T.I. And Chris Brown Try To “Get Back Up” On The Road To Redemption

Idolator Staff | October 16, 2010 5:27 pm

It’ll be at least 11 months until T.I. is back in the studio, but that doesn’t mean the ATL artist can’t have a hit or two in the meantime. His seventh studio album, the now-ironically-titled King Uncaged, will hopefully still be unleashed before T.I. is. Until then, the rapper leaves us “Get Back Up”, featuring his Takers co-star Chris Brown. Tip’s verses now sound sadly prophetic — it’s as if he somehow knew he might be heading back to prison. Listen here.

The smooth, apologetic track begins, “I’m only human,” and continues running with those themes of redemption and perseverance. T.I. sounds surprisingly humble here (at least by hip-hop standards), apologizing to fans and promising “I won’t take you down this road again.”

The singer, actor, producer, and lifesaver played hero earlier this week, talking a suicidal man down from the 22nd story of a building – just one day before being sentenced to 11 months in prison for violating probation. With that kind of action and drama in his life lately, perhaps it’s no wonder “Get Back Up” sounds as epic and morally complex as a Batman movie — that is, if the Dark Knight also had a beef with what haters said about him on Twitter.

After lending his vocals to Chris Brown’s “Deuces” remix, T.I. lets Brown return the favor here — appropriate, considering that Chris is still working on the fine art of “getting back up” after his flameout with Rihanna cost him the sympathy of virtually everyone in the entire world.

The well-timed release of “Get Back Up” could very well make this catchy tune a winner. It’s nice to see T.I. take ownership of his mistakes, while still making some pretty observant statements about judgment and hypocrisy. We have little doubt T.I. will be able to “get back up” after this latest run-in with the law — but, as Tip himself might have advised a would-be jumper on Thursday, perhaps it’s best not to fall in the first place.