There are a few stand-out tracks however many of the songs fail to take T.I. to the next level he sought as he exited prison over the summer. Introspective and still a comeback of sorts, it remains pretty pathetic that T.I. is not here to come back with it.
That crown must be getting heavy.
On No Mercy, he starts off strong, but gets lost along the way. He argues that listeners should show him sympathy since the good outweighs the bad in his life, and that’s true of No Mercy as well… but not by much.
No Mercy is the sound of a rapper addressing his idiocy without sacrificing his swagger.
No Mercy is perfectly likeable and occasionally original. However, like most modern rappers, T.I. is playing catch up with the innovatory explorations charted by Kanye and Jay-Z.
The stellar guest-list on No Mercy - with contributions from Kanye, Eminem and Pharrell – supports Atlanta rapper T.I.'s reputation as the Southern equivalent of Jay-Z, a hip-hop mogul with fingers in all kinds of showbiz pies.
But No Mercy is his third straight album of halfassed introspection.
No Mercy is full of moments where suspect lyrical passages coast by under smooth surfaces.
Neither redemptive nor triumphant, No Mercy is the MC's least compelling release thus far, but there's a sense that he'll regain focus once his legal matters settle.
The electricity that defined T.I.‘s early career—dexterous lyricism molded effortlessly to trap rap essentials—feels further away than ever before.
A perfect example of a lost album. Coming off several prison stints, this looks on the surface to be a reflecting and honest album from T.I. It starts off as so, and completely loses direction until the final track when it once again regains that momentum (way too late). Again the first few tracks are not bad, and honest T.I. is when he's at his best. However considering this is an album that forgets its purpose and has more bad tracks than good tracks by a mile its rating must reflect so.
1 | Welcome to the World 4:14 feat. Kanye West, Kid Cudi | 91 |
2 | How Life Changed 4:30 feat. Mitchelle'l, Scarface | 86 |
3 | Get Back Up 4:24 feat. Chris Brown | 59 |
4 | I Can't Help It 3:32 feat. Rocko | 75 |
5 | That's All She Wrote 5:18 feat. Eminem | 90 |
6 | No Mercy 4:07 feat. The-Dream | 89 |
7 | Big Picture 4:25 | 77 |
8 | Strip 3:42 feat. Young Dro, Trey Songz | 63 |
9 | Salute 3:07 | 75 |
10 | Amazing 5:14 feat. Pharrell Williams | 79 |
11 | Everything on Me 4:24 | 79 |
12 | Poppin' Bottles 5:20 feat. Drake | 80 |
13 | Lay Me Down 3:16 feat. Rico Love | 84 |
14 | Castle Walls 5:29 feat. Christina Aguilera | 91 |
#6 | / | Vibe |