Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., better known as T.I. or Tip, burst onto the hip-hop scene from the gritty streets of Atlanta, Georgia, where he was born on September 25, 1980. Growing up in the city’s tough Bankhead neighborhood, young Clifford ditched Douglass High School to chase quick cash, landing him in hot water multiple times as a teen for drug dealing. But that rough start fueled his raw talent—he turned those streets into rhymes, dropping his debut album as T.I.P. and climbing to platinum status with bangers like “Top Back” and “U Don’t Know Me.”
By the mid-2000s, T.I. was a force, snagging multiple Grammys and starring in his own reality show, T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle, since 2011. The series peeled back the curtain on his larger-than-life life, from family chaos to comeback stories. He even flexed his charisma on the big screen, popping up in films like the Marvel hit Ant-Man in 2015, where he played a slick prison buddy to Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man.
Offstage, T.I. stays connected to Atlanta’s pulse, often mentoring young artists and pushing anti-violence initiatives. He once quipped in an interview about teaching his son King to hoop like a pro, blending dad duties with his King of the South vibe. And get this: despite the glamour, he still roots for the Falcons every Sunday, screaming at the TV like any die-hard fan.
At 44, T.I. remains a Southern legend, evolving from trap pioneer to family man and actor, always keeping it real.