As has been reported on the the news, including The New Zealand Herald, agents for the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arrested rapper TI on charges of buying illegal machine guns on Saturday afternoon. It is alleged that the agents arrested him as he was taking delivery of 3 machine guns and 2 silencers. It is against federal laws for a convicted felon to purchase guns on their own behalf. In 1998, TI was convicted of a felony and received 7 years of probation.
In this latest incident, TI was arrested the same day that he was supposed to perform and accept awards at the 2nd annual BET Hip Hop Awards. But why does TI, the self-proclaimed King of the South, need machine guns and silencers? As pictures of his home in Atlanta splashed over the internet, I found it hard to believe that gun play is going on in that upscale suburban community. I'm not one to believe that every rapper's lyrics are true to how they live their lives. At this point in his life, TI born as Clifford Harris is among the 1% of Americans who are making upper class income. The four kids that he's mentioned in his records probably all attend private schools and are wearing expensive designer labels. Surely, he has bodyguards to protect him and his family, so again, why does TI need machine guns and silencers?
I dislike the thought that you can take a person out of the hood, but you can't take the hood out of the person. Hip hop icons who've come from poverty and who have moved into 90210 zip codes must leave the vices of the hood behind. If you could have an illegal gun in your crib in the projects and no one bothered you, surely you know someone is going to be bothered if you have an illegal gun in the suburbs. Hip Hop icons must cease and desist with trying to live in both worlds. They want an upscale existence for their kids and their families, but they want to maintain hood mentality, hood authenticity, and hood habits. That is too much hood for their own good.
Hip Hop Icons were largely invisible in the neighborhoods that they grew up in. Many of them were seen as statistics--young black men who would be in jail or dead before they were 25. Law enforcement wasn't readily jumping in to save them from the negative situations in their communities because much of the prevailing thought is that troublesome young black men will get into enough trouble that they will kill themselves, each other, overdose, or be in jail anyway. But, rich hip hop icons present a whole different picture.
Hip Hop Icons are not invisible. In fact, because of their lyrics, many of them become "persons of interest" to law enforcement AFTER their cds are released. This seems to be a well-known fact circulated within the hip hop community so again, it puzzles me why a higly visible icon like TI would do what it is alleged. Hip Hop Icons are so visible today that they are practically wearing a flourescent bullseye on their backs. They really can't afford to associate with family members who may be engaged in illegal activities. For some, that means no family reunions, no backyard barbecues, no stringing the popcorn garland in the hood. So, what was TI thinking? What was TI doing?
I heard his lawyer say, "There are two sides to every story and sometimes three." I hope this story ends with "TI was no where in the vicinity of this alleged incident. Therefore, this couldn't possibly be true." Otherwise, it's really beyond stupid for TI to engage in these kinds of misjudgments at this stage of the game.
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1 comment:
Good for people to know.
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