PROVIDENCE — Atlanta-based rapper T.I. felt he had a lot to prove as he headlined the Hot 106 Holiday Hot Night last night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. His recent legal problems (culminating in a house arrest) left him with a chip on his shoulder, and he answered with some of the hardest-hitting and highest-charting songs of the Southern hip-hop movement of the last few years, settling whatever scores he felt he needed to and getting the party going at the same time.

T.I. doesn’t have the most blinding-fast rapping skills — the Southern style is generally slow and nasty — but he has a strong voice, a way with a hook and (thanks to producers such as Troomp) backing tracks with lots of warm, classic-sounding instrumental tracks, rather than the highly electronic boom of most of the genre.

After a few truncated early songs, including his breakthrough “24’s,” he made reference to his recent house arrest as “one of the toughest times of my life” and worked up his ire at those who said he was “going to tuck my tail” before tearing into “U Don’t Know Me.” After a brief romantic interlude (“Why You Wanna”), the jam was back on with the anthemic “Bring ’Em Out” and “Swing Ya Rag.”

“If I was you, I’d hate me, too,” he said before launching into the slow revenge tales “What Up” and “Every Chance I Get,” then “No Matter What” and an angry “I’m Illy.” Later on, perhaps inevitably, the time came to thank the fans “who stuck by me” with the earnest near-power ballads “What You Know” and “Live Your Life.”

Tallahassee-based R&B singer and rapper T-Pain, who preceded T.I., is one of the most popular guest artists in R&B/hip-hop radio, and as such he started with recaps of some of his cameos, ranging from “Shake Them Dreads” to “Pop Lock & Drop It” and “Two Step.” It was hard to get any momentum going until he really dug into “She Got It” and “Beam Me Up” (with Tay Diz). The dichotomy continued throughout the set, but “Chopped and Skrewed” finally delivered on his promise.

“Ain’t no special effects; what you hear on TV is what you hear live,” said Busta Rhymes, and he had the most impressive vocal delivery of the night, combining speed and precision with dazzling skill. His beats were sometimes dancehall-influenced (such as “Fire”), and always with irresistible hooks, such as the intro of “Make It Clap.” And with the able assistance of hype man Spliff Star, the Brooklyn rapper careened around the stage with appealing energy – too bad about the sound problems.

Jadakiss’s set turned into a full-on LOX reunion, with Sheek Louch and Styles P making guest appearances and all three doing truncated arrangements of some of their biggest hits, all three glorying in the thug life and the drug life with undeniable hooks and a slurred, mocking attitude. Several of the song titles are unprintable, but “D-Block” made for a menacing opener and Styles P’s “Blow My Mind Out” was an eye-rolling celebration. But the strongest stuff was Jadakiss’s own closers, the thug-romantic “By My Side” and the once-controversial, now-commonplace “Why.”

Slim, from the pioneering Atlanta R&B vocal trio 112, sang to a pastiche of tracks from his solo work and 112 hits. His 112 compatriots’ pre-taped backing vocal contributions were a little jarring on “Cupid,” but “So Fly,” his ain’t-I-bad solo hit from this summer, was a smooth groove.

R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan opened the show, and the highlight was her take-no-mess anthem “Bust Your Windows,” which featured a muted, bass-heavy DJ backing and Sullivan’s voice — not powerful or showy, but plenty of husky overtones that belied her young age (21).

rmassimo@projo.com