T.I Thanks God For One Year in Prison
Commentary by G.Melesaine
April 7,2009

Theres this joke we use to say all the time when people were always searching for God. "Im on a search for God" someone would say and the reply would be, "God is probably in jail or prison because everyone says they found God up in there". Reading rapper T.I's rap sheet, at least part of it kind of makes you think maybe everyone doesn't find God in prison. T.I, government name Tip Harris's rap sheet starts at 17 and contains assault on a cop, selling crack, time in jail and prison, it even seems that he is on probation for life with all his violations he should be serving more than a year and one day for his last bullet point on his rap sheet. But he's not.

Two weeks ago a judge sentenced the rapper to only a year and one day in prison and all though that still is a pretty long time, it doesn't exude the punishment that the regular folk like you and I would be receiving if we committed this crime with the same rap sheet. We would probably be sitting in prison at the moment, because we couldn't make bail and we wouldn't have a MTV show showcasing our efforts to make better. Sometimes alot of rap artists like to disregard their celebrity status with the role model status. I've watched T.I's MTV show "Road to Redemption" a couple of times, its a show based on T.I trying to intervene with youth on the cusp of the road he's traveled. It was basically a redeeming, finding God in some sorts through himself and those like him. It was probably the first time you'd ever watch a rapper on a show talk about the intricacies of incarceration and analyzing it throughout the show along with kids. Its like watching T.I analyzing the road he went down before he went down the road by intervening with these kids. At the sentencing all the kids who participated in the show came in support of the rapper while receiving his sentence, even writing letters to the judge which the lawyer presented. The show wasn't the only community service the rapper did, he did hours off camera and off the show, as folks may have the misconception that the show's main factor was to lessen his sentence.

I think the outcome is amazing, it truly shows that rehabilitation doesn't work as we seen in prisons/jails or any institution but it works with community work.It gives folks the opportunity to become positive roles as part of the community from theire negative experiences. Maybe this "Road to Redmption" was in some sense a search for God or a higher power and realizing that its neutral until folks decide to recognize that its all within ourselves. One Year and a day in prison sounds pretty good to me for someone who should of got life. I believe he has his head in the right places and would be receiving alot of mail to keep him in there.