About Me
Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born September 25, 1980 in Atlanta, Georgia), best known by the stage name T.I., is a six-time Grammy Award nominated African-American rapper. T.I. is one of the most respected Southern Rappers.T.I is from the streets of Bankhead, in Atlanta's Zone 1. His original stage name, T.I.P., stems from his childhood nickname "Tip", which he got from his grandfather. Due to his Southern drawl, many fans mistook his name for "Chip", so he began spelling it out "T.I.P". Upon signing with Arista Records subsidiary LaFace Records in 2001, he shortened his name to T.I. out of respect for label mate Q-Tip. He is also known to go by "Rubberband Man" and the self-proclaimed "King of the South". He is the leader of a rap group known as P$C (Pimp Squad Click). His debut album I'm Serious was released through Arista Records in 2001, which spawned the single of the same title which featured reggae vocalist Beenie Man. His debut album included Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes (who named him the Jay-Z of the south), Jazze Pha and Youngbloodz. However, the album did not sell very well, and he was dropped from the label. Undaunted, he formed Grand Hustle Records and released several mixtapes with the assistance of DJ Drama, which created an underground buzz. He resurfaced in the summer of 2003 on Bonecrusher's song "Neva Scared". He parlayed this attention towards the release of his second album, Trap Muzik. It was more of a success than his debut album because of the singles "24s", "Be Easy", "Rubber Band Man", and "Let's Get Away". The success of the album was followed by some controversy: while on tour, T.I. was charged with violating his probation over a 2003 drug charge, and turned himself in. He was sentenced to three years in prison. While there he was granted rights to film the music video for "Let's Get Away.His latest album, King debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart on April 4, 2006, selling over 520,000 copies in its first week. In 2005 he launched his own film production company called Grand Hustle Films, signed a multi-artist joint venture deal for his label with Atlantic Records, and established a music publishing deal for Grand Hustle Music with Warner Chappell. He also produced the soundtrack to the film Hustle & Flow and released the collection through Grand Hustle/Atlantic. He also did the same for the debut album of his group P$C, 25 To Life. He has also starred in the film ATL. On television, T.I. was seen on MTV's Diary and Punk'd after being tricked by Ashton Kutcher on his way to his own concert held at Fresno, California. On a recent MTV interview, T.I. has stated that in early 2007, after the sequel to his movie ATL hits theatres, his next studio album, T.I. vs. T.I.P., will quickly hit afterwards,in 2007. T.I. will also be making appearance.
