Spring Break
T.I.'s Road to Redemption has some redeeming qualities
Caity Cudworth
Issue date: 2/27/09 Section: Entertainment
02/27/09 - Hard-knock ghettos aren't the most nurturing of environments. It doesn't take a team of social workers to see that growing up in a place where dealing crack and hustling count as after-school activities (usually) doesn't bode well for a kid's future.
But thankfully, disenfranchised youths born into less-than-desirable circumstances have a new, outspoken mentor in the form of rap phenom, T.I.
And, really- who better to mentor disenfranchised kids than a commercial rapper facing up to 30 years in jail for trying to buy a bunch of machine guns and silencers?
Like the old saying goes: when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. And if you get arrested for trying to illegally procure automatic weapons and you're facing up to 30 years in jail…. make a reality show.
"T.I.'s Road to Redemption" chronicles the rapper's final days before he ships off to prison. He's using these final days to guide hood-reared hustlers off the grim road of violence and despair, and into a future of upstanding respectability.
And how does T.I. plan to help these wayward kids? Well, he has his own, patented four-step program guaranteed to help even the most hardened hoodlum straighten up and fly right.
As T.I., who sits in a leather chair, hands clasped, explains: "Giving attention to these youngsters and encouraging them is a four step process. First, you gotta show them what they doing wrong."
This is, apparently, accomplished by deceiving the kids into thinking they're participating in an MTV documentary about gangbangers or hustlers. Then, while the young gangbanger or hustler is being interviewed, T.I. breaks into his house, startles him, and confronts him with the hard truth.
In the second episode, "Own Your Mistakes," T.I. does this and then proceeds to put the confused young hooligan in his car and drive away. "I'm gonna take him on a ride that he'll never forget," T.I. says at this juncture. Well, true, this kid isn't going to forget it any time soon.
But thankfully, disenfranchised youths born into less-than-desirable circumstances have a new, outspoken mentor in the form of rap phenom, T.I.
And, really- who better to mentor disenfranchised kids than a commercial rapper facing up to 30 years in jail for trying to buy a bunch of machine guns and silencers?
Like the old saying goes: when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. And if you get arrested for trying to illegally procure automatic weapons and you're facing up to 30 years in jail…. make a reality show.
"T.I.'s Road to Redemption" chronicles the rapper's final days before he ships off to prison. He's using these final days to guide hood-reared hustlers off the grim road of violence and despair, and into a future of upstanding respectability.
And how does T.I. plan to help these wayward kids? Well, he has his own, patented four-step program guaranteed to help even the most hardened hoodlum straighten up and fly right.
As T.I., who sits in a leather chair, hands clasped, explains: "Giving attention to these youngsters and encouraging them is a four step process. First, you gotta show them what they doing wrong."
This is, apparently, accomplished by deceiving the kids into thinking they're participating in an MTV documentary about gangbangers or hustlers. Then, while the young gangbanger or hustler is being interviewed, T.I. breaks into his house, startles him, and confronts him with the hard truth.
In the second episode, "Own Your Mistakes," T.I. does this and then proceeds to put the confused young hooligan in his car and drive away. "I'm gonna take him on a ride that he'll never forget," T.I. says at this juncture. Well, true, this kid isn't going to forget it any time soon.
