''I'm Serious'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

by American rapper T.I., released on October 9, 2001 through

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertain ...

. The album included guests appearances from

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom h ...

The Neptunes The Neptunes are an American songwriting and production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provides additional vocals on records and appears in the duo's music video ...

(who called T.I. "the

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one o ...

of the South"),

Jazze Pha Phalon Anton Alexander, (born April 15, 1974), professionally known as Jazze Pha ( ), is an American record producer, singer, songwriter and rapper from Memphis, Tennessee. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Sho'nuff Records, to wh ...

Too Short Todd Anthony Shaw (born April 28, 1966), better known by the stage name Too Short (stylized as Too $hort), is an American rapper and record producer. He became famous in the West Coast hip hop scene in the late 1980s, with lyrics often based on ...

Bone Crusher A bone crusher is a device regularly used for crushing animal bones. Bones obtained during slaughter are cleaned, boiled in water and dried for several months. After that, they are suitable for crushing with the special machine into a relativel ...

Lil Jon Jonathan H. Smith (born January 17, 1971) better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, producer and former frontman of the rap group Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz. He was instrumental in the emergence of the hip hop subgenre cr ...

, Mac Boney,

Pastor Troy Micah LeVar "Pastor" Troy (born November 18, 1977) is an American rapper and record producer. He is also a member of the hardcore rap group D.S.G.B. (Down South Georgia Boyz). In 2020, he made several homophobic statements against Lil Nas X tha ...

, P$C and

Youngbloodz YoungBloodZ is an American Southern hip hop duo from Atlanta, Georgia composed of J-Bo (born Jeffrey Raymond Grigsby on October 4, 1977) and Sean P (born Sean Paul Ryan Joseph on March 7, 1978). The duo was signed to LaFace Records. They are o ...

. The album featured production from

DJ Toomp Aldrin Davis (born August 2, 1969), professionally known as DJ Toomp, is an American record producer, songwriter, and DJ. DJ Toomp received his start in 1985, with Atlanta MC Raheem the Dream, producing Raheem’s self-titled record when he was ...

, Craig Love, Maseo, Brian Kidd,

, Yung D,

and T.I. himself. Despite the album's guests appearances and production team, the album peaked at #98 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart, and only sold over 165,000 copies in the United States. Upon its release, critics pointed to the fact that many of the tracks sounded the same and that a few were blatant rip-offs.Jon Azpiri (2001-10-09)
"T.I. I'm Serious"
Retrieved on June 21, 2009. Other critics commented saying, "T.I. claims to be the king of the South, but fails to show and prove. He does, however, have potential. If his talent ever matches his confidence, he may just be headed for stardom."" T.I. "I'm Serious" Album Review"
Retrieved on June 21, 2009. Due to the poor commercial reception of the album, T.I. asked for a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

deal with Arista Records or be released from his contract; he was subsequently dropped from the label.

Background

T.I. was born Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. on September 25, 1980, in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

, the son of the late Clifford "Buddy" Harris Sr. and Violeta Morgan. He was raised by his grandparents in Bankhead,

. His father lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and he would often go up there to visit him. His father suffered from

Alzheimer Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...

's and later died from the disease. T.I. was interested in rap music at the young age of seven, and found that he could entertain his relatives and feel included. T.I. began

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

at age nine. He was making demos of his music by age ten or eleven. He attended Douglass High School, but later dropped out. As a teenager, he was a

drug dealer A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalati ...

. By age 14, he had been arrested several times. He was nicknamed "Tip" after his paternal great-grandfather.T.I.: Me, Myself & I
''Vibe''. Retrieved October 9, 2008. Upon signing with

in 1999, he shortened his name to T.I. out of respect for label mate Q-Tip. The title track, "I'm Serious". was released on June 26, 2001 and failed to make the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was produced by

and it features

Beenie Man Anthony Moses Davis (born 22 August 1973), better known by his stage name Beenie Man, is a Jamaican Dancehall deejay. Biography Davis was born in the Waterhouse district of Kingston in 1973.Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Mu ...

. The song had very little airplay and failed to chart. The label declined to release a second single; however, T.I. created a video for "Dope Boyz" that was released to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Critical reception

Upon its release, ''I'm Serious'' received positive reviews from most music critics. Some critics, however, pointed to the fact that many of the tracks sounded the same and that a few were blatant rip-offs.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

writer Jon Azpiri wrote "T.I. claims to be the king of the South, but on ''I'm Serious'' he fails to show and prove. He does, however, have potential. If his talent ever matches his confidence, he may be headed for stardom."Azpiri, Jon. Review: ''I'm Serious''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

. Retrieved on 2010-12-06. Down-South gave the album a four out of five stars saying "With his solo finally about to drop, this album should be his gateway into the mainstream arena. Overall, this album is all I expected plus more. I don't seen how anyone couldn't like it because it's so much diversity. So when you see this album on store shelves, be sure to grab it, you won't be disappointed."Down-South, Down-South
Review: ''I'm Serious''
. Down-South. Retrieved on 2010-12-06. HipHopDX wrote "Lyrically, Atlanta-bred T.I. (TIP to kids around the way) isn't far behind a lot of other gifted young cats tryin' to make it in the rap game. But rather than doing stand-up on the mic or seeing how many words he can rhyme with Versaci, this 20-year-old tells wonderfully-detailed stories on I'm Serious about coming up when all the elements try to keep you down. But T.I.'s at his best when he uses his head and not his, well, head. Similarly, I'm Serious gets it done by talking about familiar hip hop topics (gats, girls and makin' green), but doing it in a way that somehow comes off as fresh and original."HipHopDX, HipHopDX
Review: ''I'm Serious''
. HipHopDX. Retrieved on 2010-12-06. Rhapsody writer Sam Chennault wrote "The opening salvo from one of Southern hip-hop's most charismatic emcees, I'm Serious is more introspective and less bombastic than T.I.'s subsequent work. "Still Ain't Forgave Myself" and "What Happened" are surprisingly tender, though "Dope Boyz" and the Neptunes-produced "What's Your Name" set the stage for the emergence of T.I.'s playa/pusha persona."Chennault, Sam
Review: ''I'm Serious''
. Rhapsody. Retrieved on 2010-12-06.

Commercial performance

''I'm Serious'' was released on October 9, 2001 through

in the United States. In its first week of release, ''I'm Serious'' made its debut on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart at number 98, and it debuted at number 27 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...

chart. The album only sold 163,000 copies in the United States. Due to the poor commercial reception of the album, T.I. was dropped from Arista Records.

Track listing

;Sample credits *"I Chooz U" contains a

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of ...

of "I Can Sho' Give You Love" as performed by

Willie Hutch William McKinley Hutchison (December 6, 1944 – September 19, 2005), better known as Willie Hutch, was an American singer, songwriter as well as a record producer and recording artist for the Motown record label during the 1970s and 1980s. Biog ...

Personnel

Credits for ''I'm Serious'' adapted from

. Credits: ''I'm Serious'' Allmusic. Retrieved on 2010-12-07. *

– performer * Josh Butler – engineer * Andrew Coleman – engineer * Myrna Crenshaw – vocals (background) *

– producer * Jay Goin – mixing * Robert Hannon – mixing * Troy Hightower – mixing *

Chad Hugo Charles Edward Hugo (born February 24, 1974) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. With close friend Pharrell Williams, he formed the production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he has prod ...

– arranger * Dave "DasKyz" Hummel – engineer * James Humphreys – assistant engineer * Ken Ifill – mixing *

– performer * Craig Love – guitar * Charles Pettaway – producer * Matt Still – engineer, mixing *

– performer *

– arranger *

Mike "Hitman" Wilson Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

– engineer

Charts

References

External links

*
I'm Serious
' at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

{{Authority control 2001 debut albums T.I. albums Albums produced by DJ Toomp Albums produced by Jazze Pha Albums produced by Lil Jon Albums produced by the Neptunes Arista Records albums