T.I.

Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. (born September 25, 1980), known professionally as T.I. or Tip, is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Harris is credited as a pioneer of the hip-hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Georgia-based rappers Jeezy and Gucci Mane. He met local music executive Kawan "KP" Prather in the late 1990s, joining his company Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment — an imprint of Arista and LaFace Records — by 1999. The lukewarm critical and commercial response of his debut studio album, I'm Serious (2001), led him to part ways the label. He then signed with Atlantic Records and found mainstream success with his subsequent releases, co-founding his record label imprint, Grand Hustle Records, in 2003.

Harris gained recognition following his guest appearance on fellow Atlanta-based rapper Bone Crusher's 2003 single "Never Scared" — his first Billboard Hot 100 entry. His second album, Trap Muzik (2003), peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 chart and spawned the top 40 singles "Rubber Band Man" and "Let's Get Away" (featuring Jazze Pha). The following year, Harris guest appeared alongside Lil Wayne on Destiny's Child's hit single "Soldier", and capitalized on this with the release of his third album, Urban Legend (2004). His next three studio albums each debuted atop the Billboard 200; his fourth and fifth, King (2006) and T.I. vs. T.I.P. (2007), were led by the Billboard Hot 100-top ten singles, "What You Know" and "Big Shit Poppin' (Do It)", respectively.

Harris' sixth album, Paper Trail (2008), yielded his furthest commercial success, receiving gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in its first week. It spawned two Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "Whatever You Like" and "Live Your Life" (featuring Rihanna); the latter replaced the former atop the chart, and made Harris the first rapper to do so while occupying its top two positions. Following an eleven-month incarceration, his seventh album, No Mercy (2010), witnessed a critical and commercial decline, rebounded by his eighth album, Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head (2012). Harris also guest appeared alongside Pharrell Williams on Robin Thicke's 2013 single "Blurred Lines", which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100, and did so in 22 other countries.