Award-winning T.I. off to jail on gun charges :: Music News :: Articles

Saturday evening should have been a triumphant night for rapper T.I.. He'd perform at the BET Hip-Hop Awards in front of a hometown Atlanta crowd, pick up two awards (for best CD and best ring-tone, respectively), and then hit up all the after-party festivities, enjoying a celebration fit for a king. But things went awry in the afternoon, as agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives busted the MC and one of his bodyguards for assembling an illegal stash of firearms.

As T.I. (born Clifford Harris, Jr.) has a history of felony convictions (including past gun-related charges), it is not legal for him to possess firearms. So, the bodyguard purchased three machine guns, two silencers, and a pistol on Harris' behalf, according to an undercover ATF agent who made the sale. The whole deal went down at an Atlanta shopping center, not far from where the Hip-Hop Awards were set to take place. Shortly thereafter, ATF agents found six additional firearms (five loaded) at Harris' College Park home.

Federal prosecutors painted a grim picture of T.I.'s future, talking up "a potentially long prison sentence" for the performer. At Harris' first appearance in federal court on the charges today, Judge Alan Baverman ordered the rapper to remain in custody without bond until his trial, the date of which remains unsettled. Harris' attorney Dwight Thomas says that the defense is out for "complete exoneration in this case."

All of this comes a few months after the release of T.I. vs. T.I.P., an album upon which the rapper explored his dual roles as emergent businessman and hardened gangster, respectively. Unfortunately for Harris, it looks like T.I.P. has won this round.

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