T.I. Says Goodbye

Sports Arena hosted the rapper’s last show in California before jail

He played to a half-filled arena, and ended the show by slamming his microphone down to the floor, but in his own way he said goodbye to California. Atlanta-based rapper T.I. (Clifford Harris for long) performed his last show in the state on March 17 at the San Diego Sports Arena, before being sentenced to a year in prison on illegal weapons charges.

The rapper started his show late, not coming on stage until almost 10:30 (and not until the Sports Arena crowd had sufficiently booed for a solid 20 minutes), and ended his show early, abruptly kicked off the stage by Sports Arena officials by 11:15, but T.I. would make those short 45 minutes of stage time intimate. Pausing after only two songs, T.I. felt the need to share with the crowd just a little tidbit of information. “You know this isn’t my first time in San Diego,” he said with a thick Southern-urban accent, pronouncing San Diego more like “San Dego,” “and I just wanna let you know how much I appreciate y’all making me feel welcome here.”

As a student who doesn’t get the chance to attend many concerts (let’s just say I’d rather eat something other than Easy Mac for a night), I jumped at the chance to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with T.I. after a friend acquired free tickets to the show. Walking past a 50-some-odd-year-old white guy in sunglasses and an Ed Hardy shirt and into an arena that smelled like ... “pine cones,” I eagerly awaited the arrival of the man dubbed the Jay-Z of the South by hip-hop icon Pharrell Williams back in 2001. And while I am a fan of the rapper, who recently won his third Grammy this year, the real reason I was excited to see T.I.’s show in California is because I knew it would be his last ... at least for a while.

Back in October 2007, Harris was arrested attempting to buy unregistered machine guns and silencers. He pled guilty to the federal weapons charges in March last year. Harris originally faced up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine per count until he cut a deal. Fast-forward to this year: T.I. faced his sentencing on March 27 in Atlanta. And after completing 1,000 hours of community service since the arrest, (much of it spent trying to warn urban youth about the dangers of guns, drugs, and violence), Harris was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, along with 470 additional hours of community service.

“Some of y’all might have heard about my recent problems,” Harris said at Sports Arena just 10 days before his sentencing, “and to all of you out there who have stuck by me, I wanna say thank-you.” Seemingly tying each pause in the show to a song he would perform, T.I. continuously shared stories of his life with a few thousand San Diegans in attendance.

He told us about his early life, growing up in Atlanta and coming up on the streets. He told us of his legal troubles, this now being his second prison sentence — the first was a substance-related conviction back in 1998. He told us about his introduction into the music industry, being told by legendary record executive L.A. Reid that he didn’t have any “hit-worthy” material, only to later release four albums and earn three Grammys. He even told us about his upcoming sentencing. From those on the floor to those in the rafters, the prison-bound rapper spoke to all his San Diego fans.

“I know that some of y’all been with me since the beginning here in San Dego,” he would say to cheers. “And I know that some of y’all been hatin’ on me here in San Dego,” he would hiss to jeers. “But no matter what, I’m glad y’all here with me tonight. I knew I picked San Dego for a reason to do my show.” You knew what he meant when you looked down at your ticket and saw the words “California Farewell.”

After only 45 minutes of his performance the lights in the Sports Arena lit up, the music was turned down, and T.I., noticeably upset by the show-cut-short, dropped his mike and walked away. Goodbye California. But even with its abrupt end, T.I.’s “California Farewell” left us all wanting more.

Now, with 60 days to report for his one-year jail bid, T.I. won’t be back for some time. Having listened to him rap and talk for nearly an hour at his San Diego sendoff, I can only imagine what he would have said had he not been cut-off by an anxious arena. “Goodnight San Dego, thanks for makin’ my last California show a memorable one.”

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