''T.I.'s Road to Redemption'' is an American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show that premiered on February 10, 2009, on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. The show was produced by

T.I. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born September 25, 1980), known professionally as T.I. or Tip, is an American rapper and singer raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Harris is credited as a pioneer of the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Georgi ...

, Michael Hirschorn, Stella Stolper, and Chris Choun of Ish Entertainment. The series, focusing on the 45 days before

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

T.I.'s March sentencing, aimed to encourage teenagers to avoid spending a life of crime by showing seven teenagers a different path. In ''T.I.'s Road to Redemption'', T.I. shares mistakes he has made and lessons he has learned. The show includes events in his personal life such as the birth of his sixth son and the release of his album, ''

Paper Trail ''Paper Trail'' is the sixth studio album by American rapper T.I., released September 30, 2008, on Grand Hustle Records and Atlantic Records. He began to write songs for the album as he awaited trial for federal weapons and possession charges ...

''. In 2007, T.I. was convicted of two felony gun charges. He served a sentence of one year and one day behind bars starting March 27, 2009. He was also sentenced to 1500 hours of

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

. The series started filming in June 2008 and continued until March 2009. "We visited T.I. early in 2008 while he was under house arrest in Georgia and found a man utterly unlike his rap persona," Stella Stolper and Michael Hirschorn of Ish Entertainment said. "He felt that he was undergoing a karmic reckoning, a time when he would have to balance the scales of his life and integrate who he was with who he is. We've never seen someone so introspective, so smart about how who he was back in the slums of Atlanta is affecting who he is now." In the last days of filming, the show's star T.I. wrote a statement that was published in several news sites. In the statement "Responsibility Is a Lifestyle: It's Time to Bury Da Beef" T.I. reflected on bad decisions he had made, and thanked key figures for helping with the show and reducing his sentencing. "With many mentors and supporters by my side, including Rev. Al Sharpton, Russell Simmons, Kevin Liles, GlobalGrind.com, Political Swagger, Mobile Regime (Parent company of

Nation19 ''Nation19'' is a magazine that blends hip-hop culture, photojournalism, activism, and anthropology. The printed and digital magazine is produced and published by multimedia activists, visual anthropologists, and film directors Queen Muhammad Ali ...

) and the C.H.A.N.G.E. Initiative to share the message that now is the time. Now is the time to speak out against gun violence. Now is the time to take responsibility for our actions. Now is the time to make our communities safer." The title of the show was updated multiple times to reflect how many days were remaining before T.I.'s sentencing (i.e. ''T.I.'s Road to Redemption: 38 Days to Go'', ''T.I.'s Road to Redemption: 31 Days to Go'', ''T.I.'s Road to Redemption: 1 Day to Go'' etc.).

Episodes

References

External links

''T.I.'s Road to Redemption''
on

{{MTVNetwork Shows MTV original programming 2009 American television series debuts 2009 American television series endings T.I.