Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	74/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	B+
Blender
Robert Christgau	A–
Entertainment Weekly	B+
The Guardian
Pitchfork Media	6.2/10
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
USA Today

Paper Trail is the sixth studio album by American hip hop recording artist T.I., released September 30, 2008, on Grand Hustle Records and Atlantic Records. He began to write songs for the album as he awaited trial for federal weapons and possession charges. Unlike his past albums, he wrote his lyrics down on paper, which he had not done since his debut album, I'm Serious (2001).

The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 568,000 copies in its first week, becoming T.I.'s highest debut sales to date, and the fourth highest debut of the year. The album was eventually certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on August 27, 2009. It received generally favorable reviews from critics, and is T.I.'s most successful currently. The album spawned eight singles, four of which reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100, with two singles peaking at number one.

On August 19, 2007, while awaiting a trial for federal weapons charges, T.I. announced he had been writing songs for a new album to be entitled Paper Trail. He wrote his lyrics down on paper, which he had not done since his debut album, I'm Serious. The album highlights his "fear, anger and guilt" as he awaited trial.

T.I. recorded nearly 100 tracks during the production for Paper Trail, including a collaboration with Fall Out Boy on a track entitled "Out in the Cold". However the song was left out of the final cut, but T.I. told MTV that he may add some of the cut tracks to his next album. On August 22, 2008, the songs "Like I Do" featuring The-Dream, "Let My Beat Pound", "My Life Your Entertainment" featuring Usher, and "Swagga Like Us" were all leaked online.

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Wikipedia