T.I. Pleads Guilty

Rapper Cuts Deal on Weapons Charges

Atlanta based Rapper T.I. has used his fame gained by glorifying violence in his music to cut a deal with Federal Prosecutors that will keep him from serving of upwards of 15 years in prison. In his plea agreement he must stay on the road and serve 1,000 hours of community service by telling kids about the risks and dangers of crime, drugs and gang activity and must encourage them to respect the law.
T.I. whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr. must also serve a year of prison time beginning March 27th 2009. By this time he must have completed his community service hours as a part of his agreement. Because of the Correctional system’s rules inmates get credit for good behavior and may be able to shave off up to 15 percent of their incarceration time. T.I. was also fined 100,000 dollars and has been serving a house arrest while out on a 3million dollar bond.

With this Plea agreement he will be able to continue to make music, movies and serve his community service hours. The U.S. Attorney David Nahmias defended the deal by stating
“If Mr. Harris performs as expected, his efforts and ability to reach and influence a large number of young people should prevent and deter at least some of them from committing crimes that endanger their communities and ruin their lives.”

Since 1997, Mr. Harris has been convicted of several crimes including a 1998 Crack Cocaine distribution conviction in Cobb County among others. Over the years he has seen much success with his Hip-Hop album sales and in time developed some enemies that were envious of T.I.’s ability to escape the difficult world of the Street Life that he spoke so often about in his song lyrics. In May of 2006, this Hip-Hop-Beef was escalated when his entourage was attacked on the highway with bullets striking his vehicle a multitude of times. In this skirmish on a Cincinnati highway T.I. lost one of his friends and assistants while his head of security was wounded. This was most likely the reason why T.I. sought to acquire such a large amount of weapons because this would be the last time that he would allow himself to feel so vulnerable to the streets that now envious of his fame to attack him and his friends.

On October 13th 2007 at a parking lot outside of a downtown Atlanta Publix several hours before the BET awards where T.I. was supposed to receive several Hip Hop awards he was arrested for acquiring several silenced and automatic weapons. The bodyguard who had been known to T.I. since July was now his go to man to acquire these weapons had turned federal and set his alleged friend T.I. up in an ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) sting.

Now T.I. must severe the community for his crimes and use his fame to preach non-violence. The world will now see how his career proceeds from this point. At least he will be able to continue with his music and acting career while awaiting to serve his sentence 1 year from now for up to 12 months depending on his behavior.

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