T.I. IS A FREE MAN

T.I. IS A FREE MAN

Today, T.I. is heading back to prison for another 11 months, after just getting out earlier this year. I feel so disappointed. Don’t get it twisted, I love T.I., but I am at a loss over this second jail sentence.

When he got busted way back for trying to buy machine guns and silencers, I oddly felt okay about it, and thought that it was just his way of handling his situation. I know that if I saw my best friend murdered right in front of me, I would be angry and upset and confused about how to handle it all. In T.I.’s case, he felt most comfortable trying to get revenge on the people who killed Big Phil, so he went out and tried to buy the guns that would help him achieve that.

I believed him when he during his Road to Redemption time, wandering around the country telling kids how it really is, and who they don’t want to grow up to be. I like motivational T.I., I like to believe that he came out the other end of a horrible situation a better and stronger person, and one who could admit what he did and be willing to pay the consequences for it. I cringed as he went to prison, leaving Tiny and all his children behind for a whole year, but obviously it was what had to be done.

To then hear that he had been caught with ecstasy after his sentence was over and could be facing more jail time left me dumbfounded. Why the hell was he driving around with drugs in his possession? I’m not condoning drug dealing, but I also don’t condone stupidity—all the money you have, and all the people you have working for you, and none of them could get that shit to where it was going?

I sympathized with T.I.’s decision to buy machine guns and get revenge on Phil’s killers, because I felt like it came from an understandable place of grief. But what does ecstasy possession stem from? Greed? Stupidity? I’m undecided. Let’s just hope that with another 11 months to himself in jail, he can find some time to reevaluate his musical direction, because his post-Paper Trail music definitely leaves plenty to be desired. Oh yeah, and some common sense would be nice, too. 

Sidenote: I appreciate that T.I.'s upcoming album will be getting a new title. I guess you can't call your album "King Uncaged" when you're back in jail...