T.I. Discusses Negative Prison Bid Effects, "Putting Me In Took Me Off That Positive Path"

Grammy-winning rapper T.I. recently opened up about the effects of serving time in prison for a felony gun conviction.

T.I. believes that prison moved him away from his positive path prior to going behind bars in May 2009.

"When I was goin' through it, I really felt like it added insult to injury. The lesson had already been learned. I already understood the errors in my ways and made the adjustments necessary. It did make me worse in a sense that, before I went in, I was already on a path of positivity. Putting me in prison took me off that path a little bit, and now I'm working to get back on that path--or at least back on the path to the extent that I was before I went in. I'm still not as bad as I was before this incident, but I lost a little bit of my positive focus during that period of incarceration. Being in that environment and having those daily surroundings, it's going to affect you."

FUSE TV television host Toure recently told SOHH the passing of T.I.'s friend Big Phil in 2006 had a larger impact than his time in prison.

"I think that really opened his eyes and that's what made him say, 'You know, I'm never going to get myself into this situation again.' I think he really learned and took a lot from that situation and made the changes he felt were necessary. So T.I. really had to rearrange himself emotionally after that situation. And I think that taking care of himself emotionally dealing with Phil had a much bigger impact than when he went to jail because this is a man who's already been there before. So that's not a huge experience for him."

The rapper's one-year jail bid stemmed from him being arrested on felony gun possession charges in 2007.

T.I. was sentenced in March 2009 on felony weapons charges arising from a 2007 arrest, when he was apprehended just before a scheduled appearance at the BET Hip-Hop Awards. TheAtlanta rapper pleaded guilty in March 2008 and struck a plea deal: a sentence of a year and a day would be contingent upon the star paying a $100,000 fine and completing 1,500 hours of community service; 1,000 hours to be finished before entering prison and 500 after his release. Also, post-prison, T.I. agreed to submit to drug counseling, a curfew, random property searches, DNA testing and a yearlong home confinement, among other conditions of the deal.

Earlier this year, T.I. compared his upcoming King Uncaged album to Tupac's All Eyez On Me based off the similarity of their prison bids.

T.I. is setting the bar high for his post-prison album, King Uncaged, comparing it to Tupac's 1996 classic All Eyez on Me, which was released months after 'Pac got out of prison. "This is the most significant return from incarceration that the game has had since then," T.I. says. "Just given the enormous success of that project, everyone's expecting the same results. I just want to meet the expectations, if not surpass them."

Check out a recent T.I. interview down below: