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That melody's been in my head since I was a kid. The original song by Roberta Flack, [is] called "Gone Away." Me and my engineer was just dropping needles on a few old school records and I decided to do this record over. He listened to some of the instruments and played a few of the joints. I arranged it and produced it, put that Toomp flavor to it and it all came together.
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So hot that Kanye got Toomp to work on three tracks for his record.
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T.I.'s got the game on lock, we get up when we in ATL. He did it big in '06. Shout out to T.I.
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King T.I.P. fulfilled his destiny and reigned supreme over DJ Toomp's synthesized beast of a track.
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Swagger, man. T.I. glides majestically over Toomp's pronounced, jubilant production on "What You Know," and last summer nothing drowned out forced, bullshit pub conversation better than this slow-cooking triumph from Atlanta.
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The whole thing probably sounds even better rolling through in a big ride with a killer system instead of walking around with tinny, tiny buds jammed in my ears. So maybe the best compliment I can pay this monster of a song is that it kinda makes me want to steal a car.
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Plain but punishing, stern but joyous, T.I.'s anthem blared from everywhere—whips, homes, baby carriages—in '06. Thank DJ Toomp for the zithering synths, but the most memorable hook of the year was purely a Tip Harris drill.
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There's something almost royal about the doom-like procession of it, the laserbeam fanfare and faux-mellotron choir all nestled deep in the folds of its velvet (even if half the drama comes from Roberta Flack's vertiginous "Gone Away," which DJ Toomp nicked pretty much note-for-note).
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T.I. gets majestic with bass and synth strings booming like your car just flipped the corner. What you know about that? T.I. knows all about that.
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The soundtrack is amazing and features Big Boi's "Kryptonite" which has to be one of my favourite tracks ever. Oh yeah, this song is on the soundtrack too.
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The King of the South makes another block-hugging anthem.
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He doesn't drop any memorable lines on the verses of "What You Know" because the sound of his voice is enough, and the ay!s and oh!s and OK?s say more than words could. And "I'm fast as lightning, bruh / You better use ya Nikes, bruh" may read unbelievably lame on paper, but I love the way he says it, stretching out all his vowels into gravelly moans until he's making sounds, not saying words.
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The prince of the South returns with a strangely poignant synth beat.
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Leaked tracks be damned, T.I.P. presses on with heat from his upcoming album, King.
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This is absolutely magnificent, of course. Regal production with T.I. flowing lazily, like he's so good he can't even be bothered putting effort into his rapping anymore.
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In this Chris Robinson-directed clip, Atlanta's rapper du jour rolls through the 'hood wearing a Dodger cap, cruises through South Central in a $300,000 Mercedes-Benz Maybach and walks the red carpet at a movie premiere.
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The precision is incredible. The best news here, though is Toomp's monstrous, unbridled production. His zithering take on The Impressions' "Gone Away" is terrifying, scene-creating stuff, exploding with block visuals.
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