TI went back to jail on Wednesday night, less than six months after being released from a year-long stint behind bars. The rap star and his wife were arrested on drug charges, after police smelled cannabis smoke from the couple's car.
"I stay in trouble just to show these suckers I ain't lost it," TI once rapped. "They heard TI's arrested, they're like, 'Here we go again'." That seemed the way this week, when police came across TI – real name Clifford Harris – and his wife Tameka "Tiny" Cottle at a late-night traffic stop in West Hollywood. According to a representative from the sheriff's department, "deputies smelled a strong odour of marijuana emitting from the vehicle" and "a narcotics investigation ensued". Pills that "resembled ecstasy" were seized from the vehicle. The couple were arrested on suspicion of possessing methamphetamines and posted bail at 4am on Thursday (2 September), paying $10,000 (£6,500) each.
The arrest spells serious trouble for the rapper, who was on probation stemming from a 2007 weapons charge. He pleaded guilty to that offence, serving about a year in jail. At the time of his release, he was warned not to get into trouble – including for possession of a controlled substance.
Before this week's run-in, things had been looking up. The Grammy award-winner stars in America's No 1 film, Takers, and has a new album, King Uncaged, due later this year. But TI has often boasted of a criminal disposition, describing himself as a "seven-time felon" in numerous songs. This summer, he complained his recent stint in jail had sent him down an unhealthy road. "Putting me in prison took me off [the] path [of positivity]," he told Complex magazine. "Now I'm working to get back on that path – or at least back on the path to the extent that I was before I went in ... Being in that environment and having those daily surroundings, it's going to affect you."
TI's last album was 2008's Paper Trail, which saw two singles enter the UK top five.
