Rapper T.I. sat down recently with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to grant his first interview since he was arrest for and plead guilty to three firearm charges.
For those unawares, T.I. was arrested for buying machine guns and silencers. As a result, the rapper was charged with 1,000-plus hours of community service, and 366 days in prison.
T.I. spoke on numerous things, one of which was his passion for community service: “I still have a huge amount of
passion for what I do. I still have a huge amount of passion for doing
what I can for the community. I still have my foundation — remembering
where I came from and principles that have been instilled in me. But at
the same time I also have an acknowledgment of things that need to be
left behind, let go. And also an acknowledgment that there has to be an
about-face. A 180-degree turn, in order for us to continue on the path
to success.“
The Atlanta native was also asked about the lessons learned from his recent trials, to which he responded, “Patience. Just a lot of
patience. If I can sit at home all day and wait on people to bring me
what I need. Wait on getting permission to be able to do this and do
that it’s not as serious as I used to make it sometimes. Sometimes it
was like, ‘If I don’t get this right now I’m just going to lose
it’…When you’re going 350 mph it tends to be that way. But when you
are stopped — halted — not slowed down, but halted, you figure ‘Well I
could have just slowed down. I didn’t have to be stopped.’ I thought it
was bad just to slow down. Now I see in me being stopped, I could have
done this, been this, myself, instead of being forced to do it.“
T.I. also discussed getting married. While he doesn’t plan to set a public date, he did not discount the possibility. In addition the rapper has a son on the way, due May 25th. Keeping with the topic, he addressed the idea of explaining to his children about the wrongs he has done: “If they say something like
that I’m prepared to deal with it: ‘I also had to pay the price, for
all of the things that I did. And you’re going to pay the price for
what you just did. Come see me.’“
Finally, T.I. talked about the night his friend and Grand Hu$tle employee Philant Johnson was killed next to him. “I‘ve had bullets whiz by me
before then. The scariest day?…Hmm. I mean, this past situation ranks
high up there. The night of the awards ranks very high up there on the
list.,” he said, referring to the night he was arrested.
“It was sort of like a, well,
you remember the [last] Super Bowl, right? You know Jeremy Shockey? He
broke his leg. He had to sit up in the press box and watch. He couldn’t
help his team win. He couldn’t play. The greatest, most talked-about,
most publicized Super Bowl in our time and he’s sitting watching;
instead of actually being able to participate. Terrible… And I know,
I know, I brought it on myself.”
