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   Clifford Harris Jr. - the looking-good MC named T.I. - sounds grimmer here than on his most recent records. His rhymes are provocatively intimate and withdrawn, his overall sonic demeanor smaller than before. Recording mostly at home while awaiting trial for possession of machine guns can humble a man - make him less grandly boastful. So, too, can the sadness of a miscarriage. "I lost my partner and my daughter in the same year/Somehow I rise above my problems and remain here," raps T.I. during "No Matter What."

This time it's personal - that's Paper Trail's slogan. Though he has been a formidable writer throughout his career, you never got the sense that T.I's violence-'n'-drugs rhetoric came from within despite his growing up in Atlanta's hardest parts. But death and detention lace his raps with newfound ardor and forlorn grace and his music with a mumbling grumble. Weirdly enough, it works. Right when "Swing Ya Rag" and "Whatever You Like" get ready for the obvious kink, they chill. Rather than bring in big guns like Justin Timberlake for the big sexy, T.I. gets them to talk down. "The old me is dead and gone," raps T.I. in rumination.

Paper Trail ain't Blood on the Tracks. But it shows a broken man with an openness few major-label rappers would allow.

Ben Folds
Way to Normal
(Epic ***)

Already being compared to his old band's shaggy-dog classic Whatever and Ever Amen, piano man Ben Folds' third solo album - not counting EPs, a live album, and an Internet-only collection - is bouncy, acerbic, and all over the place. Fresh off a divorce, Folds embraces the juvenile joys of his early career in smirking tunes like "B*tch Went Nuts" and "The Frown Song." Hammy and theatrical in some spots - as on the opening track, "Hiroshima (B B B Benny Hit His Head)" - yet sincere and heart-wrenching in others (the sad, brilliant "Cologne"), Folds displays both an effortless knack for shiny melodies and a sometimes frustrating restlessness. With that said, even his more unwieldy entries are flush with vitality, and few songwriters today are as funny and fearless.

- Doug Wallen

Nelly
Brass Knuckles

(Universal, **1/2)

It's a wonder Nelly has time to make music. He's so jacked on the cover of his new CD, it looks like he's in the gym 24/7.

The music from the St. Louis rapper is more muscular this time out as well. Brass Knuckles starts off with a harder, more gangsta edge on "U Ain't Him" with Rick Ross and "Hold Up" with LL Cool J and T.I.

It's not like Nelly has forgotten how to court radio play. "Party People" featuring Fergie is an irresistible club jam. But Brass Knuckles overall sounds like an attempt to rally his rap base.

Despite the more militant tone of this release, Nelly still wields more melodic elements than most rappers. But he has really dialed up the hip-hop flavor on this one. Most of the tracks roll on a fat Southern bottom of kick drum and knock-'em-stiff bass.

In the end Brass Knuckles is more bruising than pleasing.

      - David Hiltbrand

Jenny Lewis

Acid Tongue