T.I.

How did T.I. change the rap game? It comes down to two words: the trap. Consider the scene before his 2003 arrival onto the national stage: of the millions of people who had bought Outkast's Stankonia album three years prior, chances are most of them had no idea what one of its song's titles was referring to. Track 6, "Snappin' & Trappin,'" featuring Killer Mike and J-Sweet, and these lyrics from Mike: "I give a fuck, suede bucks,and Coogi sweaters what's up? Whatever sable fur to lamb leather I've seen it all in the trap with fitted caps for cold weather..." "The trap"? What was he talking about? Listeners might've been forgiven for envisioning a spring-loaded steel-jaw device and beaver pelts. Four years later most of them probably had it figured out. And not because of the clues about packaging narcotics in Saran wrap, laid out later in Mike's verse. Rather, because of the impact of Clifford "T.I." Harris' second album, Trap Muzik- a platter devoted to telling tales of a large-scale criminal underworld. As he rhymed on the title track: "Welcome back to the trap, niggas, back in the trap with another heavy Chevy, beatin' dope boys at craps..." With Trap Muzik's explicit depictions and massive success, T.I. hipped rap fans all over the map to the Southern slang. "The trap" was the drug game; "trapping was dealing. Released in August 2003, Trap Muzik took a slow route to the big time. But on the strength, of two singles that rocked Atlanta clubs all summer long. "Rubber Band Man" and "24's," word got out, and gradually, folks from New York to Cali learned how Peach Tree State dope boys liked to keep their money rolled, and their preferred rim size. By year's end, T.I. had a gold record plaque, the trap was a hot topic, and the trapper a recognizable figure. Atlanta had foud its gangsta rap voice.