Multiplatinum rapper/actor T.I. speaks to Toure on BET and says he’s a changed man. T.I. was arrested last year for drug and firearms possession before he was supposed to perform at the BET awards. T.I. discusses his case, prison and more. Catch the interview if you missed it. We hope that T.I. can get his life together. T.I. is a talented guy who wants to be a gangster. T.I plead guilty and was sentenced to community service.
Rapper T.I. was arrested yesterday (Oct. 13), just hours before he was
to perform at the BET Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta, in a parking lot where
federal officials said he planned to pick up machine guns and silencers
his bodyguard bought for him.T.I., born Clifford Harris, is charged with possession
of unregistered machine guns and silencers, as well as possession of
firearms by a convicted felon. Harris was in federal custody, said U.S.
attorney’s office spokesman Patrick Crosby, who would not disclose his
location.The arrest resulted from an investigation that began
this month. A federal firearms dealer told the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that a man was inquiring about buying
a machine gun without registering the weapon as required, according to
a criminal complaint filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.After trying to buy several machine guns from an
undercover ATF agent, the unnamed person began cooperating with the
government and said he was buying the machine guns and silencers for
Harris, the complaint said. The bodyguard said that he had bought about
nine firearms for Harris, and that the rapper had given him cash to buy
guns four times, the complaint said.Harris brokered the deals through the bodyguard
because the rapper is a convicted felon, the complaint alleged. It is
against federal law for a convicted felon to have another person get
firearms on their behalf.The 27-year-old rapper arranged to meet with
the bodyguard yesterday to exchange cash for weapons, the complaint
said. After his arrest in the shopping center parking lot not far from
the awards show, agents found three firearms in the vehicle he was
driving, including a loaded firearm between the driver’s seat and
center console, according to the complaint.As the awards were being taped, federal authorities
were still searching T.I.’s home in East Point, about 15 miles
southwest of Atlanta. Agents found six guns in a closet, including
three allegedly bought by the bodyguard for the rapper last month,
according to the complaint. Five were loaded, agents said.
