Through his music, rapper T.I. expresses an honest view of growing up black and poor in the South, providing a raw view of life as a drug dealer. T.I. (born Clifford Harris) grew up in Bankhead, Georgia. He lived in a family that existed in a constant struggle to survive. In an article for the America's Intelligence Wire, he described them as hustlers: "When I say hustle, I don't mean necessarily broke the law and sold drugs but, I mean that they didn't know where their next check was coming from. They had to get theirs day by day, and they got it, some more than others."
T.I. was interested in rap music at the young age of seven, and found that he could entertain his relatives and feel included. He was making demos of his music by age ten or eleven. But street life interfered, and by age 14 he was dealing drugs and had been arrested numerous times. Despite the troublesome upbringing, T.I. was still drawn to music. He got a manager and was heard in an audition by Kawan Prather, better known in the music business as K.P., who was working on a spin-off of Arista Records called Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment. After the audition, T.I. was quickly signed.
T.I.'s past life came crashing in on him when a warrant for his arrest was issued in December of 2003. "I was doing a little living on the wrong side of the law, so I got a lot of loose ends to tie up legitimately before I can further my career," T.I explained in a radio interview before heading to jail, according to the Yahoo Music website. "Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you, you just gotta deal with those skeletons in your closet. ...
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From Troubled Man