E.L.I vs. The Revelator (an intense psychodrama in six acts)

Among one of the most fascinating trends in rap currently is the emergence of heteronyms (the literary kind, not the linguistic kind) as a popular trope in hip-hop, or at least some MCs are giving it a try.

In his upcoming album, T.I gives this a shot, doing battle with himself. Much like Tyrese did last year, though T.I is a far superior MC.

T.I is not the first rapper to do this. Both MF Doom and Kool Keith have been doing this for a while. But T.I is certainly the most high profile rapper to try this.

So is this empty artistic pretension or an artists attempt to be introspective in a genre that doesn't entirely embrace it. Does it matter if it is pulled of well and becomes entertaining. Perhaps when content catches up with form we will find out.