Upon its release , '' T.I. vs. T.I.P. '' received mixed reviews from music critics . It holds a score of 61 out of 100 on Metacritic , indicating generally favorable reviews from critics . AllMusic writer Andy Kellman gave the album a 3 out of 5 stars stating " the MC constructs an entire album around the penthouse and pavement concept , dividing the program into three acts : T.I.P. ( seven tracks ) , T.I. ( seven tracks ) , and T.I. vs T.I.P. ( four tracks ) . This is also signified in the album 's outer sleeve and booklet photos . After the sustained greatness through Trap Muzik , Urban Legend , and King , a fall-off of some degree had to be expected -- especially after reaching the top after a steady climb -- and that 's exactly what happens . Though he undeniably remains one of the top MCs , T.I. tends to either reheat familiar material with less fire or tread dangerously close to unrelatable Kingdom Come-like " Look at who 's obnoxiously shedding his underdog status ! " routines ( as on " My Swag " ) . The productions similarly do not match up to past successes , and even some of obvious choices for singles fall short of past tracks that were never thought to be released as singles . The album is generally enjoyable , and it 's doubtful T.I. has to worry about being dethroned within the near future . " Nathan Rabin of '' The A.V. Club '' stated " T.I. 's honey-dripping Southern drawl and outlaw swagger is irresistible in bite-sized doses , but it is n't enough to sustain an entire album . This holds true for his ambitious yet muddled new project , T.I. Vs. T.I.P , a three-act concept album that clocks in at just over 73 minutes . Sonically , the album has a frantic , indistinct busyness that all too often passes for excitement and momentum . The album 's first third concentrates on T.I.P. , the second on T.I. , and the third on an epic battle between the rapper and his flamboyant alter ego . T.I.P. is ostensibly T.I. 's belligerent , untamed id , but in a blind taste test , nine out of 10 hip-hop heads would have difficulty telling them apart . In the grand hustling tradition of half-assed concept albums , Vs. boasts an overarching premise that 's fuzzy to the point of meaninglessness until the climactic final confrontation . On Vs. , one of the South 's hottest rappers declares war with his dark side . Maybe next time he 'll finally wage combat with a more worthwhile adversary , like bloated album lengths or the homogenizing effects of major-label politics . " Neil Drumming of '' Entertainment Weekly '' stated " The Atlanta native breaks his fifth album , T.I. vs. T.I.P. , into three acts depicting an ideological battle between split personae : the irascible thug T.I.P. and the nouveau-riche recording artist T.I . It ai n't Shakespeare , but the dual protagonists make for an intriguing bout . " Tom Breihan of Pitchfork Media noted " T.I. 's new album , T.I. vs. T.I.P. operates on the thin and dubious concept that T.I. the businessman and T.I.P. the unreformed hustler are two completely different entities , and that the strain of balancing the two personas is enough to tear Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. apart . Apparently , those two sides are n't as indivisible as they once seemed . T.I. first explored this dichotomy on Trap Muzik 's " T.I. vs. T.I.P. " , crafting an argument that movingly dramatized his internal struggle . That struggle also serves as the concept for the new album : T.I.P. gets the first seven tracks , T.I. the next seven , and the two sides spend the last four songs hashing out their differences . It 's an interesting conceit , but it does n't really work as a hook for an entire album , and the record 's exhaustingly long running time pushes the conceit far past the breaking point . For one thing , it 's a pacing disaster ; by lining up all his sugary for-the-ladies tracks in a row , T.I. leaves a long dead-streak in the second half of the album . For another , it plays against his strengths . His music works best when both sides of his personality are allowed to co-exist in the same track . When they 're separated , they both sound emaciated and half-formed . And he never quite commits to the concept . If T.I. represents the rapper 's pop half , why do the album 's first two singles come from the T.I.P. section ? If the album 's final stretch is meant to unite both sides , why do they confront each other in song only once , on the second verse of " Respect My Hustle " ? Even if the concept falls flat , though , T.I. vs. T.I.P. still warrants a listen , if only because T.I. seems constitutionally incapable of releasing an album full of uncompelling music . As a rapper , he 's still a dominant voice ; his slurry , guttural drawl is a great instrument , and always keeps it deep in the track 's pocket , occasionally whipping out tricky double-time patterns or murmuring singsong melodies . The album is perhaps best heard in chunks ; only a few of these songs would n't sound great on shuffle . Heard as a piece , though , the album 's momentum sputters and dies more than once ; after a few consecutive listens , T.I. sounds dour and joyless , like he 's just punching the clock . T.I. vs. T.I.P. may be self-obsessed and self-indulgent , but maybe T.I. needed to make this album to keep himself interested . Let 's hope he 's gotten it out of his system . " Colin McGuire of PopMatters states " Here , he overshadows any work he has previously done by keeping his Southern hip-hop roots intact while putting just enough attention on the hooks that one could easily find half of these songs that paint T.I. vs. T.I.P 's canvas on your favorite Hot 100 radio station . And he does it better than he has ever been able to do it before . Harris has come a long way from initially snapping back as the rubber band man . And now , with another hip-hop masterpiece under his belt , maybe Cohen can have a laugh himself as well . " Ian Cohen of Stylus Magazine stated " The biggest failing of T.I. vs. T.I.P. : though his singles are obsessed with knowledge of self and others , during the span of a seemingly endless album that centers around an identity crisis , T.I. mostly fails to realize the difference between introspection and self-absorption . It 's more of a hastily assembled construct grafted onto the persona of a generic trap star who does n't seem capable of taking real artistic chances . In his mind , anyone who criticizes T.I. is " just another hater who 's broke again , " waiting for some backpacker epiphany that will never come , like Little Brother becoming commercially relevant or Freddie Foxxx coming out of hiding to lyrically knuckle this guy down . It 's like T.I. 's been speaking in code to us all along : What you know about that ? You know what it is . You do n’t know me . But you know what ? After spending hours with T.I. vs. T.I.P. chasm-like emptiness , I ca n’t see why anyone would care . " Nick Marx of Tiny Mix Tapes noted " After reaching his creative apex , is there a more predictable and plodding step down for an artist than a concept album ? Did anyone even know ( or care ) that the two iterations of Clifford Harris ' moniker represent , respectively , his business and street sides ? T.I. vs T.I.P. is mercifully light on the requisite skits illustrating its dichotomy , but you almost wish there were more of them to explain the album 's weird alchemy of simultaneously overwrought and undercooked production and flaccid , self-absorbed lyricism . " Brendan Frederick of XXL Magazine notes " Atlanta rapper Clifford Harris opened this old wound four years ago on " T.I. vs. T.I.P. , " a highlight from his sophomore opus , Trap Muzik , where T.I.P. , his reckless , shit-talking core , battled T.I. , the consummate professional/smooth operator . After a tumultuous 2006 filled with highs ( King solidified his place as one of hip-hop 's illuminati ) and lows ( the senseless murder of his best friend ) , Tip re-examines his schizophrenic psyche on his fifth album , T.I. vs. T.I.P. Call it trap therapy . Hopefully , someday we 'll find out what really makes T.I. tick . " At the 50th Annual Grammy Awards , T.I. was nominated with a total of three nominations , including Grammy Award for Best Rap Album , Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance and Grammy Award for Best Rap Song for the single " Big Shit Poppin ' ( Do It ) " . The album won T.I. the American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album at The American Music Awards of 2007 . T.I. also won the American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at The American Music Awards of 2007
American Music Awards of 2007
American Music Awards of 2007
T.I. vs. T.I.P.