So what happens when T.I., Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lil’ Wayne record a song together and it leaks on a Friday evening? The DJBooth inbox grows to the size of the Bible by Monday morning. Set to be featured on T.I.’s forthcoming Paper Trail (and also tentatively on Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3), S.L.U. – otherwise known as Swagger Like Us – is produced by West and samples international sensation M.I.A’s hit record, Paper Planes. Although a disappointed T.I. admitted to MTV News that he had hoped the record would stay quiet until closer to his September 30 release date, he is confident that the additional star power he has on board for the album will help make the project a true “event.” T.I.’s current single, Whatever You Like, is currently #1 on our Top Picks chart.
Listen to T.I.'s S.L.U. (Swagger Like Us) ft. Kanye West, Jay-Z & Lil' Wayne More songs from T.I.
Gotta say I was a bit dissapointed by this one. With 4 absolute beasts on a Kanye West beat like this I'd expect a little more. The chorus, even though it's sampled from one of my favorite non-rap songs of the past year or so, is a bit annoying and repetitive; it would be a huge improvement if they had added a bit more to it. Chorus aside, the verses are all pretty well done. My favorite line has got to be from Jay-Z; "you can pay for school but you can't buy class". Kanye performs well but I've heard better from him. Wayne doesn't bring much to the table and the vocoder brings him (as well as Kanye) down a bit in my opinion. They're two very talented rappers, they don't need that gimmick; it doesn't sound any better. As for T.I. himself, great verse, I was impressed; I expected him to have the worst verse on the song, as he doesn't compare, album-wise to any of the other artists on the song. Basically, is the song good? Yeah. Is it as good as it could've been? No. That's just my opinion. PS. I would love Nas and Ludacris to be on this as well; that would be a true greatest-alive-right now track. Not to mention Luda would rip this beat. 3/5
Kanye is officially a genius (paper planes + paper trail) for totally flipping the M.I.A. line into the central focal point of the this record. The drum loop and synths are on point and all four MCs are by far disappointments. Considering the powerhouse lineup, everybody would assume that T.I. is the weakest lyrical rapper out of the bunch but I think he was the one that stole the show in the end. Dope! (Atlantic has been cracking down on this joint all over the blogs since it was leaked on Friday. T.I. should embrace the new age of marketing, DJs are going to be dropping crazy mash-ups in the next few days (including me!))
Big ups to Kanye for the production. That is easily the highlight of this song. When I first read this all star lineup I knew that it would be too good to be true. This song is like a mini version of what Tha Carter 3 went through - Way too much hype to live up to. I do feel bad for T.I. because this could be the biggest record of his career and it gets leaked out of nowhere with his album still a few weeks away from release. Gotta say Kanye and Jay-Z killed their verses, while I think Weezy had the worst out of all of them. This track will make some noise though and its still a banger in my opinion, I bumped this in my car yesterday and the bass knocks hard.
they used one of ma old fav songs.. paper planes. and the collabo is one to praise. kanye's verse wasnt good to me at all, especially with the vocoder. jayZ's part started off great but his last 2-4 lines "singin" brought it down i think. i admit it that im SO tired of lil wayne, i refuse 2 be a dick rider like half the world. and of COURSE TI's part was the best. i agree with "UndoneIdoIt" with the order of who spit the best.
This is my @*#$!! I musta listened to this song 1 times yesterday. That drum rift is insane. Kanye and T.I were the MC's who shined the most on this one. Deffinaltly a classic, despite using one of my most hated hip hop words. SWAGGER!
i dont think the vocoder downgraded verses in the song. weezy was just ok. nothing special. kanye was slightly above average. t.i.'s verse and jay-z were tied for the best. the hook should have been an original thing cuz its too repetive. when i saw the features on this song i read it like three times. big time line up but small time song.
Kanye's production is decent. I wouldn't say it's his best, just like that "Jockin Jay-Z". It really wasn't moving me. I heard this a couple of days. It sort of became boring after a while. Kanye's verse was pretty decent . I agree with some of the previous comments. I did expect more for Ye, and the voice box needs to go. Jay's verse was decent, but it was classic Jay. Lil Wayne did pretty straight. His verse wasn't too bad. But T.I smashed the track. In my opinion he had the best verse. That's how it should be on your own song, but with all those other legends, that's not how it should be. But that's how it panned out. This song is decent though. It's a definite banger, but not a classic. Not by a long shot. My favorite rapper Kanye seems to be dropping in illness to me, and I am a bit concerned with that. I'm hoping to hear some better stuff in the future. I will say though, T.I's CD sounds like it's going to be a great one. I'm looking forward to it.
This was a real good track... totally sick. I loved every verse... T.I. came with the best verse though. From what I have seen of late this is not suprise TIP has been bringing it. The album is gonna be fricken amazing... shame so much of it has leaked. Ill be copping it for sure thou. not neccessarily classic but in its way a 5* track for me
man, this song was all the elements of good hip-hop:
1) Banging Production
2) 4 of the best rappers in the game.
3) crazy lyricism
this is a classic. cant wait for the album!
This song would have been a "Classic", But its seem that Kanye West is on his "Wayne-Mode". Meaning he thinks anything he says is dope, And most of the time it is. It seemed like everyone had 16 bars, and he only had 8. The second reason why this song isn't a 5, Is because that ANNOYING-ASS auto tune! Get rid of that! Please ='( Oh yea T.I. Murdered it...
Chorus RUINED the song for me, its extremely repetitive and played out. The verses were good but i was expecting to hear the song of the year after seeing all the big names. I would have changed the production but even with all the little things I dont like the song is still a banger
This song is great but as usual Lil Wayne and his voice box has to go i agree with J Worthy on that note. It is really annoying. I am happy thought that TI didnt result to that, and neither did Hov. Which makes there to verses the best. Which is good because as i can see, its going on there albums.
I can't decide what I think about my rating for this yet, but I do have stuff to say. I have NO problem with Kanye West using the autotone! He could do a whole album with it, I'd still probably love it. Kanye actually knows how to use that thing properly. This track is probably either going to be a hit or miss for people. The superstar line-up it still is enough to win hearts. TONE's right about T.I. I will say this puts me off as to what to expect for Paper Trail. Gotta agree with Jaff on that Luda bit.
this song is dope. Good production and sample. Kanye wasn't that good on this song. Plus lil wayne was sort of off topic. Order from best verse to worst- 1.T.I 2.Jay-Z 3. Kanye West 4. Lil Wayne.
And by the way... T.I. was the best on here as expected. The undisputed best rapper alive (sorry Weezy, Yeezy, and Jay Zeezy)!! Do T.I. and Young Jeezy have a collabo on Paper Trail? Anyone know?
i agree wit ppl that sed kanye is fallin off, he not exciting me anymore, not really feelin the production like that cuz im not hyped about mia to begin wit (just cuz its different dont mean its not garbage lol) not really into weezy and kinda didnt pay attention to his verse but jay and ti came through and it coulda just been them on the track, funny thing is that last summer i was pissed that i actually bought ti's album and was angry and swore that i would never support him again but i think since he's writing his ryhmes down again hes gettin better
They should have slowed down the chorus a beat so it doesnt sound so repetitive. T.I. killed this, that beat is drop dead gorgeous. But yeah, that chorus man... In my opinion weezy should have been replaced by a harder voiced emcee like young jeezy or the game. Maybe if he wasn't so wack on this I wouldn't have thought about it.
Kanye is nice on the beat. I don't know...but his last few tracks haven't been in the upper echelon; for example, his last album was a disappointment in terms of beat production compared to his two previous albums. I thought everyone performed so-so. My expectation was raised too high. Overall, a decent track.
It's Itee..i dont really like what t.i.'s bringin' out lately, i heard let my beat pound the other day and my life, your entertainment with usher, they both on his new album and i didnt like em..the tracks that ive heard so far of paper trail sound abit weak and like hip-pop or summat...to be honest though im kinda feelin' this one...only because kanye-hova- n weezy are on it..i hope paper trail is alot better than my expectations...
This is very cool song, although I still don't think that it is as good as "Whatever You Like", it is different, and has so many big names in it. Can't wait for this album.
WELCOME BACK T.I.! MIA is the $hit and for them to use part of paper planes in their track is HOTNESS! Kanye is like the new king of the game right now and his lyrics and flow on here are un-@*#$!-wit-able...and even Jay-Z kills this beat as well. Lil Wayne could have gone harder on here. He still does better than the average MC, but could have still been better. Dayum! TI lays it down at the end! I'm gonna have to make this a CLASSIC! Sick joint!
I didn't even read the review until after i heard the song, and i was thinking M.I.A. the whole time! haha T.I. is killin right now, he ripped this track hard! BANGERR!!
what the f*** you boys talkin bout, I know its us bc we the only thing to talk bout.haha. Even T.I. lets you know Weezy lyrics is sick when he says he got Weezy for word play.
I WON TICKETZ 2 C T.I. AND KEIYSHA COLE IN CONCERT FROM THA RADIO STATION AND IM TOTAL-E GO-N!!!!!haha...anyway, i think thiz iz ok... i think sum of yall r make-n 2 big of a deal ovr this song. but hey datz u. but I DID LUV WEEZY F BABY IN THIZ=)
Kanye does a good job on the beat and mic , didn't realy like the vocoder though but I can deal wit it cus they all rip their verse's so this ones another banger for T.I. Paper Trail should be sick.
I hope theres a remix, even if its unofficial (Lupe, Common would be hit or miss, Luda). I love the hook unlike most of yall. Kanye was disappointing with the mic, Wayne has grown on me. 1st- TI, 2nd- Jay-Z, 3rd- Wayne, 4th- Kanye. TI killed it. PS- LAX arrives tomorrow
ummmm yeah dis song rite here makes history
erbody killed it wayne couldve went harder
kanye is in fact turning into a monster
jay is da same old dope boy fresh rapper we kno n luv
n t.i.'s album is gonna b hot
4 of da greatest n da game
lyrics on point straight up classic
omg i am so disappointed in this song when i first seen this title i was like omg but this song isnt that good Kayne could do much better on the beat n with his verse Weezy wat happened i think he didnt do coke on this song lol T.I's verse was dope n J'z had some good lines but he could have done better add Nas to the remix, Luda, Game, Lupe,Andre 3k(WOuldnt that be dope)add a new beat and you got one of the greatest songs of all time but this was good but it should have been so much better
@*#$! DJ KHALED HE HAS NOTHING ON THIS!!!
Are you ever serious when i was checking track listings for T.I.s cd and saw this song i knew it would be dope i just wasnt expecting to hear it for another month but i should have known it was going to be leaked. This song is possiably the best song of the year!
I seen the lineup and right away i got excited that this is gonna be some crazy bananas joint but i must say i was very disappointed...i dont like the army snare beat, the chorus made by head hurt and honestly no one spit their best @*#$!...
this was hot but yeah i was def expecting MORE like more substance this was lacking a little bit for me. The super powers of hip hop were on this track and this is it? T.I. was right on this tho i was feelin him. I feel like Wayne was off beat the entire time and his flow was just off. this song was hot don't get me wrong but they def could have brought more to the table I think.
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