The Traveler

Issue date: 3/2/09 Section: Lifestyles

Media Credit: Maggie Carroll T.I. performs Wednesday night at Barnhill Arena. The rapper performed many of his biggest hits during the show.

Oh, the irony of having a convicted felon who was arrested on weapons charges walk onto stage to the sound of gun shots. But even with the irony, the looming one-year jail sentence and the fact that he performed on Ash Wednesday, T.I. made one point certain to all concert-goers at Barnhill Arena last week: he is still King, and all haters can ... well, you get the picture.

The Atlanta-born rapper - who will begin his jail sentence in the next couple of weeks - stormed the stage and never dropped the beat throughout the more than an hourlong concert. Opening with his hit "Top Back," the crowd at Barnhill (which was a little more sparse than you would think) never put their hands down, and T.I. made sure they didn't have to.

Though some at the UA thought the concert was not a good idea, mainly because of the controversial rapper's legal issues, there was not a single problem during the show - except, of course, for the trash talking, but a concert really isn't complete if you don't let the fans know what you think about all the haters out in the world.

What was even more impressive than the presence T.I. sported on stage (even though he is much smaller than he appears on TV) was the song selection that kept the crowd entranced for an hour. T.I. performed such hits as "What You Know," "Big Things Poppin'," "Dead and Gone" and "Bring 'Em Out."

However, it would have been nice to have a full version of T.I.'s first big single, "Rubber Band Man," instead of a 30 second a cappella clip of the chorus. It was an amazing sight to see almost the entire crowd at Barnhill belt out Justin Timerberlake's part during the chorus of "Dead and Gone."

Although T.I. did play through a few of his biggest hits, he unfortunately possessed the "rap syndrome," commonplace at most rap concerts, where the artist will play through maybe a minute to a minute and a half of the song before stopping, talking some more trash, and then resuming with his next multi-platinum hit for another minute and a half.

Also, it is a bit baffling to me to have several posse members on stage rapping and singing parts to various T.I. songs when nobody knows exactly who they are in the first place. Either an introduction or a backing tape (which was used several times) wouldn't have been a bad idea.

Even though T.I. shot the show out of a cannon to begin the concert, it was the closer that really got the crowd rallying to keep the rubber band man out of jail. T.I. persuaded the crowd (well, mostly the women in the crowd) to take off their shirts or a towel and wave them in the air, which some obliged to do. But even after the fans and T.I. ripped their shirts off for a hardcore rendition of "What U Know," he closed in the most epic fashion a concert of this nature could ask for - going from "Live Your Life" (which would have been a bit better if the crowd could have sang Rihanna's part) straight into "Whatever You Like."

While the concert definitely provided a breath of fresh air throughout the otherwise stagnant rock scene of Northwest Arkansas, T.I. gave a performance you would expect from a multi-platinum, Grammy-winning artist ... but there have been better and there will be better in the future. So while the King is in jail, he might want to get out the blue prints to plan a way to stay on top while he is away.

I mean, who knows? Weezy might sell a billion albums in the short year T.I. is in prison.

Final Thought: Free T.I.!

Brian Washburn is the News editor for The Arkansas Traveler. His column appears every Monday.

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