Rap Star T.I. (or was it T.I.P.?) Arrested (UPDATE)
Linda Hobbs reports.
Rapper T.I. has been charged with possession of firearms by a convicted felon, and possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers, after being arrested Saturday by the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives law enforcement agency right before he was to take the stage at the BET Awards.
According to the AP, T.I., real name Clifford Harris Jr., was in the process of picking up silencers and machine guns purchased by his bodyguard in the parking lot of a shopping center, when he was busted by law enforcement.
Later that day, federal agents found three firearms, one loaded, in the rapper's vehicle. They also found six guns in his East Point home.
An investigation of the rapper started this month, where the rapper was accused of attempting to buy weapons from an ATF undercover agent.
The AP reports, that T.I.'s bodyguard admitted to purchasing nine weapons on behalf of the rapper, since T.I., a convicted felon, couldn't purchase them on his own. Doing such is against federal law.
The rapper was caught and arrested outside a Walgreens store on Piedmont Ave., down the street from Atlanta’s Civic Center in a busy section of Midtown.
The manager of the Walgreen’s confirmed that there was an arrest that occurred, but had no details concerning the arrest.
According to Atlanta’s hip hop and R&B station, Hot 107.9, where callers called in the day of the arrest with suspicions, it was reported that the rapper was allegedly arrested alongside his long-time girlfriend and baby’s mother Tiny, real name Tameka Cottle, from the former 90s R&B girl group Xscape.
T.I. released his fifth album, T.I. vs. T.I.P. this year, and is set to appear in the Ridley Scott film "American Gangster" out this November. He was nominated this year for nine BET Awards.
Currently, the rapper remains in federal custody. VIBE will continue to follow the story as it develops.
-Linda Hobbs
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Comments
1.
fifth and Silent says:
"See" black folks" no matter where you putt'em they aren't gonna do right..it aint in em!! He could have used that money to put some poor folks through school!!
You would think that he would have learned from "Carruth"Tyson"M.Jackson"O.J."Taylor"and Vick" and everyone else who's smarter than the law....and those dumb girls just love those thugs....oops..thats right.."He treat you good though"...the devil's plan is working....watch how many more dummies will fall in line with em...Trial & Error...thats the only way our people seem to learn..now I see why people like Tiger Woods distances himself from..us..Black people do things that make us ashamed to be black!!
when i heard of the incident i should have know it was a old "negro" end of love!!
10/21/2007 at 3:24 AM
2.
mika says:
y everybody tryin to put good people in jail this is stupid I think yall should let him go all them other rappers got guns,weed,and hoes in they car i don't see them gettin arrested let him go.
10/18/2007 at 9:00 AM
3.
Don't Matter says:
WHAT A DAMN FOOL, which goes to show you once again you can take the negro out of the ghetto but you can't take the ghetto out of the negro, man what a waste.
10/16/2007 at 8:18 PM
4.
Realtalk says:
T.I. is my dude. When i heard the news I almost cried because the hip-hop industry needs T.I. and to lose him it would almost seem as if our culture would be losing a continous fight that we could win if there were more T.I.'s, Jay-Z's, and Lil Wayne's. Don't get me wrong Jay-Z and Lil Wayne are still two of the best who have ever done it, but with the King of the South, and two of the Best Rappers alive, theres no way the hip-hop industry could lose.But all i could say is ima pray for the best and hope that T.I. could make it back to us (the hip-hop community) as quickly as possible.
10/16/2007 at 8:17 PM
5.
zaccai says:
I took the T.I. news personally. In case you haven't heard the talented artist Tip Harris was busted by the ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. The rapper and emerging actor was found in possession of several firearms, some of which were machine guns. This is very bad for Mr. Harris who, as a convicted felon, can not possess any firearms. Why does this news trouble me? Because another talented brother who found a way out of the ghetto has stumbled in another of the devil's traps. So many are saying, "T.I. was stupid, he should have seen it coming". I guess Michael Vick should have seen it coming and Mike Tyson (the 1st time). I mean T.I was on the rise and he had already served time -- why would he fall prey to the Hip Hop police. It's common knowledge that there's a concerted effort to monitor, arrest and incarcerate hip hop heroes in order to minimize their influence on black youth. Even though hip hop is mostly bought by young white teens, the architects of the music and culture are reflections of us (African folk) and represent dreams that so many have of a better life.
Maybe T.I.P took his role in American Gangster too seriously. Maybe he should have relied on his bodyguards to pack the heat, rather than stay stuck in his trap mentality. ("It's called trap music," T.I. explains. "So you know it's gonna be dealing with all aspects of the trap. And if you don't know what the trap is, that's basically where drugs are sold.") http://www.rapindustry.com/T_I.htm
"Big Shit poppin and little shit stoppin" (one of T.I's recent hits) was probably the song the ATF agents got pumped to before bustin' in T.I.'s door. Rhymin about guns and killin' is about to be way passe. In case rappers didn't know, the feds are watching even more closely than the streets and the streets may hate on you but they can't make you sit in cold concrete for double digit years.
Hip Hop is the only authentic messenger to black youth. Rap artists bring a clarity and truth that no other Africans in the public eye have brought since Malcolm X and Martin King were alive. This is why the griots are being targeted, especially at a time when they are becoming more conscious and politically charged. Remember Mos Def's call for action on the Jena 6? The day after T.I.'s arrest The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan addressed a meeting of Hip Hop's elite. It's seems like more than a coincidence that the "King of the South" was sitting behind bars and not at the table to discuss where the message of the streets is headed.
Recently T.I. was featured on BET discussing the state of Hip Hop in America. His voice was firm and clear, his points well stated. Such articulate spokesmen who have the ear of the nation's lost black youth are a threat to a system that profits from each child who matures into a criminal stuck in the prison's revolving doors. T.I. was destined for greatness, somewhere along the way he forgot to leave the street behind and embrace his new life of fame, fortune and opportunity. Instead he foolishly trusted a new associate who turned out to be an informant. He foolishly bought into the idea that gun ownership and gun-play are acceptable in the hood. The guns aren't meant to change the system. Racist whites with nooses aren't attacked by blacks with guns. Guns in our community become extensions of self hate playing out centuries of suppressed rage in random sprays, which leave the pain of death and the trauma of fratricide in its wake. T.I. should have been smarter, but in the end he's just another nigga lost in a post slavery world trying to find a way to beat a system designed to deny him life.
So many of these artists are trapped in their own stories of gunplay and murderous lyrics. Check T-pain and Twista rap/singing "I'm a killer, a mass murderer" in the song "Creep Fast". Is this anything to proclaim on a song? http://www.metrolyrics.com/creep-fast-lyrics-twista.html
When these lyrics are memorized and recited by fans what affect do artists think they'll have? The mind is a hard drive that records every experience, this type of content only serves to create more tension, frustration and homicidal thoughts. Sadly, even pioneers of the art like KRS are lost in the gangsta mentality. In a recent www.AllHipHop.com editorial KRS, the Teacher, explained his valuing 50 cents new CD over Kanye West's, by saying that 50 had the street boom-bap and rhymes while Kanye seemed to be for the ladies. One man's opinion is just that, but KRS ends his missive with, "Like most people I too seek the "Good Life", but let's just keep it really real; "NIGGA MY GUN GO OFF!"" The times we are living in demand that we transcend such foolishness. When is the last time the Blastmaster shot someone? And if he has, why speak on it in public? Nigga, you're gun going off is not only killing others who are usually a reflection of the killers own self-hatred, but also causing families, wives, children, the entire community and ultimately the nation to suffer due to the lack of men available to truly be MEN. Now, women too are following this gangsta death image and forming a parade to the prisons and graves.
Do you see the US military machine bragging about how many millions they have maimed and killed in the name of American corporate and cultural expansionism (globalism/imperialism)? No, they downplay that shit and create ads and media spin that make them out to be the heroes riding in to save the day. Our street soldiers have a lot to learn. The real killers have legalized murder from the cigarette to the liquor bottle to the battlefield. We on the street would be of more service to our people, learning to heal rather than kill. We can't beat the devil at his own game. Our gifts of language, arts and culture are the roots of civilization and spirituality. Foolishly, we mimic the master and continue as slaves locked in diamond studded chains, spinning on rims around the same ghettos with no new ideas just the same ol' song. It's time we face the music, change the tune and transform ourselves back into the global leaders we are destined to be.
"You're known by the company you keep and the company you keep from." Bishop Lewis T. Tait Sr.
The streets aren't a dream just a rappers fairy tale,
ask the real OG's holding their heads in prison stink pens and jails,
the recipe the industry cooks is for us all to fail,
bring more blood and guns to the table,
so the community can continue to hobble mentally and spiritually disabled,
someone ought of told you long ago what you focus on continues to grow
Black man Black man what you gone do with those guns?
There's too many babies who need you home
too many mamas who need your love
too many brothers in need of friends
to play games with arms
until life and freedom end
You ain't a revolutionary
and change won't come from a barrel
just another nigga pistol whipped into a trap
while you sittin' reminiscin'
remember that
zaccai free -- somebody's gotta tell it
10/16/2007 at 5:07 PM
6.
The Black Art Depot says:
I hate to hear this. Seems like he had everything working for him. I wonder why this many agencies were involved in arresting him. Is he really that dangerous? Was he there top priority or something? Just seems a little strange to me but then again all the information and facts haven't been provided yet either. Time will tell I guess.
10/14/2007 at 10:41 PM