Album reviews (T.I., Game, Sufjan Stevens) | canada.com

T.I.
Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head
(Grand Hustle/Atlantic Records)
After a lacklustre response to 2010?s No Mercy, some questioned whether T.I.?s rap presence was still strong. But the Grammy winner shows he hasn?t lost a step, delivering an assortment of quality songs on his eighth album, Trouble Man: Heavy is the Head.
The self-proclaimed ?King of the South? lives up to his billing with one of his best pieces of work, featuring stellar production from Pharrell, No I.D., T-Minus and DJ Toomp, and guest appearances from Lil Wayne, Pink, Andre 3000 and Cee Lo Green.
The 16-track album, which was inspired by Marvin Gaye?s 1972 album Trouble Man, details T.I.?s struggles to overcome his continuous missteps. On three interludes, he reenacts some of those moments, including his arrest before the 2008 BET Hip-Hop Awards and when his best friend, Philant Johnson, was killed in a 2006 shootout in Cincinnati.
But despite his mishaps, T.I. is unapologetic to his critics. He?s certainly that way on the Jazze Pha-produced Sorry, featuring Andre 3000, who blesses the track with his superb rhymes.
On the top-notch Can You Learn, with R. Kelly, T.I. asks his woman if she could support her mate who often finds himself in trouble. Pink?s vocals soar on the melancholy Guns and Roses, while Trap Back Jumpin? and Go Get It are definite street anthems. The easy-riding Hello and Hallelujah are standouts as well.
On Wonder Life, with Akon, T.I. has a conversation with two people close to him who have died ? his father and best friend ? who impart their thoughts on how well life has treated the rapper, who is married with six children.
?Jonathan Landrum Jr., The Associated Press

Game
Jesus Piece (Deluxe edition)
(Interscope)
?I smoke weed, pop pills, but I?m thinking it?s time for me to chill,? reasons Game on Can?t Get Right. ??Cause I ain?t trying to go to hell.?
Backed by some innovative beats and a pleading, soulful hook courtesy of K. Roosevelt, this is as close to contrition as Game gets on his fifth studio album. With its cheerfully irreverent cover art featuring a dark-skinned Jesus sporting ?Jesus-Piece? bling and a red bandana covering his mouth ? Fox News has already dutifully reported on the widespread outrage ? Jayceon Taylor?s album offers a vague religious bent that adds an unneeded layer of the grandiose to the proceedings. Like last year?s The R.E.D. Album, Jesus Piece is over-stuffed with guests (Common, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar, among many others) and ambition. It?s a dizzying ride that is cluttered with too many ideas and often outright silly. But it?s also often impressively well-crafted. Best of all, it?s pretty damn funny. This is particularly true when Taylor attempts to reconcile his gangster life with his born-again leanings. For instance, he feels bad, but not that bad, about ogling the girls in church on the standout gospel-choir enhanced Hallelujah. Meanwhile, he doesn?t seem to feel any guilt at all about coming to God?s house wearing a condom on the wonderfully vulgar outro of Church. As far as sermons go, Jesus Piece is pretty entertaining.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
? Eric Volmers, Postmedia News

Sufjan Stevens
Silver & Gold
(Asthmatic Kitty)
On his second collection of Christmas EPs ? he has released one a year to friends and family since 2001, missing only 2004 ? Sufjan Stevens throws everything at the wall to see what sticks. Surprisingly, a good two-thirds of it does. Radically rewritten standards, hymns and pop evergreens, wacky originals, shambolic carollers, Auto-Tune excess, video-arcade synth drums, a few tracks that meander senselessly, tiny links featuring recorders, acoustic pop gems, the barely listenable, the profoundly strange and the truly beautiful all collide joyously in these wonderfully weird discs. The five-CD box also includes tattoos, stickers, an elaborate cut-out Christmas tree star no one will assemble, and an 82-page booklet that features lyrics, chords and a brilliant essay on why this deeply spiritual, oddball genius loves Christmas. All in all, this is one glorious mess.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
?Bernard Perusse, Postmedia News

Source: http://o.canada.com/2012/12/18/album-reviews-t-i-game-sufjan-stevens/

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