On Friday night, T.I. took to the stage huffing and puffing. Unfortunately, he couldn't blow the crowd away.

Tragically misjudging his audience, the rapper spent much of his set dismissing his critics and "haters" (malicious naysayers, often found in barber shops or chat rooms) instead of investing all his energy in the songs his overwhelmingly straight-laced crowd — who could care less about hip-hop beef — paid big moola to hear. At times pompous, at times angry, T.I. focused less of his efforts on music than the promotion of his ambiguous "movement," unnecessarily watering down an otherwise strong performance.

Adding to the distractions was T.I.'s entourage, a space-wasting crew to boot. Joined on stage by Young Buck, Pee-Wee (a wayward youth to whom T.I has taught many life lessons except, seemingly, how to hold up his pants) and a slew of posse members who undoubtedly possessed similarly fascinating nicknames, the rapper's talent struggled to emerge uncorrupted by the sea of talentless.

In the end, T.I. did perform the hits - "Live Your Life," "Whatever You Like," "What You Know" and more - but only after 30 minutes of chorus medleys and verses cut short, old and forgotten songs, and pretentious rants. Sadly, one of his last performances before prison was, quite simply, a disappointment.