T.I.

With the title of his 2006 CD, Clifford Harris, who goes by T.I., declared himself King, and unlike so many boasters before him, he backed up his braggadocio with bullion; the disc shifted more than a million units. His followup, T.I. Vs. T.I.P., hasn't been as widely embraced, in part because of its twisted concept: a split-personality battle between street-savvy T.I.P. and suave T.I. that ends with the MC combining the two guises in the I-am-the-world opus "My Type." Nevertheless, there's plenty of first-rate hip-hop here, including the sly "You Know What It Is." And if the album isn't quite as bonkers as R. Kelly's recent trips to the closet, it's still a kick to hear the CD's star arguing with himself on "Act III: T.I. Vs. T.I.P. The Confrontation," during which T.I.P. bitches that T.I.'s always "flouncing with your Hollywood motherfucking outfits." He'll undoubtedly trot out such threads during this Screamfest tour stop co-starring Ciara, Lloyd, T-Pain, Tiffany Evans and Young Joc, and that's appropriate. After all, the king should dress the part.