Hello and Welcome to Medi8tor!
Since we started our journey, the intention of every post has been to help the public and artist understand and tame the beast of fame. The process we use to examine fame here at Medi8tor, is called Fame Management: a combination of fame (having a widespread reputation) and Personhood (the state of being a person) being evenly balanced, in order to have a healthy life and career while working in entertainment.
Thus far, we have discussed the notion of character and fame through a Fame Management profile on rapper Nicki Minaj, as well as love and fame through a profile on pop star Chris Brown. These artists’ scales are still unbalanced by our fame management assessment, but there is a particular artist that comes to mind who seems comfortable and poised on the fame management scale. Although obtaining this balance came at a high price for this artist he did not shun the fame management process, but instead took it by the reigns, owned it, and emerged as KING.
A befitting moniker for this self proclaimed “King of the South,” a title which he has more than lived up to in his artistic profession. In case there is any confusion (although there should not be) I am referring to the consummate performer, acclaimed rapper, accomplished actor, savvy entrepreneur, handsome, dapper, Southern gentleman, and Family Man; Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., affectionately known as TIP, but better known as T.I.
T.I. has risen to become one of the most successful entertainment artist this decade, but his road has been far from easy and has seen a few detours along the way. According to his recent
Behind the Music special on Vh1 Tip grew up on the rough streets of Bankhead in the Westside of Atlanta, which made him no stranger to trouble. Although he was a stellar student in his earlier years, Tip soon stopped pursing dreams of education, and instead began pursuing fast money by selling drugs or “Trappin” in his youth. While education took a backseat for Tip, his abilities for rap and word play grew almost as rapidly as his drug hustle. Eventually it was Tip’s love of music that allowed him to leave the drug world entirely, and flip his hustle to the world of entertainment.
Although Tip, who was now rapping under the name T.I., was no longer working in the streets he had always used his observation and personal experience of street life in his music. This made his art relatable and enjoyable to the local Atlanta scene, and after his first record I’m Serious flopped at LaFace records, he went back to the streets to restart his career. The same hustle he used to sell drugs, Tip now used to sell music. He released a series of mix tapes, which he promoted and sold independently. Eventually this led to: a new record deal with Atlantic Records, co-founding his own record label Grand Hustle, and a joint venture between the two labels to release his second album Trap Muzik. From then on the sky was the limit for T.I., he released Urban Legend that became a huge success, and King that earned him two Grammy’s and catapulted him into superstardom, when it was simultaneously released alongside his first feature film and acting debut in ATL. Riding high he quickly released the album T.I. vs. T.I.P in early 2007. Seemingly over- night T.I.’s life had become a fast paced dream and showed no signs of slowing down. But little did T.I. know that his reign was about to be suspended.
After rehearsals for an award show on October 17th 2007, T.I. was arrested by the FBI on
federal gun charges for purchasing machine guns and silencers from his bodyguard, who had secretly become an informant. T.I. was facing serious prison time; but instead was given
a year and a day in prison, house arrest, 1,500 hours of community service, and three years probation. This was a lenient sentence considering his previous arrest record for selling drugs. But throughout this process, something interesting began to happen to T.I., he began to tip (no pun intended) the scales of fame and personhood.
Based on T.I.’s past his personhood and fame had common ground, making money. T.I.’s greatest desire was to make enough money to live the way he had wanted to, as opposed to the life he had on the streets of Bankhead. Although he had transcended street life, street culture was still alive and well in T.I.’s heart and mind. And it took a traumatic event involving a loved one to change his life forever, by causing a head on collision between his personhood and his fame.
According to
Behind the Music in the early hours of May 3rd 2006, an altercation in an Ohio nightclub, started by a punch that T.I. threw, turned incredibly violent. While attempting to get away from the nightclub, a car tailed T.I.’s van, and opened fire several times on the rapper and his entourage. In the end, T.I.’s best friend and personal assistant, Philant Johnson, was shot and took his last breathe in T.I.’s arms. T.I. felt an incredible sense of guilt after the event stating, “ I felt totally responsible. I felt like those bullets were for me. He took the bullet that the people sent to me.” This loss also added insult to injury, since earlier that year T.I and his long time girlfriend, Tameka “Tiny” Cottle, had lost their daughter who was
stillborn at six months.
But the plot to T.I.’s story contained another unexpected twist, when police informed him that they had obtained a hit list with names and addresses from an arrested gang member in Atlanta. The first three out of the five people on the list were already missing, and the next name was T.I.’s. Philant’s killers had never been caught, and soon there was an onslaught of threatening phone messages to T.I.’s home and his family. Thus, this international superstar felt like he had no choice but to take matters into his own hands. He began to stockpile weapons, and it was this quest for protection that ended up leading to his firearms arrest in 2007. Tip had only been trying to protect his personhood, as any normal human being would. He was looking out for the welfare of himself and his family (at the time he had 5 children), but it proved futile when he was ultimately caught up because of his fame.
Let’s take a closer looks at the delicate balance of fame and personhood in T.I.’s case. He had become a stellar example of how to be successful after coming out of an urban environment. For years he had sought to uplift and inspire others from urban communities through his music (this is personhood); but was hurt that these same people were responsible for the death of his best friend (this is also personhood). As previously stated, Philant’s murderers were still at large (and as a side note, they still are). Finally T.I. began to question whether the outcome for Philant would have been different, had he and his entourage had firearms to defend themselves that night in Ohio (this is also personhood). In addition Tip also began to feel a growing sense of paranoia, because he felt vulnerable to the public due to his fame. As a public figure he knew that people knew who he was, could have access to him at anytime, and make him an easy target for mayhem, assault, or worse… murder. The hit list obtained by the police was evidence to confirm the growing suspicions already in Tip’s head, and all of these factors led him to make the decision that sent him down the wrong path in 2007.
Throughout this ordeal however, T.I. continued to help inspire and encourage troubled young people to make different choices and decisions, based on his example. This part of this journey was thoroughly documented in the MTV series “T.I.’s Road to Redemption,” and this process also forced T.I. to examine himself and make tough decisions to ultimately change for the better, which was chronicled on his albums Paper Trail (2008), and Paper Trail Case Closed (2009). Upon his release from jail for gun charges, T.I. found himself back on top again. He dominated the box office with the movie Takers, released the album No Mercy, and on July 31, 2010, he married the love of his life - the one person who had been there for all his adversity- Tameka “Tiny” Cottle.
The tables had finally turned for T.I. He had faced adversity, examined himself thoroughly, and made the necessary adjustments in his personhood to have a wonderful life in entertainment.
Well…almost.
Riding high off his freedom from imprisonment, the success of his projects, and the joys of married life T.I.’s story took another detour on September 1st, 2010. Unfortunately T.I. and his new bride were arrested for suspicion of
drug possession after being pulled over for a routine traffic stop on the Sunset strip in Los Angeles. This was a direct violation of T.I.’s parole and landed him back in jail for
11 months, while causing him to receive incredible backlash in the public eye. This arrest left people to question if the rapper had truly made a change for the better? Had he learned anything? Or was he just using his “reformed” personhood as a stunt to hold on to his fame? Although T.I. has never made a public statement about what really happened that night on the Sunset Strip, he has admitted having an addiction to
painkillers, which initially stemmed from an oral surgery. He then made the tough decision to enter rehab for his dependency before being incarcerated again, and continued his journey of self-reflection and soul searching behind bars. But the questions remained: NOW had the King of the South finally cleared all of the skeletons out his closet? And could he ever return to his reign as a King in entertainment?
The answer to those questions has been a resounding YES!
T.I.’s reign has been incredible since he was released from his second prison stint in fall of 2011. He has co-authored two books, guest starred on Kelsey Grammar’s hit show
Boss, is set to release his eighth album aptly titled
Trouble Man December 2012, and his become an instant TV star on
his new Vh1 reality show T.I. & Tiny’s The Family Hustle. When T.I. was asked why he wanted to do a reality show, the entertainment imperial highness replied, “ to give people an idea of who I really am. I wanted my fans to understand my reality and my world.”
The show lives up to the rapper’s wishes. The Family Hustle is witty, clever, humorous, heart-warming and provides a completely different view of the rapper, his family, and his life. This platform has also provided a perfect example of the fame management process, by taking away the judge and jury of public opinion by exposing the Harris’ lifestyle in personhood and fame, while showing how well he and his family handle themselves in life and as public figures. This principle and the lessons taught on the show are what make the project work, while being delightfully entertaining, insightful, and fun. T.I. has pulled back the veil of his life, to show the people behind the scenes who also had to endure so much pain and drama over the last several years. The show also highlights T.I. as a husband and father, allowing him to prove and demonstrate what he has learned, how he has grown, and in what ways he has changed as a man. T.I. has laid everything bare before the public, allowing himself no room and no excuses for going back to his old lifestyle. Ironically, he has also allowed the public a front row seat to judge him and hold him accountable as he tries to stay on the straight and narrow path.
Medi8tor has officially dubbed T.I. “The Fame Management Hustler.” This blog post was written to salute this incredible man: for overcoming all of the obstacles of his past, owning up to his mistakes, admitting his poor decision making, conquering his inner demons, and facing the music when it came time to make some serious life changes. T.I. is back! He has returned and emerged triumphantly as a true King, and now he reigns not only in entertainment, but on the throne and in the palace that matters most…his home.
Medi8tor wants to applaud T.I. for turning Fame Management, into his greatest Hustle!
