T.I.'s Road to Redemption By: Tony Fitz

T.I.’s Road to Redemption

During February 10, 2009, a new show premiered called T.I.’s Road to Redemption. The show was focused of 45 days before the rapper T.I. went to jail. During all this T.I. tries to encourage seven teenagers to avoid spending a life of crime. By trying to prove and show that there is another way.
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In 2007, T.I. was convicted of two felony gun charges. T.I. was caught attempting to purchase guns outside a shopping center. Due to him getting caught T.I. had to serve a sentence of one year and one day behind bars. That was back in March 09. Also on top of his jail sentence T.I. had to do 1000 hours of community service. Before T.I. left for jail he made a new album called paper trail

In episode one T.I. explains how his life took a turn for the worst one day on his way to buy bread where a crack dealer showed him that dealing can pay. This is when we meet one of the seven young teenagers. T.I. meets the first guy an 18-year-old from Atlanta. Who dropped out of school and became the man of the house just like T.I. was. At the end of episode one T.I. introduces Pee-Wee to acting and gets him personal coaches in California.

During episode two T.I. meet Trey, a 15-year-old boy from Georgia. People typically think Newnan, Georgia is a safe place, however shootings and violence are on the rise durmastically there. Both Trey's father and older brother are in jail. T.I. know that these traumatic events are a lot to process at such a young age. The first place T.I. takes Trey, is a cemetery where some of T.I.'s friends have been buried. T.I. tells Trey the story of Philant Johnson, T.I.'s childhood friend and assistant, who was killed during a fight at a nightclub. Even thought T.I. should Trey all this he still believes that everyone has to die at some point so there's no point in living for tomorrow. The next place he takes him to is where T.I. grew up in Atlanta. During the visit to Alanta T.I. introduces Trey to Quint, his uncle who spent 10 years in prison. When Quint met Trey, Quint was very surprised because of the attitude he had towards fighting. Since they met Trey has brought up all of his grades and hopes to be the first man from his family to go to college.

Episode three T.I. meet an 18-year-old guy named Anthony from California. Who has been in the crips since he was 13. During 2004 Anthony was caught with a gun and was sent to juvenile detention. During the interview Anthony explained that he wasn't ready to stop the life of a gang member. After talking with Anthony they went to meet his girlfriend Vanessa. Who has wanted Anthony to quit the lifestyle of a gang member because she is pregnant with his kid. After T.I. heard about this he went into using his four step program. After all Anthony is gotten his life straightened out and is currently a prep chef at the LA eatery.


Episode four T.I. heads to Atlanta to help Edwin a struggling young father. Edwin is really close to breaking his whole family up due to burglaries and multiple arrests. After T.I. talks to and give Edwin all the advice he can. Edwin suprisingly straightens his act up and now earned his GED and pursues an internship at T.I.'s Grand Hustle Records.

Episode five T.I. meets Mario, an 18-year-old gang member from Compton, CA. Mario has commited some of the same crimes as T.I. did like buying machine guys from dealers and also has had his friends die. So T.I. has taken this whole challenge to a whole new level. During this session T.I. introduces Mario to a rival gang member who has been hospitalized due to a gun shot. After all this is said and done T.I. takes mario to a boxing gym and signs him up so Mario has something else to focuz all his anger on other than gang violence and drugs.

After many teenagers and adults helped by T.I. and touched by watching his show. T.I. went to prison, and currently is still in there. He gets out in late december or early january. This was the Road to Redemption for T.I.