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T.I.

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Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born on September 25 , 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American rapper, actor, and philanthropist. He is best known by his stage name T.I., and also goes by The King of the South, T.I.P., and Rubber Band Man due to his former association as a dope-boy, and T.I.P., his alter ego.

Contents

Background

His original stage name, T.I.P., stems from his childhood nickname "Tip". Due to his southern drawl, fans mistook his name for "Chip", so he began spelling it out "T.I.P". Upon signing with Arista Records subsidiary LaFace Records in 2001, he shortened his name to T.I. out of respect for label mate Q-Tip. He is also known to go by "Rubberband Man" and the self-proclaimed "King Of The South" (which has created several cases of controversy between other southern rappers).

T.I. has five children. Their names are Messiah YaMajesty Harris, Domani Uriah Harris, Deyjah Harris,and King Harris, the fifth child is his girlfriend Tiny's 10 year old daughter, Zonnique Jailee Pullins,he claims her as his own but not biologically.

He is the leader of a rap group known as P$C (Pimp Squad Clique). His debut album I'm Serious was released through Arista Records in 2001, which spawned the single of the same title which featured reggae vocalist Beenie Man. His debut album included Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes (who named him the Jay-Z of the south), Jazze Pha and Youngbloodz. However, the album did not sell very well, and he was dropped from the label. Undaunted, he formed Grand Hustle Records and released several mixtapes with the assistance of DJ Drama, which created an underground buzz. He resurfaced in the summer of 2003 on Bonecrusher's song "Neva Scared". He parlayed this attention towards the release of his second album, Trap Muzik. It was more of a success than his debut album because of the singles "24s", "Be Easy", "Rubber Band Man", and "Let's Get Away". The success of the album was followed by some controversy: while on tour, T.I. was charged with violating his probation over a 2003 drug charge, and turned himself in. He was sentenced to three years in prison. While there he was granted rights to film the music video for his introduction at WHTA/Hot 107.9's Birthday bash.

Rise to fame

After his second CD Trap Muzik sold over 900,000 copies in the U.S., T.I. released Urban Legend in late 2004. Urban Legend instantly generated crossover success with the hit single "Bring 'Em Out". He used a sample from Jay-Z's "What More Can I Say" from The Black Album to create the hook, and featured production from Ruff Ryders's producer Swizz Beatz. The album featured Trick Daddy, Nelly, Lil Jon, B.G., Mannie Fresh of the Big Tymers, Daz Dillinger, Lil' Wayne, Pharrell of the Neptunes, P$C and Lil' Kim. The album debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200. At the beginning of 2005 , T.I. enjoyed success alongside Lil' Wayne on the Destiny's Child song "Soldier", which proved to be a worldwide smash hit.

His latest album, King debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart on April 4, 2006, selling over 520,000 copies in its first week.

Over the years, T.I. has also continued to expand his business portfolio. In 2005 he launched his own film production company called Grand Hustle Films, signed a multi-artist joint venture deal for his label with Atlantic Records, and established a music publishing deal for Grand Hustle Music with Warner Chappell. He also co-executive produced the soundtrack to the film Hustle & Flow and released the collection through Grand Hustle/Atlantic. He also did the same for the debut album of his group P$C, 25 To Life. He has also starred in the film ATL.

On television, T.I. was seen on MTV's Diary and Punk'd after being tricked by Ashton Kutcher on his way to his own concert held at Fresno, California.

On a recent MTV interview, T.I. has stated that in early 2007, after the sequel to his hit movie ATL hit's theatre, his next studio album, T.I. vs. T.I.P., will quickly hit afterwards. T.I. will also be making appearances on upcoming albums by Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, and Young Dro. [link]

Disputes

In 2004, T.I. received an early release from incarceration, and returned to music with some disparaging words for rival rappers Lil' Flip and Ludacris. T.I. had overheard people claiming that Lil Flip had disrespected him at a show he did in Atlanta and he felt obliged to respond. He freestyled over Jay Z's 99 problems (lil flip aint one) and Ray Cash's "Pussy Ass Niggas" with UGK rapper Bun B. Flip responded with numerous freestyles, and released an underground album where most of the tracks were devoted to dissing T.I. and others.

T.I. also called out Ludacris over an old disagreement their crews had with one another. Ludacris made a music video in which a person in a shirt that resembeled that of a Trap Muzik shirt was seen being beaten, and, whether the resemblance was intentional or not, the feud between T.I. and Ludacris progressed. T.I. later recorded a song with G-Unit rapper Young Buck originally featuring Lil Jon. T.I.'s verse seemed like a diss to Ludacris and Young Buck did not want to be apart of it. Young Buck told Ludacris about this and Ludacris decided to get on the same song and diss T.I.

T.I.'s verse was omitted from the original track listing and replaced with The Game. According to website [link], T.I. was on a Houston radio station talking about the situation between himself and Lil' Flip. They since have discontinued this feud after a closed door meeting between the two.

However, on T.I.'s album King, there are several tracks which have been disputed by the hip hop community to be shots at Lil Flip ("What You Know","You know Who" and "Top Back"). However in an interview with a popular online hip hop website on March 24, 2006, T.I. was quoted as saying he and Lil Flip have no beef. This is somewhate contradictory to the events that occured during Young Dro's video "Shoulder Lean". As Young Dro delivers the line "Lucky Charm Diamonds man, but nah, it ain't Flip(Lil Flip)". T.I. is seen making a laughing gesture towards the video camera.

In June of 2006 rapper Ludacris released a track titled "War With God", which disputedly seems to be starting a second round of fueding between the two Atlanta native rappers. In the song "War With God" Ludacris begins by stating "I'ma take the subtle approach first, I'm just getting started". He continues with lines such as: "You ain't did three(mil)"..."Call yourself whatever you want, except the multi-million man"..."Disrespecting those doing time with real criminals", and ends by challenging him to make a diss record. There has yet to be any response from either side about the track. Ludacris recently stated that he was not dissing T.I. He was dissing himself. He and T.I. are still cool.

Miami recording artist Rick Ross has also made remarks about T.I. the diss was made 3 years ago when he was relatively unknown. Ross squashed the beef and decided to add T.I. to his new album.

Tragedy

In the early hours of May 3, 2006, T.I. and his entourage were involved in a gunfight after leaving a concert after-party at the Club Ritz, a Nightclub in Cincinnati, Ohio[link] that has a history of problems with the law. Four members of T.I.'s entourage were shot in the altercation. T.I.'s personal assistant Philant Johnson was killed and Janice Gillespie was seriously wounded by the gunfire.[link] It is believed that the altercation began at the Ritz when members of T.I.'s entourage began throwing money from the stage into the crowd, [link] angering male audience members.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, the feud began at the city's Club Ritz during an after-party for the Atlanta rapper and his protege Young Dro -- who performed earlier that evening at the club Bogart's -- and moved outside, where shots were fired into two vans transporting T.I.'s crew just after three o'clock.

"[The money] was supposed to be for the ladies," one witness said. "But it was hitting guys in the face, and they were like, 'We got money, so why are you throwing money at us?'"[link]

When the situation grew tense, T.I. reportedly told his group to head out. A witness outside told the Enquirer that one shot -- believed to be unrelated to the ensuing gun battle -- was fired in the parking lot and at least four people followed the vans in a large vehicle.

Community work

T.I. has stepped up his community involvement as well, taking the lead on several initiatives to help the victims devastated by Hurricane Katrina, including personally donating $50,000 to the relief effort while leading an on-air Labor Day pledge drive on Atlanta's V-103 FM that raised over $263,000 for Mississippi rapper David Banner's "Heal the Hood" Foundation. He also partnered with David Banner and Atlanta newcomer Young Jeezy for a two-day food and clothing drive at Atlanta's Club Vision and co-headlined a massive benefit concert on September 17, sharing the bill with heavyweights such as Nelly, OutKast's Big Boi, and David Banner - with 100 percent of the proceeds going to "Heal the Hood."

In addition to his Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, T.I. worked with troubled youths at Paulding Detention Center in Atlanta, provided scholarships for single parent families at Boys and Girls Clubs, and headlined Boost Mobile's RockCorps concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall, which featured such performers as Fat Joe, Slim Thug, and Kanye West, and was held exclusively for community service volunteers. In June 2005, The Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes Foundation, named for the deceased member of multi-platinum female group TLC, and Atlanta's V-103 honored T.I. with the 2005 Lisa Lopes Award for groundbreaking achievements in music and community service which was court ordered. With this steady list of growing accomplishments T.I. is being recognized as the "Jay-Z of the South." according to Pharrell Williams of multi-platinum production team The Neptunes. [link]

Discography

Albums

Album cover Album information

I'm Serious
120px
Trap Muzik
120px
Urban Legend

King

Singles

Year Song U.S. Hot 100 U.S. R&B U.S. Rap UK singles Album
2003 "24's" #78 #27 #15 — Trap Muzik
2003 "Be Easy" — #55 — — Trap Muzik
2003 "Rubber Band Man" #30 #15 #11 — Trap Muzik
2004 "Let's Get Away" (featuring Jazze Pha) #35 #17 #10 — Trap Muzik
2004 "Bring Em Out" #9 #6 #4 #59 Urban Legend
2004 "Soldier" (Destiny's Child featuring T.I. and Lil' Wayne) #3 #3 — #4 Destiny Fulfilled
2005 "U Don't Know Me" #23 #6 #4 #17 Urban Legend
2004 "ASAP" #75 #18 #14 #35 Urban Legend
2005 "I'm a King" (P$C featuring T.I. and Lil' Scrappy) #67 #16 — #4 T.I. Presents: 25 to Life
2005 "Do Ya Thang" (P$C featuring T.I.) — — — #16 T.I. Presents: 25 to Life
2005 "Get Loose" (featuring Nelly) — #70 — — Urban Legend
2005 "Motivation" — #62 — — Urban Legend
2006 "Front Back" 1 (featuring UGK) — — — #46 King
2006 "What You Know" #3 #1 #1 — King
2006 "Why You Wanna" 2 #29 #5 #4 #22 King
2006 "Shoulder Lean" (Young Dro featuring T.I.) 2 #17 #7 #5 — Best Thang Smokin'
2006 "Live In The Sky" (featuring Jamie Foxx) 3 TBR TBR TBR TBR King

Music videography

Video Cameo Appearances

Mixtapes

Filmography

T.V.

Film

Awards

External links

 

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