One of the things I love about hip-hop is it's constant evolution: the flows and rhymes, for instance, are steadily getting more advanced with the passage of time; to use a simple example, Eminem's rhymes are infinitely more complex than those of Run-DMC.¹ However, the lyrical advances pale into insignificance when compared to those of the beats. This song, taken from the forthcoming re-release of T.I.'s 'Paper Trail', is eons away from the boom-bap of twenty or thirty(!) years ago and yet is still absolutely, resolutely hip-hop.
Danja has been Timbaland's right-hand man for the last few years, co-producing masterpieces like The Game's 'Put You On The Game' and Justin Timberlake's 'My Love', a few gems of his own (Trey Songz 'Wonder Woman') and, essentially, too many others to mention here. It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that he is single-handedly responsible for all those trancey dance-pop synths that have dominated main-stream r'n'b/hip-hop and thus pop (sonically, wherever r'n'b/hip-hop leads, pop will inevitable follow) for the past few years, and which still give me a sugar-rush sweeter than a tube of Fruit Gums. Danja has a signature style, yet it remains amorphous enough to sound fresh every time you hear it.
As you can see from that wikipedia discography, Danja now spends a lot of his time working with pop royalty, yet, like Timbaland, it's apparent that although that (more than) pays the bills, it's his work with rappers that really inspires his greatest work. In Jay-Z Timbaland truly found his muse², and it appears in T.I. Danja might have found his. Together they have already produced one of the greatest songs of last year in the matter-of-fact, utterly banging confessional that was 'No Matter What', in addition to the shot across the bows that was T.I. vs. T.I.P.'s 'Tell 'Em I Said That' with it's never-ending Escher-eque cascading keys; and now this has emerged.
The most astonishing thing about this track is it's density, with ethereal vocalising, basslines that move earth like JCBs, drums that bang harder a blitz defence coached by Shaun Edwards and saccharine synths all combined into a glorious whole for T.I. to chat his suave, deliciously southern (check the 'a'ights' in the last verse), effortlessly nimble flow over. I love the way it all builds from what sounds like tribal worship music at the start, this almost sacreligious blend of the profound with the disposable pop sounds of decadent Western music: like Jesus himself has decided to make his second coming in the middle of the MTV Music Awards. I love the way that T.I. now has the artistic confidence to dare to harmonise with himself on the chorus. But most of all though I love the uplifting nature of the song, this is essentially a man bragging about how wealthy he is in the middle of a recession, yet as I dance about in front of my bathroom mirror to it, the night before I'm due to sign on (safe to all you taxpayers out there), it feels like its me with my 'Beemers, Bentleys, Double Rs, Ferraris', like its me who's selling out arenas and its me with chicks with asses like Serena's. In fact this emotion is so convincing I now find myself in my everyday life raising my eyebrows knowingly, smiling ruefully, shaking my head softly and saying to myself 'damn shorty, you do live a hell of a life'.
Of course, there is poignant coda to all this too. Not only is T.I. currently serving a 366-day prison sentence in Forrest City Federal Correctional Complex, a world a way from the lifestyle which he romanticises here, but this sentence follows a lenthy spell under house arrest, during which he wrote most of the rhymes that appear on 'Paper Trail'. This then forces us to consider the artifice/reality divide so crucial to rap music, we realise rappers fabricate much of their rhymes, and we usually ascribe cynical motives to such a process, however, in writing rhymes such as these whilst sequestered away from the world, awaiting incarceration, T.I. was dreaming too. And I wonder how it feels for T.I. now to hear such braggadocio on the radio whilst being incarcerated so far away from it? Perhaps upon his release he will be able to empathise with his fans that little bit more, understanding a little of the strange mixture of emotions you feel as you nod your head to someone describing a quality of life which you will never attain.
Danja reportedly charges $50-100,000 per beat. In this case; money well spent.
peace.
¹ Please note that I said 'complex' and not 'better'. Although they are.
²Big Pimpin', Is That Your Chick, Come and Get Me, Hola Hovito, It's Hot - some of the greatest, most jaw-dropping, ground-breaking music produced since Stravinsky.
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