Guns, Feds and Kids: T.I. Returns

So what the hell was he doing with all those guns? The MC's answer begins with the death of his best friend, Philant Johnson, in a hail of gunfire outside a Cincinnati club in 2006. Suddenly, T.I. saw danger — for himself, his girlfriend and his six kids — around every corner, and he started building an arsenal: "After my partner died, I kinda had a 'take matters into my own hands' mentality. It provided a certain sense of paranoia. When you're paranoid, and you've already been through certain things, your judgment tends to be jaded."

T.I. grew up in the gritty Bankhead section of Atlanta and was selling crack on street corners by the time he was 12. At 17, as he started to build his rap career with detailed, realistic portrayals of life on the street, he was arrested on felony drug-distribution charges. Even as he became a multiplatinum rap star, T.I. maintained close ties with the friends and associates he had on the street — a situation that, he acknowledges, can breed resentment.

On Paper Trail, rhymes about guns, drugs and violence are conspicuously absent. The rapper reintroduced himself to the hip-hop community by releasing the album track "No Matter What," a deeply personal, defiant statement in which the MC recalls his rocky two-year stretch during which his girlfriend suffered a late-term miscarriage: "I lost my partner and my daughter in the same year/Somehow I rise above my problems and remain here."

As part of the healing process, T.I. reached out to friends who have experienced loss, including Eminem. "When [Eminem's friend] Proof died, that was a connection: that he lost his best partner and I lost my best partner," says T.I. "He was calling me and keeping my spirits up and letting me know I can get through this. He said, 'Man, I had gotten in so much trouble, and everybody thought it was over for me too. You know, if I can get through what I went through, you can get through what you're going through.' "

After going through the arrest and trial, T.I. says, he no longer fears for his life. "Ain't nothing like having the feds watch you," he says. "I'm safe." But in a deeper way, he says, the experience has helped him reconnect with his faith. "I was walking with guns," he says. "This situation has taught me that it's better to walk with God and just have faith that his will supersedes any stupidity that could go on around you."

T.I. certainly talks the talk of a changed man. In his speaking engagements, which are being filmed by MTV for a possible reality show, he uses his movie career to demonstrate the value of hard work. He talks about how, for ATL, he had to get up every morning at 5 a.m. to take roller-skating lessons. And about how the hard work he put into that project helped him land bigger roles — first in last year's American Gangster and now in Bone Deep, which he's filming opposite Matt Dillon. "The road to success is filled with things you're not going to want to do," he tells the kids. "The sooner you realize that, the sooner you get paid."

[From Issue 1061 — September 18, 2008]

Related Stories:

• Photos: A Day in the Life of T.I.
• More from Issue 1061