There’s no denying T.I. has made a comfortable life for himself. Not only does he have a lucrative music career, but he also created a vast empire with his Hustle Gang imprint, the VH1 reality show T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle and real estate investments.
Needless to say, Tip has made some smart moves during the course of his storied career. On Wednesday (September 9), the motivated entrepreneur shared some business advice with his 13 million Instagram followers and encouraged them to stop spending all their money on lavish gifts for themselves and instead, set their sights on real estate.
“We were just in the studio having a discussion and I just feel the need to share it,” he says in the clip. “All y’all getting that money from the government … ain’t more Cartiers, it’ ain’t no more Louis Vuitton — go get you some property please. Please y’all, go buy some property.”
When someone shouts, “Get an LLC god damnit,” Tip replies, “Listen, that could be a big, complex … too much paperwork and procedure in there.”
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He continues, “It could be a patch of dirt, bruh. Go to yo’ hood — it ain’t gotta have no house on it or nothing — just buy it. Just buy it and hold it. Ya dig what I’m saying? Now that’s it. I told you. Can’t say you didn’t know.”
Tip has been working on revitalizing his old Atlanta neighborhood for years. Since 2017, he’s spent roughly $2.7 million to buy six properties and plots of land in Center Hill where he grew up as part of his Buy Back The Block initiative.
As he told Inc. Magazine, “I grew up in the 1980s and ’90s in the Center Hill section of Atlanta, just off Bankhead Highway. Back then, that part of town was considered the lower end of the middle class. After the crack era, the community stalled, and from 1994 to 2012, it became an extremely desolate area for business. There’s no major grocery store chain. There’s no fresh produce. There’s no CVS. There are liquor stores.
T.I. & Killer Mike Suit Up In Masks & Gloves To Contribute To Atlanta Coronavirus Relief Efforts
“Now, with the BeltLine and Mercedes-Benz Stadium a stone’s throw away, there’s an incentive to redevelop. But I didn’t want it to be one of those situations where luxury condos go up, and people who are native are pushed out to the fringes because they can’t afford to live there. I wanted to provide development that would allow people from the area, who love the community, to be able to afford to stay.”
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In 2018, Tip also partnered up with Killer Mike to buy the Bankhead Seafood building on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway. In May, the two ATL rappers donned masks and gloves to serve over 500 meals to families affected by COVID-19 outside of the restaurant, just one of many ways he’s trying to give back to his community.
