Clifford “T.I.” Harris recently revealed how much it hurts to deal with the consequences of his last mistake. Currently serving 11 months in prison for violating his parole, T.I. released a passionate letter that divulged his frustration over his predicament.
“This experience is truly a pain I have never felt before and that’s saying a lot for a [person] who’s been down locked up as many times as I have. I see this as a real a** whoopin’. The kind [when] you don’t just go back outside to play afterwards. You take ya a** to bed and don’t come out of your room until it’s time to go to school,” he said. “I don’t know what effect this will have on my life moving forward but I’m certainly sick and [expletive] 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.
“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!”
The next 40 days will be particularly hard on T.I. He will miss another Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day with his wife and kids. And his company, Grand Hustle, has also suffered. They recently had to shut down their Atlanta studio due to financial restraints and Hip-Hop Wired recently reported that nearly $40 million would be lost because of the cancellation of T.I.’s tour. His latest album, No Mercy, will be released on Dec. 7. But without a promotional tour, album sales will likely suffer. –a.r.
