Rapper T.I. vowed to stop what he called “this ongoing process of destruction” Thursday, a day before he goes before a federal judge who could send him back to prison for a probation violation.
“I’m tired. I’m wore out,” T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, told CNN’s Don Lemon.
Harris was arrested on drug charges in Los Angeles, California, last month, triggering Friday’s hearing in Atlanta, Georgia, which could end with the revocation of the rapper’s probation on a federal weapon’s conviction.
Although he could not talk about the facts of his case, Harris did speak personally about his regrets.
“The only thing that I can say, man, is that all people who have supported me, who were behind me, who believed in me, who were disappointed and were let down, I just offered my sincerest apologies, and I will dedicate my life no matter how long it takes to earn your trust back and to make you proud yet again,” he said.
When Lemon asked the rapper if that meant he would “never again” get in trouble, he answered, “Absolutely.”
“I’m tired. I’m wore out,” he said. “I don’t have the age, the energy or just the attitude to move forward and continuing in this cycle in this ongoing process of destruction and disparity in my life. I’ve got too many depending on me and counting on me. I can’t do it.”
He granted the interview to talk about his involvement Wednesday in helping police persuade a man not to jump off the roof of high-rise office building in Atlanta.
Harris talked to the man about how a person “can make it through anything,” Atlanta Police spokesman James Polite said.
“T.I. just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Polite said.
Harris told Lemon that he went to the scene after he heard on the radio that a man was threatening to jump.
“I believe that I have been put here for a purpose, and I believe that I have an ability to reach people that most people can’t reach, that I can turn lives around that other people, they can’t have the same affect,” he said. “I think that God placed me here for that purpose.”
The man, who was not identified by police, was taken to Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital for a psychological evaluation, Polite said. He was not charged with a crime, he said.
Harris and his wife, Tameka “Tiny” Cottle, were arrested on drug charges during a traffic stop on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, last month.
In 2008, Harris was sentenced on charges of unlawfully possessing firearms as a convicted felon. The charges came after an arrest by federal agents a year earlier while Harris was buying three machine guns in the parking lot of an Atlanta grocery store.
Harris was released after serving nine months in prison and three months in a halfway house.