I'm Serious is the debut studio album by American rapper T.I., released on October 9, 2001 by Arista Records and Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment.

"the Jay-Z of the South"),[2] Jazze Pha, Too Short, Bone Crusher, Lil Jon, Mac Boney, Pastor Troy, P$C and Youngbloodz, while production was handled by DJ Toomp, Craig Love, Maseo, Brian Kidd, The Neptunes, Jazze Pha, Yung D, Lil Jon and T.I.

[3][4] Critical responses were generally mixed to unfavorable; many reviews pointed to the fact that many of the tracks sounded the same, and a few were blatant rip-offs.

was discovered by fellow Atlanta native Kawan "KP" Prather—whose company, Ghet-O-Vision, is frequently mentioned on the album.

himself, the buyout made the LaFace no longer based in his hometown, thus creating a more strenuous commute as the Arista headquarters was located in New York City.

The song was released commercially to radio on June 26, 2001 and failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100, although it found success locally.

and manager Jason Geter considered their grassroots promotional marketing in Southern cities and questioned their need to enter a second album cycle with the label.

(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.

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.

"[17] 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.

"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.