While upset by the massacre, Tip said the Sandy Hook Elementary School event proved why there is no such thing as a safe and secure place.
“It’s a tragedy and it’s a travesty, it was a catastrophic event. My heart goes out to the families. As a parent, there’s no way that you can hear or see or observe something like that go on and not be touched in your heart. Just to know somewhere so sacred, somewhere that is supposed to be completely off limits to any kind of wrongdoing, something like that can happen to kindergarteners — I don’t want to run the risk of sounding inappropriate but that is exactly the reason why I had mines. At any time, if anybody calls me, anytime, when I had mines, I’m pulling up with ’em and the whole perimeter will be secure and ain’t nobody moving but us. … I haven’t been to the military but I’m very militant-minded when it come to protecting.” (“Sway In The Morning”)
Tip could find himself getting backlash after featuring a gun on the cover of his new Trouble Man solo album.
It certainly wasn’t intentional, but the release of T.I.’s new album definitely comes at a sensitive time. Or, more specifically, the album’s cover art, which features the rapper holding up a gun. The disc, Trouble Man: Heavy Is the Head, dropped today as the nation continues to mourn the horrific tragedy that took place lastweek in Newtown, Conn. No word yet if there had been any discussion about possibly postponing the release date in light of the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Of course, time will tell what, if any, impact the cover might have on sales. (E! Online)
Once the cover art leaked online, some sites viewed the loaded gunas a metaphor for personal struggles.
T.I. holds a gun again on the album cover of ‘Trouble Man’ 2012. The Atlanta emcee has turned his failures into success since his long run ins with the law. After going to jail twice over gun and drug charges, T.I. emerges from the ashes triumphantly. The album cover for ‘Trouble Man’ has T.I. cartooned holding a gun. The graphic on the gun is filled with women, cars, and dice. With T.I. holding a gun on the cover the album artwork has to be symbolic to his personal struggles which we can look forward to hearing. (Club 937)
The shocking school shooting took place early Friday (December 14) morning.
Twenty-nine people, including 22 children, have been killed in a shooting at a US school, one of the worst gun massacres in the country’s history. A law enforcement official said the suspect in the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, is a 20-year-old man with links to the school. Another official said the gunman was killed and apparently had two guns, one of which was a .223-calibre rifle. (Belfast Telegraph)
In 2009, T.I. served a yearlong sentence after getting arrested on felony gun charges in 2007 during the BET Awards in Atlanta.
Check out T.I.’s interview:
