T.I.’s Road To Redemption: Episode 1

February 16th, 2009

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Even though I knew the basic purpose of T.I.’s new show, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from watching it. Would it make me love him more? Would it add unexpected elements of humor and deserve sassy recaps or would it be dead serious and hard-hitting? Well, I got my answer.

I wasn’t sure if this show was a blatant good publicity move, or was T.I. doing something from the heart? The basic premise of the show is that he teaches young hustlers some lessons in an attempt to help them re-evaluate their life. One one hand, why would he put this on TV if it wasn’t a smooth publicity move; on the other hand, this is the best way for him to show the world that he is serious about righting his wrongs.

When I was finished the episode, I had to glaze over for a moment and take everything in. This show is no joke – it’s serious. But it has heart, and it seems honest.

When it begins, T.I. explains that this is one of the first times he’s opened up to the public to talk about his gun charges, and will be using his struggles to do something good. He faces up to 30 years in prison, but by making a positive impact can get a lighter sentence – so he must do 1000 hours of community service in a year, and he will also try to help seven young hustlers turn their life around.

When the credits roll, we learn that episode one happens 45 days before his official “day of reckoning” (sentencing). He then tells us about the incident in 2006 that changed his life forever – while on tour, he left a club with some friends because a fight broke out. But while they were driving away, a car pulled up beside them and fired shots, which resulted in the death of T.I.’s close friend. Before that happened, he had decided not to carry guns, but felt vulnerable because when he needed one, he didn’t have protection. Fast-forward to 2007 when he got caught with an arsenal. “Was it right? No. Do I regret it? Yes. Did it makes sense at the time? Absolutely.”

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He talks about being arrested by the federals, and his fiance Tameka (Tiny) chimes in, cause she was there at the time. T.I. says, “no amount of jail time will teach me the lesson I learned in that minute. ‘Oh shit. You done f*cked up.’”

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Change of pace. T.I. is driving home to celebrate his son King’s birthday. He introduces us to his family, his 6 kids. When he holds up his youngest and says in a baby voice, “look at the baby”, I pretty much burst into tears. They all go to the party, have a good time, and then he explains that he has to go handle some business. “They know I’d rather be home,” he says.

T.I. tells us that he became the man of the house when he was 10 or 11 – buying groceries, paying light bills. One day he met a friend who introduced him to hustling, and the money came easy. “That’s when the bad decisions outnumbered the good decisions.”

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Then we meet Pee Wee, an 18-year-old drug dealer who thinks he’s being interviewed for an MTV show about hustlers. We see that he’s a good kid – he wants to take care of his family, and hustling is the easiest, quickest way for him to make decent money. Seeing his mom’s house is a trip – it seems like he’s obviously the one with his head screwed on straight, despite his choice of lifestyle.

“I’m gonna help him, whether he wants my help or not,” T.I. says as he enters Pee Wee’s house. We hear the kid say that he knows everything he does is “damn near wrong,” but he’s not gonna change his ways cause “there are a million ways to hustle.” T.I. surprises him and says “I heard what you said – there was a lot of truth, but a lot of nonsense. Let’s make a deal: I’ll take some of your advice if you take some of mine.”

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First he arranges for Pee Wee to get handcuffed while they’re driving, and then thrown in a jail cell. “This is the thing about being a hustler – you can think the day is great, but then you find yourself here.” Then he takes off, leaving Pee Wee frustrated. A few hours later he goes back. “Had enough?” Pee Wee runs out of there like it had been years.

“Have you ever seen a dead body?” T.I. asks before he takes Pee Wee to a mortuary. Pee Wee is freaked out by the room. The mortician says, “I see a lot of young people come through these doors.” T.I. pushes him towards an open casket. “This man was a hustler.” Pee Wee looks down, T.I. pushes his chin up to look. After taking it in, T.I. takes him away and asks, “are you sill a hustler?”

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Pee Wee says that the experience made him think about his family and friends, and how he’s supporting them – what if he was gone? T.I. says, “you already have a date to die, but that day can be rearranged at your own convenience.” Then he wonders what Pee Wee would do professionally if he could do anything, and Pee Wee says acting. Of course T.I. has to see what the kid can do, so he gives him a scene from Romeo and Juliet. “Was that fair?” asks a producer. T.I. is like, of course it was – he needs to learn that he must diversify himself. Oh, and best part of the episode: hearing T.I. read Juliet’s lines with a straight face. I’m only more in love.

Three weeks later, Pee Wee receives an envelope. After seeing that he’s been off the hustle, T.I decides to reward him: with acting classes, and an onstage performance with T.I. in December. You can see that Pee Wee is brimming with a new kind of confidence, and then we learn that he’s since been taking acting classes in Santa Monica.

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So that was episode 1. You can watch the full thing right now here… or if you’ve already seen it, let me know what you thought of the show in the comments. And I’m just gonna go sit in a corner, cause this sh*t has sobered my mood RIGHT UP.

Posted on Monday, February 16th, 2009 at 11:49 pm by Wendy and is filed under Blog, T.I.'s Road To Redemption, We <3 TV.