TI biography

Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr was born in Atlanta, Georgia on september 25th 1980. He got the name rubberband man at a young age when he was selling crack in junior high and high school, thus making him one of the most street credible rappers of today.

In 2001 he signed with LaFace records and shortened his name to T.I. out of respect for his the labelmate Q-TIP. He later released his debut album I'm Serious, which did not generate some buzz in the media due to lack of promotion by Arista and Laface records.

In 2003 TIP came back with a gold album, Trap Muzik with the help of three singles "24s", "Rubberband Man", and "Be Easy". While on tour, Tip was arrested and charged for violating his probation over a previous drug charge, which had occured in 1998. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

In 2004, after serving only 7 months for his probation violation, he came out with a vengance after he heard that rapper LiL Flip had disrespected him in an Atlanta Show while he was in prison. He also called out Ludacris over an old dispute, ludacris shot a video, with a man wearing a Trap Muzik t-shirt getting beaten. So he released another platinum selling album (urban legend) with the help of three hit singles "U Don't Know Me", "ASAP" and "Bring Em Out"

In 2005 T.I. and his undergroung group P$C "Pimp Squad Clique," (AK, Philip Carson, Mac Boney, Big Kuntry, and C-Rod), dropped their first album 25 to life.

2006 has been a big year for Harris, he first released his album KING and the released his film debut in an coming-of-age comedy drama (ATL). However success has not been able to keep his troubled past from catching up to him. In the early hours of May 3, 2006 Four members of T.I.'s posse were shot in a melee on Cincinnati's Interstate 75 early in the morning, leaving one person dead and three injured. The scuffle started when a member of T.I.'s crew tossed money into the crowd from the stage. The men in the crowd took offense to having money thrown in their faces, a melee ensued inside and moved outside, where shots were fired into two vans transporting T.I.'s crew just after three o'clock. The deceased man was His best friend Philant Johnson. The bullets were meant for TIP Harris.

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