Wednesday, February 25, 2009

T.I.'s Road to Redemption

T.I.'s Road to Redemption

A new episode of “T.I.’s Road To Redemption” airs this Tuesday at 9:30pm on MTV. The episode description is below, as well as three sneak preview clips.

T.I. tackles an Atlanta teen named Trey who is running the streets with a violent gang. Both his father and older brother are in prison, leaving Trey with no positive male role model to motivate him. T.I. knows that if his situation remains unchanged for much longer, the streets will swallow Trey. He will end up in prison or dead. T.I. implements his four-step intervention, confronting Trey with the reality of his life choices, in hopes of inspiring change.

After surprising Trey, T.I. Trey doesn’t seem affected at all so T.I. decides it’s time for a meeting with his Uncle Quint, an ex con who spent ten years in prison but has since turned his life around. After Quint opens Trey’s eyes to the realities of prison and death, T.I. is confident that he has done all he can for young Trey. Only time will tell if he has truly learned a lesson.

YouTube Clips :

“T.I.’s Road To Redemption” – T.I. Surprises Trey

“T.I.’s Road To Redemption” – T.I. on Domestic Violence

“T.I.’s Road To Redemption” – Straight Talk ft. T.I.’s Uncle Quinton

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

T.I. Provides Positive Perspective To Troubled Teens

Continuing with his court-mandated community service efforts, Clifford “T.I.” Harris spoke to troubled teens about the importance of school.
T.I. continues his court mandated community service efforts.

The multi-platinum rapper appeared in court Friday morning to speak to a small group of high school students – half of which are already serving sentences as juveniles - about their future and, more importantly, staying out of trouble, with T.I. advising them to keep up with their studies.
T.I. and Ciara
T.I.’s speech was a part of the court-mandated 1000 hours of community service he was ordered to complete as a part of his plea bargain on the gun charges he caught stemming from an arrest in late 2007.
T.I. Picture

The rapper will also spend a year behind bars as part of the sentence as well. T.I. also has a show on MTV, Road To Redemption, documents his effort to help at-risk youth as a part of his community service, which premiered February 10th.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Powder Springs Police Help T.I. make a show

TI and Pewee on Road to Perdition

Sgt. Chad Payne of the Powder Springs Police Department was in a supporting role when rap star T.I. brought his reality show to the city jail.

Payne was waiting when T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., arrived at the Powder Springs jail with a self-professed street hustler named Pee Wee.

Payne said the filming cost the city nothing and took about an hour of his time. It was the first stop during taping last October of MTV’s “T.I.’s Road to Redemption.”

“I told him to get out [of the car] or I’d pull him out,” Payne said of the moment when Harris and Pee Wee pulled up at the jail. “[Pee Wee] was stunned. He was speechless. I told him to be quiet.”

The show is not part of Harris’ effort to complete 1,000 hours of community service before he is sentenced next month.

Harris wants to give troubled teens a dose of reality before beginning a federal prison sentence for gun violations.

The city’s police department has two holding cells. On that day, they were empty except for the 16-year-old. Pee Wee stayed locked up for an hour with instructions to read the dictionary. Meanwhile, Harris took off for lunch.

It’s unclear why Powder Springs was chosen, Payne said. The department agreed to participate in the filming because, “we felt if he was trying to help a troubled person, we would do our best to help. We didn’t help out T.I. We helped out a troubled kid who has never been arrested.”

If Harris is successful in completing his community service, he will be sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison for trying to buy three machine guns and two silencers from an undercover federal agent in October of 2007.

In 2004, Harris was in the Cobb County jail for violating probation on a drug charge when he was allowed to film a rap video in a maximum security unit at the Fulton County Jail while on work release. That incident sparked criticism and resulted in the firing of Fulton County Jail supervisor Robert Sullivan.

The latest taping was more low-key, Payne said.

“I talked to [Pee Wee] face to face about the stuff we deal with here,” Payne said. “You want to feel like [you got through to him] but you never know.”

There will be six more episodes of “T.I.’s Road To Redemption” before Harris is sentenced to prison. The second one airs Tuesday. It was filmed in Newnan.