T.I. Arrested on Drug Charges

T.I. was arrested on drug charges last night in Los Angeles, after police smelled marijuana drifting from the rapper's Maybach during a traffic stop on Sunset Boulevard. After searching the vehicle, police charged T.I. and his wife Tamika "Tiny" Cottle with possession of a controlled substance, TMZ reports. Bail was set for $10,000, and the couple was released early this morning. It's unclear which controlled substance led to the arrest, but Los Angeles sheriff's deputy Mark Pope told the AP that a "narcotics investigation ensued" after police smelled the marijuana.

T.I., who was released from prison just seven months ago, after serving nearly a year behind bars on federal weapons charges, is on three years' probation. He has had a string of drug-related charges in the past, including a 1998 arrest for breaking Georgia's controlled substance law and another probation violation over possession of marijuana. As part of his plea deal stemming from the federal weapons charges, T.I. was required to speak to students about the dangers of guns and drugs.

T.I.'s latest arrest comes just days after Takers, a heist film in which he starred, topped the weekend's box office. T.I. is also at work on his new album King Uncaged, which he told Rolling Stone was "the most significant return from incarceration that the game has had since Tupac Shakur's All Eyez on Me." The album's new single "Pledge Allegiance to the Swag," featuring Rick Ross, leaked just hours before T.I.'s arrest.

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

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