My Thoughts on T.I.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last three weeks or so, you know that rapper T.I. was arrested after giving his recently hired, surely now fired, body guard money to buy machine guns and silencers. Well, his body guard was actually an informant working for the government, and T.I.P. was arrested in a parking lot waiting on the delivery of the guns. A pound of weed was found in the car at the time of the arrest, as well as a loaded hand gun. The ATF raided his house, and found more loaded, unregistered machine guns. The guns in his house were protected in a closet with a finger print scanner. The government knew about this, because T.I. showed the body guard the gun closet at one time.

He has officially been charged with possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers and possession of firearms by a convicted felon. T.I. was released on $3 million bond, and has to be under 24 hour in home surveillance, which he also has to pay for. He's not to come in contact with any witnesses or informants involved with the case. He's facing 10 years in prison, and a $250,000 fine PER CHARGE. He has pleaded not guilty.

Here's a picture of some of the guns found at his house:




OK, so now the question is: Was he set up?

Yes and no.

Yes because his body guard sold him out, and let the feds know what was going on. He set T.I. up to be arrested in the parking lot for buying the weapons.

No Because I'm sure the body guard wasn't the one who initiated the purchase in the first place. I'm sure the day after he was hired he didn't go, "Yo T.I. check this out bruh. You need some machine guns. And some silencers. And 100 round drums for those machine guns. I know where to get some, with the numbers already filed off. You want me to make the call?"

Even if that IS how it went down, T.I. was in the position to turn down the offer. He had every opportunity to say no, just as he did yes. I think this would be going down little different if he was paying for registered guns, and just having someone else buy them. That is still VERY illegal, but a little less incriminating than purchasing the unregistered artillery.

Now, the argument has been brought up..well we don't know what he was going to do with the guns. He didn't do anything with them, he just bought them. They should have at least waited until something happened. OK, I see that. But I have three problems with it.

1. A convicted felon can't own a fire arm. At all.

2. If he wasn't going to use the weapons, or order the use of the weapons, why buy them with the serial numbers removed?

3. Let's say we did wait until something happened. And something happened. Let's say someone was murdered with a gun that T.I. bought. Then it becomes an issue of "why wasn't he in jail? He's a convicted felon who's not allowed to have weapons."

If you weren't planning on using the weapons, why purchase unregistered weapons? Why not have a friend buy the guns? (FYI, that's still illegal) If you were just planning on shooting them at a gun range, why the silencers?

If the government would have known about the purchase of the weapons and waited to act until something happened, then they would come under fire because they would have saved a life. Or lives.



Now, does the punishment fit the crime?

Well, he hasn't been punished yet, so we really can't say. He hasn't even been found guilty, or even started his trial.

But let's just say he is found guilty, and has to pay a $250,000 total and gets 10 years in prison. Is that too long? As a T.I. fan, I say hell yea.

But, it's not too long for a seven time convicted felon. Now, is that seven felonies, or just seven convictions with at least one being a felony? I don't know. I do know that he has a felony drug trafficking charge. So that's at least one felony.

But that brings up the question..how long ago was that? How many years ago? Everything I'm reading says the felony drug charges were in 1998. He's also got previous gun charges and probation violation.

So that felony was almost 10 years ago. Can a person not change? Can they not put something behind them and turn a new leaf? Sure they can. And it would appear that T.I. had put the drug DEALING behind him. Unfortunately, not the use. The amount of weed found on him during the arrest could EASILY be viewed as enough for intent to distribute. But, let's assume he's not dealing drugs.

Instead we'll go back to one of the Miranda Rights. What you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. Should his lyrics be used against him? I would argue no, but I'm not the judge, or the prosecution. They probably will want to use his lyrics against him. Because after all, art reflects life, and he's one of many who "raps what they know." He repeatedly invites listeners to come test him if they think he's slippin. He raps about shooting people all the time. So, you know he's buying these guns and you just want to wait and see what happens? That's like putting a pedophile on a playground. It's just a matter of time.



Here are some lyrics that could be used against T.I.


"A nigga try to play me, I’ma blow him off the map A.S.A.P." From ASAP


"Cause I know how to handle your fake ass
I'm a ride on you and hide you in yesterday's trash
Pull up in the Chevy's spraying rounds through the glass
See you laying face down in the grass and I'll laugh" From Stand Up

"You want to play, have you gay niggaz lay down for me
And get a order for killers to spray rounds for me" From King Back

"Just keep it very cool
Or we will bury you" From What You Know About That

"we can shoot it out whenever you wanna
whatever you wanna do boi I'm talkin to you" From I'm Talkin To You

"Cause this pistol hit you in your face, your teeth they'll have to replace
That's if you lucky nigga trust me, it don't hurt me to take
100 thousand to them Haitians you'll be murdered today" From You Know What It Is

"Ain't a damn thang change
I still keep that thang right up under my shirt
Betta tell 'em I ain't playin'
because it's all fun and games until somebody get hurt
Ain't a damn thang change
I still keep thang right up under my shirt
Run up on him where he hangin', BANG!
cause it's all fun and games until somebody get hurt
Boy you finna get hurt, murked, put him in the dirt
boy you betta catch me first" From Hurt