T.I. Begins Prison Sentence

Clifford Harris, Jr., better known as rapper T.I., began his year-and-a-day prison sentence today (Tuesday).

The 28 year old pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges for attempting to purchase unregistered machine guns and silencers from what turned out to be undercover federal agents in 2007.

The Associated Press reported T.I. showed up 29 minutes late to the Forrest City low-security prison in Arkansas, and it's not known whether his late arrival will affect his plea deal.

The artist's lawyers petitioned to delay the start date of his sentence while they tried to receive a bid from the Bureau Of Prisons to switch his intended incarceration facility from Forrest City to a minimum-security prison closer to his hometown of Atlanta. The petition was denied by a federal judge in Atlanta on May 22.

T.I. must serve at least 85 per cent of his sentence. The Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper reports that he must also finish the remaining 470 community service hours of the initial 1,500 he was given. He'll also be confined to his house for two months once released from prison. He'll be on supervised release for three years.

The rapper and co-CEO of Grand Hustle Records made the most of his time before being locked up. He worked on the video for Grand Hustle artist Big Kuntry's single "I Do," as well as three other Grand Hustle videos.

He's also attempted to turn his sentence and the time leading up to it into a positive experience by mentoring teens on his T.I.'s Road To Redemption reality television show, which didn't count toward his required community service hours.

T.I. spent his last free night headlining a concert at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, where he told the audience of 16,000 he'd "see y'all in 366 days."

The concert was hosted by Grand Hustle’s Lil' Duval and included appearances by each of the label's artists. T.I. told fans he was "going to stand up tall, head up high" in serving his sentence. He brought his five children on to the stage to stand with him for a portion of his set. Soulja Boy Tell'em and OutKast's Andre 3000 were in attendance to show their support.

T.I. plans to release his seventh full-length album next year.