Alright, so this song has been a mess. Seems like its been out forever, there were 2 different versions of it, and the video took a while to get done. Finally, its here though, was it worth all the madness? Why dont we take a look and find out?
Okay, so the concept of this video is not crystal clear to me at all. Im thinking its a little of a twist on Hustle And Flow. T.I. is this street guy who raps, has the whole in home set up as far as a studio, just like Terrence Howard did in the movie. The twist is, he gets involved with some shady dudes. He gets all cleaned up and then he wants out. They arent feeling it, so they beat him down and drop him off in the middle of nowhere to die. Rihanna is some side line, lounge singer or whatever. And thats my take on it, again though its hard to follow. The reason is, the video starts with T.I. being left for dead and kind of weaves back and forth. So you have to piece the joint together for yourself. I think the concept idea was hot, the execution was a little poor.
I hate to bad mouth my boy but I think he over thought things on this one. Its way too complicated and you get so caught up in trying to figure out whats going on, that you forget to take in the video for what it is. I mean, he should have shot it straight from the beginning of the story to the end or did just a simple flashback from where he was at. All the back and forth, just gave me a headache. Also, Rihanna has no importance in the video. Her role in the concept was minor as hell. It could have been any chic in a black dress, up there singing, no one would know the difference or care. You should not do your feature artist like that, unless they are only on like one part of the track. And she does the hook plus a small verse. So her role in the story line should have been way different. He could have made her his Taraji P. Henson, since he did the Hustle And Flow thing for a part of it, anyways. She was the pregnant black chic, that did the singing for Terrance Howard in the movie, in case you were wondering. Overall, this video doesnt completely suck, but Im far from impressed. Shame on you T.I.P., you can do so much better! Remember, PaperTrail is in stores now, and its fire, so go cop that. -MinM
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