No Mercy?

  It’s been a quiet and reflective few days for me. A close friend with so much potential, countless number of second chances and opportunities lined up for him, lost his way and ended up in a bad place (figuratively speaking) and would probably be there for a good minute

 The situation parallels the life of rapper T.I; and I can’t help but wonder if it’s a function of bad choices or just plain bad luck or maybe winchi winchi people!

 T.I had the world at his feet after his Trap Muzik album dropped in Aug 2003, but as usual, less than a year after the album dropped he was sent to jail for violating his probation for a drug related offence committed in 1997.

  He was allowed a work release program in no time

 Not like that would change anything about the talented rapper who earned a litany of probation violation in several counties in Georgia and Florida. He appeared before a court in Atlanta for threats to a man in front of a Night club, he was arrested in Florida for assaulting a deputy sheriff in Florida and didn’t complete his court mandated community service and was consequently arrested again. The exact thing happened again in Georgia for driving on a suspended license for which he did not complete his community service

 His 3rd studio album fetched him 2 Grammy nominations and 5 billboard music awards and T.I was doing it big. Sadly, in 2007, he was back to his old tricks as he was arrested again for possession of firearms and was sentenced to house arrest pending this court hearing.

T.I wrote most of his Paper trail album during his house arrest stint which was evident from the deep soul searching type songs on the album and I thought we would actually see a genuinely changed T.I.

 “Whatever you like” dropped during this time and the track still remains T.I's most successful single till date, jumping from number 71 to number 1, which is the highest jump a single has done on the Billboard.

 When the album finally dropped in September of 2008, T.I was coasting, with a host of smashing singles and appearances including jay Z, Rihanna,  Kanye West, lil wayne and more, We all hoped T.I was on the straight and narrow.

 He began his sentence on March 27th 2009 and was released on March 26th 2010

  A few months later he was arrested for drug possession and associating with a known felon alongside his newly wedded wife Tiny, and it was back to the same old T.I.

 What makes this even worse is the fact that he dropped a very fantastic album after he was sent back to jail to serve an 11-month sentence but sadly the album has been totally shunned.

 I listened to the album in its entirety and believe me there is no bad song on there. Trust T.I to deliver some head bumping, driving and catchy tracks, with some high profile features, but the question is, how much can you do to promote your album from jail? Unless you are Lil Wayne of course!

 His endorsements with Remy martin, Axe body spray and Chevrolet have all but fizzled out.

His night club, Club crucial in Bankhead, Atlanta has lost most of its appeal.

The social networking site “streetcred” which he endorsed, has been shut down indefinitely and everyone is pretty much tired of welcome back and farewell concerts/parties

 At this point I don’t expect much from T.I when he gets out of jail. Some have said his album; "No Mercy" is his swan song but I disagree, he would still put great albums out but I just feel he would never be all that he should have been. With a string of successes checkered with sentences and violations, T.I is definitely “Biography material” can’t say the same for Bieber (I digress) but till he gets out; FREE T.I!