T.I. Rocks the House Before Heading to Big House

Grammy winner gives farewell performance before serving 366-day sentence

T.I., the beloved rapper better known to his parents as Clifford J. Harris, Jr., played in front of a packed hometown crowd last night before shuffling off to serve time on gun charges.

"I'm going to stand up tall, head up high," he told an adoring audience at Philips Arena in Atlanta. "Thank you for all of your support."

On Tuesday, Harris is required to report to the Federal Correction Institution at Forrest City, Ark., where he is to serve a year and a day for a litany of weapons charges.

On Oct. 13, 2007, just hours before he was to perform at the BET Awards -- where he was up for nine awards, Harris was arrested in an Atlanta parking lot trying to buy machine guns and silencers.

T.I Gets Punk'd

In 2005, shortly before achieving superstars status -- and while on probation, T.I. was rather prophetically victimized by Ashton Kutcher and his crew at "Punk'd."

As T.I. and his entourage were awaiting take off on a private jet, the plane was searched by what he believed to be a phalanx of feds, who "found" bullets for a .38-caliber gun.

To his credit, Harris was remarkably cooperative with the "authorites" and very good natured about being "Punk'd."

"What I need y'all to do is pray for me while I'm gone," Harris told his fans last night. "I'll see y'all in 366 days."

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