters.

"It's really a conceptual LP," T.I. explains. "Some would say I have a dual personality: calm, cool, collected one minute, and ready to take somebody who violates' head off the next. I'm just taking the time out to illustrate both my personas. T.I. is definitely more laid back, more on the business side; he's a more suave cat. He came out on songs like "Let's Get Away," "Why You Wanna," and "Get Loose." Tip, that's a cat that's somewhat of a loose cannon. He's been reflected on records like "U Don't Know Me," "Bring Em Out," "Rubber Band Man," even "Soldier" with Destiny's Child."

In reality, for those who really know him, T.I. has been called Tip way longer than he has by the stage name the world is familiar with. Tip is the name he's had since he was a child. It wasn't until later in life, when he signed his first record deal with Arista Records, that he had to drop the 'P' and switch to T.I. - because the label was also home to the more established MC at the time, Q-Tip, from the legendary rap group A Tribe Called Quest.

Since his 2001 debut LP, I'm Serious, T.I. has become one of the rare hip-hop artists who can not only say that his fan base and his record sales have increased with each new release, but that the critical accolades have continued to flow as well. His hard work and consistency was finally recognized earlier this year with the most high-profile nods of praise in his career so far - a pair of Grammy Awards.

In 2006, T.I. - who was given the nickname King of the South by fans and his peers years ago - graduated to the next level of royalty, King of Rap. His fourth Grand Hustle/Atlantic album in five years, King, was by far the top-selling hip-hop album of the year and if you had an ear to the streets, undoubtedly the most-played. At the same time, Tip proved to be just as potent a guest star, with cameos that dominated radio and music video outlets, including his appearance on Justin Timberlake's Grammy-winning "My Love."