After the wild success of his first four albums and a very mediocre-at-best review of his fifth, T.I. is at it again with his sixth album in 10 years: “Paper Trail.” The disc is fondly named as such because of his decision to write his lyrics down instead of just rapping on the spot (for the first time since his first release). He was conveniently under house arrest on pending charges for allegedly buying machine guns with silencers out of the trunk of an anonymous car, so he had plenty of time to crank out this 16-track comeback featuring guests ranging from Justin Timberlake and Rihanna to rap legends like Jay-Z, Kanye and Lil Wayne.

This album is proof that everyone loves a comeback. Hoping to reclaim the fame of his first albums, T.I. opens with the track “56 Barz” with no hooks, no chorus, but just straight-up rhymes for more than three minutes. The beats are pretty generic, but typical egotistical lyrics such as “I’m back on top like a toupe” begin the album with a compelling reason to keep listening.

T.I. really can get lyrical: “I’m Illy” details his rage at possibly having to go to prison, while “Ready for Whatever” attempts to explain why he was stockpiling an arsenal in his bedroom closet. The songs get kind of repetitive and lack ingenuity until you hit “Live Your Life,” featuring Rihanna and including O-Zone’s catchy “Dragostea Din Tei.” Between that sample and the repetitively nauseating vocals, T.I. successfully came up with one of the worst songs I have ever heard. Did you even know that such a bad idea existed? His attempt to recreate the harmony format of the Numa Numa song and the mixed-in message that people should be thankful for what they have just turns into a messy and irritating five-minute-plus tune that I had an excruciating time stomaching.

My favorite thing to do when listening to a new hip hop album is to give it a good run-through and make guesses as to which tracks will be radio hit singles. As I got to the second half of the album, I found three sure-to-be hits: “Whatever You Like,” “What Up, What’s Haapnin’,” and “Swagga Like Us.”

“Whatever You Like” is simply catchy: The entire song involves T.I. crooning to his shawty that she can have whatever she wants both materially and sexually. He is so romantic as he gabs, “…you the hottest/ Love the way you drop it/ Brain so good, coulda sworn you went to college.” What a guy. I am fairly certain that he could totally get any girl to just scream “take me now.” Similarly, “What’s Up, What’s Haapnin’” is fast-paced and catchy. This album has the utterly-key ability to get people up and dancing, rather than just bobbing their heads.

As it turns out, however, only two of the three songs I predicted are actually on the top five on iTunes: “Whatever You Like” is at three, but at number one is “Swagga Like Us,” featuring Kanye, Lil Wayne and Jay-Z (“What Up” was at number six). Besides the obvious all out effort on guest appearances, Kanye uses a vocal sample from M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” to spice things up in the hook. The song consists of each MC providing examples of how no one’s swagger compares to theirs.

Curious as to what a swagger is exactly? It can be explained as the way in which these rapper personalities present themselves to the world. For example, Kanye says “I’m Christopher Columbus, y’all just the pilgrims/ Thanksgiving do we even gotta question” while Jay-Z suggests we “Follow [his] steps, it’s the road to success…and the girls say yes.” To top off the verses of his fellow top rappers, T.I. knocks them all to the ground: “All my verses perfect and they meant to serve a purpose…ain’t nobody as hot as me even if they rap they ass off blast off and have outstanding qualities/ Sell alotta records I respect and salute that/ but spitting real life on hot beats I’m the truth at.” I guess writing his lyrics down before he recorded the tracks was to his benefit as he schooled his companions royally.

All in all, he really plays the house arrest game well and made good use of his time. While he did technically substitute his studio time with court appearances, he has redeemed himself. There really is not any great rap music out right now; people just tend to like making really bad music because people like listening to really bad music. Kanye’s “Love Lockdown” was awful, Nelly’s new album is less than stellar, and even Ice Cube is selling out and making appearances in kids movies. But T.I. will keep his status and remind people of why they loved his other albums. He is bound to keep his name in the book of southern rappers given that knack to yap.