Pitchfork

This video for T.I. vs. T.I.P.'s first single has the crazy faces and cool clothes we've come to expect from T.I.'s clips, but in addition to that same old swagger, the Atlanta MC displays an inner turmoil here that he's rarely shown before.

This is T.I.'s "Lose Yourself", an exhortation to "do it, do it/ Do it. What you waitin' for?" though he never quite makes clear what "it" is. There's a battle (a push-up contest, actually) between the titular altar egos (T.I.-- frustrated, hard-working guy-- and T.I.P.-- obnoxious asshole), but the exact terms of that conflict are largely inscrutable.

But no matter how convoluted the concept, what really matters is that T.I. executes it with conviction, as he does in the shots of him on the empty stage, spotlights over his shoulders, right arm pumping, chain flying. This isn't style over substance, though. There's substance here, it's just that T.I. may be the only one who understands it. But that doesn't make "it" any less exciting for the rest of us.

(Thanks to Spine and OnSmash.)

[from T.I. vs. T.I.P.; due 07/03/07 on Grand Hustle/Atlantic]