T.I.
Gossip

Rapper T.I. was sentenced to one year and one day in a Georgia prison as part of his plea deal with prosecutors over a 2007 felony weapons charge.

The Grammy-winning hip-hop star was accompanied by his family, manager and longtime partner Tameka Cottle (a.k.a. Tiny Cottle) at the morning hearing.

Under the terms of a deal brokered last March, T.I. pleaded guilty to a federal weapons charge and agreed to complete 1,000 hours of community service prior to his sentencing and pay a $100,000 fine in exchange for a relatively light sentence.

He must do another 500 hours of community service after getting sprung.

The 28-year-old T.I. (real name is Clifford Harris Jr.), is required to turn himself to prison within the next 60 days, but is not expected do so before May 19.

Northern Georgia District Judge Charles Pannell Jr., who praised the artist for exceeding the expectations required from his plea deal, acknowledged that T.I. had commitments that prevented him from being jailed before the May date.

"Today I would like to say thank you to some, and apologize to all," said the rapper, who will serve his time at a penitentiary to be named later.

T.I. was arrested on October 13, 2007, just before the BET Hip-Hop Awards after cops caught him trying to buy unregistered machine guns and silencers.

Couldn't make time for criminal behavior on a day he wasn't performing, apparently. Makes Chris Brown's pre-Grammys walloping of Rihanna seem tame.

Rapper T.I. says he spoke to pal Chris Brown on Monday - one day after the R&B singer, 19, was arrested for assault and making criminal threats.

The upstanding citizen said that Brown - who is currently under investigation for his alleged battery of girlfriend Rihanna, who was reportedly left badly hurt with horrific injuries following their ugly altercation - is doing OK.

"Yeah, I spoke to him today," T.I. said on Monday's Last Call With Carson Daly. "He cool, you know. He's still the same Chris."

T.I. told Daly he didn't know the details of Chris Brown and Rihanna's bloody altercation, but had a helpful tip for the star: "This too shall pass."

"We're celebrities, we're entertainers, but we're still human - all of us," he went on. "Don't expect us not to make mistakes, because we will."

NOTE: T.I. is scheduled to begin a year-long prison sentence in March after pleading guilty to possession of three unregistered machine guns and two silencers.

He was already a convicted felon at the time of the offenses, of course, making the charges even worse. Just the spokesman Chris Brown needs right now.

Chris Brown, who will be arraigned March 5, boarded a private plane leaving L.A. on Monday. Rihanna is expected to leave L.A. soon if she has not already.

Look out Flavor Flav, T.I. is coming for you!

The latter rapper just welcomed his fifth child into the world, cutting into Flav's lead in children (Flavor has nine kids, or maybe 10; at some point, you lose track). The birth of son Major Harris Friday morning was T.I.'s second with girlfriend Tameka Cottlegave.

"God has blessed us with another miracle," T.I. said.

Major Harris weighed 5 lbs., 15 oz. and joins brother King Harris. Naturally.

Rapper T.I. is scheduled to make his initial court appearance Monday following his weekend arrest on weapons charges.

The 27-year-old rapper, real name Clifford Harris, faces allegations from federal officials that he planned to pick up machine guns and silencers that he had his bodyguard buy for him.

Agents with the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested T.I. Saturday in midtown Atlanta. Authorities say other guns were found in his car and in his suburban Atlanta home.

T.I. / Clifford Harris is charged with possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers, as well as possession of firearms by a convicted felon.

Continuing a hot streak of famous arrests of Atlanta-area stars (Michael Vick), the T.I. arrest resulted from an investigation that began when a federal firearms dealer contacted the ATF about a man inquiring about buying a machine gun without registering the weapon as required.

After attempting to purchase several machine guns from an undercover ATF agent, the unnamed individual â€" who said he'd been working as a bodyguard for Clifford Harris since July 2007 â€" was arrested and began cooperating with the government and said that he was buying them for Harris.

Harris allegedly brokered the deals through the bodyguard because T.I. is a convicted felon. It is a violation of federal law for a convicted felon to have another person purchase or acquire firearms on his behalf.

Saturday's arrest came just hours before the BET Hip-Hop Awards. T.I., who is co-chief executive of Grand Hustle Records, won two awards. No word on whether he beat out L'il Wayne and Snoop Dogg for Best Arrest.