T.I. was born Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr. on September 25, 1980, in
Atlanta, Georgia, to Violeta Morgan and Clifford "Buddy" Harris, Sr. He
is also known as T.I.P. and "Rubberband Man". T.I. is from the streets
of Westside Bankhead Zone 1 in Atlanta. His original stage name,
T.I.P., it stems from his childhood nickname "Tip", given by his
grandfather. He later changed it to T.I. out of respect for label mate
Q-Tip. He was dubbed "the Jay-Z of the South" by Pharrell Williams,
T.I. gradually established himself as one of rap's greatest and most
successful MCs during the early 2000s. T.I. has been active with
helping the community especially with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts,
T.I. worked with troubled youths at Paulding Detention Center in
Atlanta, provided scholarships for single parent families at Boys and
Girls Clubs. He has had successful movies roles such as: ATL (2006) and
most notably American Gangster(2007) along side Denzel Washington.
