TALKIN' VIDEOS

“You don’t know me!” – T.I.

“Yeah, we do!” – Ron Mexico

Does anyone besides me remember who T.I. was before we got to know (or not know) the Rubberband Man? Well, a few years ago the A-Town mainstay with the refined, lazy flow was an overanxious, cocky little high-schooler with a record deal.

Just removed from the “P” at the end of his name, T.I. teamed up with the not-yet-blown-up Neptunes and self-proclaimed "King of the Dancehall," Beenie Man for the title track and lead-off single of his 2001 mainstream solo debut “I’m Serious” [watch it now]

In all honesty, this is a dope song and one of the most painfully slept-on tracks in recent memory. Of course, this is not to say that the video is not without fault.

Look at his nerdy glasses!

Is he sure he sold rocks in the trap like he says? If I saw this dude on my block I’d probably hang him upside-down by his shoes and shake the change out of his pockets. He looks like he was on that end of the spectrum in high school anyway. Okay, I probably wouldn’t… But that’s only because his Caesar-cut is so low, I’m not sure if it’s fashion or if he’s on chemotherapy. Hazing cancer patients is wrong, children!

Isn’t this video set in Atlanta? What’s the Coogi sweatsuit for?

T.I. takes us on a series of gangsta events in this video. His exploits are cheeky and brash, but his still boyish image makes the foul shit he does seem acceptable to the viewing public, kind of like a ghetto-ass Ferris Bueller. My favorite part of the video is when he “steals” a new drop-top from the dealership, crashes through the store window like Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop, drops stacks of cash into the wreckage and drives away.

That’s living the dream, man!

Apparently he’s in such a hurry to get to a street party at which we find Beenie Man dancing around like fucking Jar Jar Binks. King of the Dancehall? Nah, nigga looks more like King of the Crackhouse in this one. Seriously… Mute the video! I dare you! They look eerily like the Ying Yang Twins in the “Whisper Song” video. While Beenie always manages to at least keep step, T.I.’s dance moves look like Screech at the Bayside Dance when they play Snow’s “Informer.” Notice the man has been careful NEVER to dance in a video since.

Despite the dancing curveball, this is a dope track with a dope beat, some of the best verses of T.I.’s career and was perfectly primed for mainstream success. The video features cameos from Mack 10, Jermaine Dupri, Pharrell, Goodie Mob and some local figures I’m sure I'm failing to recognize offhand. I genuinely wonder why he didn’t blow up off of this single. I can imagine T.I. wondered the exact same thing for about 4 years. I know one thing, though. The nigga was a lot more careful in his style of dress, dance moves, overall demeanor, and one-liners in his guest spots the second time around. Oh yeah, beat of the year from David Banner didn’t hurt either.

While I get my jokes in on Tippy, this is a video I’m glad I was able to dig up and am proud to share with you. If you missed prep-school gangsta T.I. a few years ago, go have a look into the yearbook today.

If you have some videos you want blogged-down here on Talkin’ Videos, throwback or otherwise… holler at Mr. Mexico. ronnie_mexxx@yahoo.com. You know what time it is.

See you tomorrow, when we slaughter our third “over-the-weekend” lamb. Damn, has it been three weeks already?

P.S.: I stand corrected. Me fulla back chat and cyan defend dat!