T.I. explained in detail about the root of his drug problem, saying it started when he had a lot of dental work done a few years ago and was prescribed some pretty heavy-duty pain killers. “They gave me oxycontin and hydrocodone,” T.I. said. “And, mind you, on October 13, 2007, I had cut off everything—weed, alcohol. Then I get these pills and I start taking them for the pain at first. And then I’m like, ‘Wait, this shit makes me feel good. And it’s legal.’ After the pain went away, I kept taking it. I had like five, six prescriptions. So I had, like 80 pills. Everybody else might have a drink or smoke a blunt, I took a pain pill. Times when I had 18- 20-hour days, I’d take a pain pill. And eventually I developed, I guess, the beginning stages of dependence.”
The rapper also discussed how he was able to talk to Eminem about his similar issues and get some advice. “We got a record together, and we talked a lot,” he said. “I asked him how he knew he was an addict. Basically if you put yourself in harm’s way… if you risk that, you’ve got to assume that there is something fundamentally wrong with your thought process.”
T.I., who helped rescue a suicidal jumper shortly before returning to jail, talked about how he is perceived by the public, and how many of his good deeds get overshadowed by the bad. He said, “If I place my value in the way humans treat me, then maybe. But they’re human, maybe they can’t help themselves. They do that to people they know personally. So how can I expect them to treat me, only knowing me through television? They did that to Jesus. They did that to Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali. They did it to every great person you could possibly think of. When it was all good, they was with them. When things got bad, then they was against them.”
By Emily Zemler
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