House arrest since November seems to have knocked some sense into rapper T.I. Once claiming he was “innocent, ya dig;” T.I. reneged and plead guilty to criminal charges of gun possession. He realized by taking the guilty plea he would weather the storm and would be able to quickly mend his reputation. His efforts seemed to have been taking advantage of the public’s short attention span.
In a community where the talk of being “hard” and “thug” sells more albums than talented musicians who study their craft for years, T.I. has become a representation of an industry that exploits the misguided aims of valueless youth. The effects are far reaching in these events. For one it causes buzz among the media, free buzz. Instead of pushing his albums and himself on the networks, they will do it for him. Another added feature to his new stain is the credibility it receives among the communities that follow hip hop stars. White suburban youth and lower class communities that follow such stars find his attitude to be cool and try to emulate it to a certain extent. They admire such individuals due to the stigma that they are modern rebels and “stick it to the man.”
T. I. had previously served 3 years of jail time in 2004 for probation violation of a drug conviction. Since then, he has become one of pop music’s most successful artists. These arrests have become an aid in the rapper’s popularity. If singing about sex, drugs and guns are cool then taking part in them has only served to elevate his street cred. Once again, negative publicity has become good publicity.
