TI's Akoo Clothing Line

As we told you earlier, TI headed down to Miami last weekend to attend his farewell party.  We got scoop on the invitation, and now we bring you the real deal.  Here’s a **super secret** video from the party, courtesy of Gyant.

Secret Video From T.I.’s Farewell Party from Gyant on Vimeo.

And here are some pictures from the intimate affair from Sandra Rose.

Looks like everybody obeyed the dress code!  Must be a real fun party, although Tip doesn’t seem too thrilled among the bikini-clad girls.  Maybe he’s thinkin’ about Tiny, who looked fab, by the way.  All the white attires reminded us that TI’s clothing line, AKOO, also carries some real fly white shirts for men.  So make sure you stick to the dress code whenever a white party invitation comes up, with this AKOO Rosebud Long Sleeve Woven Shirt.

AKOO Rosebud Long Sleeve Woven Shirt, $52.99

AKOO Bonneville Long Sleeve Woven Shirt, $82.00

Video from Gyant, pics from SandraRose

Prior to entering the clinker, TI shares his thoughts and message to his fans out there.  This is his blog post via GlobalGrind.com.

In a few weeks, I will begin a one-year prison sentence for being in the possession of illegal firearms. Where I come from, having a gun is just part of everyday life. But, through this painful process of going to court and being convicted, I realized that I had to make a change. I made some bad decisions. I broke the law and will accept my punishment. With deep reflection about where my life was headed, I have begun the process of redemption, and decided that before I go to prison, I want to speak to young people about responsibility as a lifestyle. I hope that through my mistakes, young people can begin to learn, as I did, that we have to put our guns down and start to give our guns back. It pains me inside to hear about so many of our people dying because of gun violence. Just in the past weeks, a 13-year old boy was shot in the head in Harlem, a 17 and 19-year old were murdered in a double homicide in Queens and a 15 year old was chased, beaten, shot and burned in Chicago.

We will gather today in Harlem, with many mentors and supporters by my side, including Rev. Al Sharpton, Russell Simmons, Kevin Liles, Political Swagger, Mobile Regime 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. Now is the time to support good legislation, like the S.N.U.G. bill in NY. Now is the time to give back our guns. Now is the time for me to lead by example.

We can and we will do better.

-T.I.

We’re so touched on how heartfelt the message is.  You know, sometimes we think Tip can’t possibly be that deep because he looks too cool.  But lesson learned: you can’t judge a book by its cover.  Speaking of cool, check his swagger at the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks Playoff Game 4 at Philips Arena.

It’s a new never-seen-before AKOO shirt.  But it does look a lot like the AKOO Salute Woven Shirt.  We think AKOO should definitely produce more short-sleeve shirts.

AKOO Salute Woven Shirt, $79.00

Attention all TI Fans!

Our man TI will re-release his album “Paper Trail” with additional new tracks before the year’s end.  The rapper claimed that he’s still in the process of picking out songs.

“I’m still in the process of picking the songs, but I’m also still recording.  I’m able to record any time, through the best of times and through the worst of times, I’m still able to record.  It may change the sort of song you do, but you never can tell.  You never know until that moment gets there.”

The project is already confirmed by a rep from Atlantic Records, but no date has been set for it.  Guess we’ll just have to wait.  Meanwhile, check out this pic of Tip we found in our archive.

TI and DJ Drama

TI posed with DJ Drama, wearing a yet to be available AKOO Polo shirt.  You can coppy his swag by copping this AKOO The Natural Polo while waiting for the one Tip’s wearing to drop.

AKOO The Natural Polo, $62.00

**UPDATE**

The polo worn by TI is available for online purchase.  It’s the AKOO The Slayer Polo.

AKOO The Slayer Polo, $72.00

Source

It will only be a month away before our guy T.I. also known by his real name Clifford Harris is sent to prison from his federal gun charges a year ago. And he is indeed asking for someone else’s help and this someone is nothing more than our very own Martha Stewart whom T.I. also just found out that she also served the same sentence as she had. Martha Stewart served five months in prison in 2004 for insider trading.

“Martha, if you can give me some pointers on how to pass my time in prison, I am open,” T.I. told Extra. The “Whatever You Like” and “Live Your Life” hitmaker  also adds, “It didn’t hurt Martha Stewart much. We have the same exact sentence, if I’m not mistaken. She’s still doing pretty well for herself… I imagine my musical career would be as good or better than it was when I left.”

After being addressed as to how he felt about his one year sentence in jail, T.I. said that the person he feared the most is God and no one else and that he is ready to put everything behind once he gets out. He also mentioned that he issue has indeed put a significant concern in his mind but as he said, “Nothing that time can’t heal.”

Rapper and actor T.I. will be set to perform a line of concerts before his big day on March 27. Be sure to catch him and several more appearances of his concerts as he tries to take one last bow before he closes the door on this issue and opens up a new and better T.I.

We got a sneak peek of TI’s new AKOO collection right from the stage of BET’s Rip The Runway, and we’re very excited to say that TI adds some vivid colors to the collection.  Here’s a clip of TI’s performance we found on YouTube.

Fresh!

Terrence Jennings also hosted the event and he’s wearing a new AKOO t-shirt.

The new tee is not out yet, but it’s similar to the AKOO Gliteratti Hoodie from the current collection:

AKOO Gliteratti Hoodie, $86

And we also found another video of TI’s performance with Young Dro and Yung LA, and we see LOADS of what we predict as the freshest AKOO swaggers.  Check ‘em here.

We’re excited about the AKOO scarf, the shorts, red shirt and the AKOO khakis!  The King himself has been seen sporting the khaki AKOO swaggers lately and as warmer days approaches, we think they’ll look extra hot.

Source 1, Source 2

After a successful pilot episode of Tip’s reality show “Road to Redemption” the rapper followed up with a new video for his latest single “Dead and Gone”.

T.I. dedicated this track to the  late Philant Johnson, his assistant and close friend,  who was killed in 2006 after an altercation at a Cincinnati nightclub which forced Tip to re-evaluate his life thus emerging as a well-reknowned artist. R ‘n’ B singer Justin Timberlake also shares his vocals over the video.

The video features T.I. driving while Justin Timberlake takes the piano at a lonely crossroads in the desert. A very insightful scene as our man T.I. also faces the crossroads of his life right now as he has been charged with federal gun law charges late last year and is sentenced to prison for one year and one day, to be served starting in March.

Throughout the video, T.I. illustrates how one’s life can change with a single mistake, and that we should appreciate the life given to us before it is too late as depicted in the last scene of the video: a shot of Johnson’s grave.

“Dead and Gone” is the followup to the previously shelved video “Swing Ya Rag” which had trademark issues with Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

Dead and Gone is directed by Chris Robinson and is taken from his sixth studio album “Paper Trail”  T.I. also has hit the top of the charts with hits like Whatever You Like and a collaboration with singer Rihanna for Live Your Life.

Surprise, surprise!!! It’s been a year since Outkast’s Big Boi joined the ranks of TI’s Grand Hustle Management and he is already making his presence felt.

With the behind-the-lens talent of legendary photographer Zack Wolfe, who’s list of hip hop credits include Lil Wayne, Prose, TI and Gorilla Zoe, Big Boi is in good hands for the upcoming AKOO campaign. It which features Big Boi in classic black and white images, decked out in T.I.’s label which stands for “A King of Oneself”.

AKOO, which launched September 2008, is the creation of T.I. and Grand Hustle Entertainment. This ad campaign was shot in Big Boi’s hometown of Atlanta, GA with on-set cameos of TI alongside producers Jim Jonsin and Drumma Boi.

Look out for singer/ songwriters and fellow Grand Hustle label artists Sean Garrett and The Dream, who will also be seen in upcoming campaign ads. There are some big names attached to the launch of this line…hopefully all expectations will be met and who knows, maybe a womenswear will be in the works. You know Tip will not neglect the ladies for long!

Big Boi in AKOO, shot by legendary photographer Zack Wolfe

classic black and white photo of big boi for AKOO

Highlight of the 2009 Grammys: The “Rap Pack” featuring T.I.

Only one performance brought the house down, and you know it included our man Tip. Get a replay of M.I.A., Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Jay-Z and T.I. doing “Swagga Like Us” live at the Grammys.

Queen Latifah introduced the group last night as the “Rap Pack”. The entire audience stood up to greet the performers. Fresh, vibrant, and historic, the group all wore black tuxedos for their first-ever live collaboration.

The beat started off with the very pregnant M.I.A., who belted out a few rhymes of her own “Paper Planes” while managing to not give birth on stage.

As the group hit it off word for word, rhyme for rhyme, T.I. had the best verse as he described each of his distinctive group last night. “You can go see Weezy for the wordplay, Jeezy for the bird play,” Tip rapped on, “Kanyeezy for diversity and me for controversy/ All my verses picture-perfect, only spittin’ certain purpose/ If you ain’t living what you kickin’ then you worthless.”

Epic! Hats off to the Rap Pack crew. What a great way to kick off T.I.’s new show, debuting tonight! The premiere of T.I.’s reality show, T.I.’s Road to Redemption: 45 Days to Go, airs on MTV TONIGHT. Tuesday, February 10, 9pm local.

The Grammy’s is a time to bring out the best of music in one night. This year’s Grammys seemed to have a theme of  “collaboration”

Last week’s promise of having four of the best known rappers do a collaboration onstage without having a serious rhyme fight is dreadful enough.

However, T.I., Jay-Z, Lil-Wayne, and Kanye West along with the very pregnant M.I.A., pushed through the scene with flying colors.

The Jonas Brothers had Stevie Wonder at their side; Radiohead marching on with the USC band; Coldplay and Jay-Z; Al Green, Keith Urban, and Justin Timberlake.

Last but not least, the “Rap Pack” featuring our boy T.I., Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Jay-Z.

Others include Paul McCartney with Foo Fighter lead David Grohl, Miley Cyrus, and Taylor Swift, and Ne-Yo, Jamie Foxx, Smokey Robinson and Duke Fakir; all gave a standing ovation-worthy performance.

But which group do you think had the most historic Grammy performance of all?

It looks like Lil Wayne and T.I. will showcase the battle for this year’s Best Rap Album at the 51^st Grammy Awards with their respective albums Tha Carter III and Paper Trail.

Jay-Z’s American Gangster and Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool and Nas’ Untitled project are just few of the competing rappers vying for the title. However, as MTV News interviewed experts last week, most of them predicted that Southern lyricists T.I. and Lil Wayne will both be standing head on in the final round.

Leah Greenblatt from Entertainment Weekly announced “”It’s a sure thing [Lil Wayne will] take all the rap awards he’s nominated for this year.” On the other hand, Hot 97 news director Minya Oh (a.k.a. Miss Info) stated “I think that T.I. should win, because he has a solid album, a huge presence and a great story.”

In the end, there can only be one winner. In your opinion, who will win this year’s Best Rap Album at the Grammy? Vote now!