TI got in some trouble with prison officials this weekend after guards caught the inmate in Arkansas getting “frisky” with his wife Tiny during a visit!
Tiny confirms to TMZ that she and her husband were rekindling their romance in a room together at Arkansas State Prison.
According to prison guidelines, inmates are only allowed to kiss and embrace at the beginning and end of a visit. They may also hold hands as long as they “remain in plain view of Visiting Room staff at all times.”
Tiny says that T.I. was punished for his actions by being sent to a “Special Housing Unit,” consisting of additional security and less freedom. She hasn’t spoken to him since the incident, but is hoping to be granted visitation again.
Before T.I. headed to prison he gave VIBE magazine one of his last interviews where he spoke about addiction to drugs!
I’ve heard you mention how the good that you’ve done is easily forgotten. Do you feel that you’ve been treated unfairly?
If I place my value in the way humans treat me, then maybe. But they’re human, man―they can’t help themselves. They do that to people they know personally. So how can I expect them to treat me, only knowing me through television? They did that to Jesus. They did that to Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali. They did it to every great person you could possibly think of. When it was all good, they was with them. When things got bad, then they was against them.
But in this case things didn’t “get bad.” It’s something you did.
Let me just say this: [he sits up on the couch] If you look at a guy who came up, no pops in the house, moms on welfare, food stamps; started selling dope when he was 12, 13 years old, came up handling guns, being in shoot-outs; started going to jail when he was 15. In all of this chaos and this mischief and lawlessness, the person who was just in jail for machine guns and silencers turns his life around. And now you want to crucify him ―for what? Three pills. I mean, of course it’s wrong and unacceptable and inexcusable. No problem. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s rather petty. It’s rather petty to hold someone’s feet to the fire for something so small when they have overcame things that were so big. All that could have been going wrong―if I was riding with more guns, or if I had gotten into a shoot-out and killed somebody, then I could see that. But just think about it. I’ve gotten it down to this much.
How did you get a drug habit?
I had a lot of work done to my teeth. Oral surgery, extractions, six, seven, eight root canals. Between January to February. As soon as I got out, I had a lot of stuff done. In the joint, you eat shit that is unhealthy for you. I had fillings that fell out and stuff that had to get dealt with. Of course for the pain they gave me oxycontin and hydrocodone. And, mind you, on October 13, 2007, I had cut off everything―weed, alcohol. Then I get these pills and I start taking them for the pain at first. And then I’m like, Wait―this shit makes me feel good. And it’s legal. After the pain went away, I kept taking it. I had like five, six prescriptions. So I had, like 80 pills. Everybody else might have a drink or smoke a blunt, I took a pain pill. Times when I had 18-, 20-hour days, I’d take a pain pill. And eventually I developed―I guess―the beginning stages of dependence.
Have you talked to Eminem about addiction?
Sure. We got a record together, and we talked a lot. I asked him how he knew he was an addict. Basically if you put yourself in harm’s way… if you risk that, you’ve got to assume that there is something fundamentally wrong with your thought process
This experience is truly a pain I have never felt before and that’s saying a lot for a nigga who’s been down locked up as many times as I have. I see this as a real ass whoopin’. The kind you don’t just go back outside to play afterwards. You take ya ass to bed and don’t come out of your room until it’s time to go to school. I don’ t know what effect this will have on my life moving forward but I’m certainly sick and mother f*cking tired of going to jail, juve, prison, the pen, correctional facilities or whatever else you want to call it. I’d have been better off doing a 5-10 year bid one time than going in time and time again for days, weeks and months for the last 15 years of my life. Even though it’s been a long road, I’m still standing, barely but nevertheless still standing. At one time I thought my motivation for continuing was for my fans, my partna Philant, my pops, my grandmama, even for the haters or the people I let down. But nah…
I got to do this shit for me!!! I’ll be God damned if I’ve come all this way and made it through so much hell to let it go down like this! F*ck that! If an hour in the dark is worth a second in the sun then pass me my mother f*ckin’ shades cause I’m ready to cash my darkest hours in…ASAP!!! A lot of folks had fathers or father figures in the house to raise them into manhood. I’m not trying to make any excuses for my situation but my father was a hustler that lived in New York. My uncle was a local big time dope boy turned 10 year federal inmate. My mother and grandparents did the best they could but I found my manhood in the trap and in prison systems. But I found it. And nan one of mine will ever have to feel the cold tight grip of a handcuff or grace the presence of a jail cell if I can help it. Over my dead body! So if you can’t respect that you ain’t rocking with my movement then Fuck you dog! I know a bunch of mother f*ckers who are…..”
Just as Lil Wayne is celebrating his release from prison this week, TI issues his first major statement from behind bar . T.I. took to his offical site to address his fans with this sincere message:
“To all of you who say ‘He should practice what he preaches’ and ‘How could he do something so stupid…AGAIN?’ You’re absolutely right and I couldn’t agree with you more, But you know what? As history has shown us before, I find my greatest inspiration during my darkest hours. So all fans of music, T.I. or not, should be able to agree that NO MERCY will surely be my best work yet. After all isn’t that what it’s all about? If I never went to prison, never did drugs, never f’ed up again, did everything right and never made great music….would you even care enough to comment on T.I.? Doubt it, so bear that in mind while you jump to your conclusions guys. Notice not the comments of your enemies but the silence of your friends, I’m not concerned with what negative people say more than I am with what positive people don’t. Guess that’s enough for now… Love you all still, whether you still love me or not. REAL TALK!!!”
No Mercy is due December 7 featuring collaborations with Eminem, Christina Aguilera, Kanye West, The-Dream, Chris Brown, and more.
Qunicy Jones ‘Saford & Son’ Ft. T.I., B.o.B., Prince Charlez, & Mohombi
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On Friday, two days after he talked a suicidal man down from an Atlanta skyscraper, T.I. has been sentenced to go back to jail for 11 months for violating the terms of his probation, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
T.I. asked U.S. District Judge Charles Pannell Jr. for mercy and not to return him to jail, saying he had “screwed up” and needed help for drug addiction. T.I. told the judge:
“I want drugs out of my life. If I can get the treatment and counselling I need …I can beat this,”
T.I. left prison this past March after a year long stay on federal weapons charges.
TI has denied that helping to talk a man down from a 22-storey building in Atlanta was a publicity stunt ahead of a court date.
“This is not something I could have planned,” the rapper, 30, told CNN.
In related news the jumpers mom has also hit out at the claims it was a publicity stunt:
I wish it was a publicity stunt and my son wasn’t hurting as bad as he is and to get up there and do something like that. It’s an embarrassment really and it’s like my God, thank God for T.I!! So I’m just saying that it’s crazy for people to think that someone would do that as a publicity stunt. It just bothers my mind.My son was on top of the roof. I was speaking to an officer on the phone. He would not come down while I was on the phone because I was still at work and I need to try and keep my job, okay. That’s part of my son’s problem, he can’t find work in Atlanta and he has other issues/problems. He’s thinking that’s where it ends and that’s when it hit, he didn’t want to live any more
According to TMZ, T.I. came to the rescue when cops responded to a 911 call about a man who was threatening to jump off a building in downtown Atlanta the same building where Ryan Cameron’s Radio Show on V103 is based.
T.I. apparently heard about the jumper on the radio and called Ryan Cameron to see if there was anything he could do to help out with the situation. Ryan reportedly told T.I. to roll over to the building, where the rapper met with police and recorded a heartfelt video message which cops then played for the man on the roof. After the man saw T.I.’s video he agreed to step off the ledge and met T.I. in the lobby, where the two were able to talk things out.
In related news T.I. is due in court on Friday regarding his recent drug possession charges.
T.I. spoke to 107.9′s Durtty Boyz about what made him decide to help the suicidal man today. He explained:
“When they told me he was 22, a young black man, something in me just said, ‘hey man, you gotta see what you can do to help.’”
He also addressed suspicions that the whole thing might have been a hoax arranged by him to help sway the federal judge scheduled to determine on Fri., Oct. 15 whether his probation should be revoked since his recent L.A. arrest.
I don’t see how it could be thought, believed or assumed that I’m in any way trying to manipulate this situation.I told him no matter how bad it seems, it gets better. I looked at him and I said, ‘Now you know I know.”
When asked what motivated him to help a stranger at a time when his own future is up in the air, T.I. said:
“I’ve always been the one to go that extra mile to connect with the people who don’t nobody else care to connect with,” he said. “Regardless of my circumstances or not, I’ve always been that person, so this isn’t outside of my character. This isn’t anything that’s abnormal. I believe that this is what God put me here to do.”
