Atlanta Music category interest

What is T.I.'s net worth?

T.I. is an American rapper, actor, songwriter, producer, entrepreneur, record executive, and author who has a net worth of $30 million. That is a combined net worth with his wife, Tameka Cottle, more commonly known as "Tiny Harris." They have been together since 2001 and a married since 2010. Our number also includes the $71 million judgment ordered paid to them in September 2024 after a successful copyright infringement case against toy company MGA Entertainment. More on his lawsuit later in this article below.

T.I. is known for being one of the rappers to popularize the hip hop subgenre of trap music along with Gucci Mane and Jeezy. T.I. is also known as "The King of the South," widely recognized for popularizing the trap music subgenre. He released his debut album, "I'm Serious," in 2001, though it was his second album, "Trap Muzik," in 2003 that catapulted him to fame with hits like "24's" and "Rubber Band Man."

Throughout his career, T.I. has released over ten studio albums, received multiple Grammy Awards, and charted several No. 1 singles, such as "Live Your Life" and "Whatever You Like." As an actor, T.I. has appeared in films like "ATL," "Takers," and the Marvel Cinematic Universe's "Ant-Man" series. In addition to his entertainment career, he co-founded Grand Hustle Records and has been involved in various philanthropic endeavors. Despite legal and personal issues that have occasionally disrupted his career, T.I.'s influence in hip-hop remains significant.

$100 Million OMG Girlz Lawsuit

In 2009, T.I. and wife Tameka "Tiny" Harris co-created a teen pop group called OMG Girlz. One of the members was their daughter Zonnique Pullins. The group released a handful of singles but was mostly known for their distinctive hairstyles and costumes. Those hairstyles and costumes would eventually become the center of a lawsuit filed by T.I. and Tiny against a toy maker called MGA Entertainment and its owner, Isaac Larian. Amazingly, Larian became a billionaire thanks to the Bratz doll empire. MGA is also the creator of a line of dolls called "L.O.L. Surpise! OMG Dolls." The dolls wore urban outfits and had vibrant hairstyles, much like the OMG Girlz members.

T.I. and Tiny thought the similarities were not a coincidence and opted to sue MGA, claiming that the line of dolls infringed on the copyright of OMG Girlz. Their lawsuit sought $100 million in damages.

Below is an exhibit shown in the court case that T.I. and Tiny believed proved OMG Girlz was being copied illegally:

A first trial ended in a mistrial when jurors heard testimony that accused the company of "cultural appropriation," which was supposed to be barred testimony. At the second trial, in July 2023, a jury found that MGA had not violated any copyright or trademark of OMG Girlz. That wasn't the end of the bad news. In addition to NOT winning the $100 million lawsuit, the jury also ordered the couple to pay MGA $6 million to cover its attorney's fees. But the case wasn't over. In September 2023, T.I. and Tiny were granted a retrial, amazingly, after a Supreme Court judgment came down on a different case. In this other case, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment did NOT protect a dog toy company from creating a chew toy that looked like a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey. At the THIRD trial's conclusion in September 2024, the jury found in favor of T.I. and Tiny, ordering MGA Entertainment to pay a whopping $71 million in damages to the couple, made up of $17.9 million in compensatory damages and $53.6 million in punitive damages.

Tax Issues

T.I. and Tiny have had a few issues with the IRS over the years. In 2012 the couple was hit with a lien in the amount of $1,397,283.47. Following the non-payment of this amount, a second lien was issued in 2013 in the amount of $3,173,476.39 for taxes owed for that year.

In 2015 the IRS claimed the couple's tax payments and penalty debt totaled $4.5 million. By 2018 the debt reportedly totaled $6.2 million. The IRS by this point had apparently filed multiple tax liens against the couple to resolve the debt.

In March 2018 the couple paid down $1 million of the debt.

Early Life

T.I. was born Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr. on September 25, 1980, in Alabama, He is the son of Clifford "Buddy" Harris Sr. and Violeta Morgan. He was raised by his grandparents in Atlanta's Center Hill neighborhood. His father lived in New York City. T.I. visited him frequently while growing up. He started rapping when he was just eight years old. T.I. dropped out of to launch a music career. T.I. was a drug dealer after leaving high school and as a result, we arrested a number of times. He was given the nickname Rubber Band Man because he wore rubber bands on his wrist as a sign of how much money he was making. "Rubber Band Man" became one of the rapper's first singles.

Career

In 1999, Harris signed his first major-label record deal with LaFace, a subsidiary of Arista. Harris was released from Arista and signed with Atlantic, where he created his own label, Grand Hustle Records, in 2003. As of this writing, Harris has released ten studio albums. Seven of his albums have reached the top five of the Billboard 200 charts. His single "Live Your Life," became a number one hit, replacing his other song "Whatever You Like" at the top of the charts, making him one of a very small group of musical artists to have one of their own songs knock their other song out of the number one slot and occupy the first and second positions on the chart simultaneously.

In 2003, T.I. started to get a lot of attention thanks to his featured performance on rapper Bone Crusher's "Never Scared" single. That same year he released his iconic album "Trap Muzik," which contains the hit singles "Rubber Band Man" and "Let's Get Away. The following year he and Lil' Wayne appeared on Destiny's Child hit "Soldier." T.I. also released his "Urban Legend" album that year. His 2008 album "Paper Trail" was his most successful to date and the third album of his to reach #1.

T.I. was featured with Pharrell Williams on the number one hit Robin Thicke song "Blurred Lines." That same year (2013), his 10-year deal with Atlantic expired and he signed with Columbia Records. He released "Paperwork" in 2014 and "Dime Trap" in 2018.

Harris also starred in the films "ATL," "Takers," "Get Hard," "Identity Thief," and in "Ant-Man" and its sequel. Harris has also starred in the reality television series "T.I.'s Road to Redemption," "T.I. andamp; Tiny: The Family Hustle", and "The Grand Hustle."

T.I. also wrote two novels, "Power andamp; Beauty" and "Trouble andamp; Triumph."

Legal Issues

T.I. is also no stranger to controversy. Harris has served two terms in county jail, twice for probation violations and a federal prison bid for a U.S. federal weapons charge. On September 1, 2010, T.I. and his wife Tiny were arrested for drug charges. The arrest for drug charges led to T.I. being sentenced on October 15, 2010, to 11 months in prison for violating the terms of his probation. He was found in possession of ecstasy, tested positive for opiates, and had been associating with a convicted felon, his P$C cohort C-Rod. On October 25, the drug charges against T.I. were dropped. On November 1, T.I. reported back to the Forrest City Federal Facility to serve his 11-month sentence.

Crypto Currency Lawsuit

In August 2017, an Atlanta-based entrepreneur launched a cryptocurrency project called the FliK Token. In November 2018 a number of investors sued FliK and T.I. claiming they lost millions after the founder made misleading claims about the token's future. One of the allegations claimed that the founder "insinuated" that billionaire Mark Cuban would soon be getting involved with FLiK's operations, something that never happened.

Even more important are the founder's claims about how much FLiK Token's value would increase in a short period of time. At launch, it was worth a reported six cents per token, but the founder promised investors that it would be up around $14.99 per token after 15 months – which, suffice it to say, never happened either. Instead, after an initial increase of six cents to 21 cents, the tokens completely cratered, and as of August of this year (a year after it was launched), it was worth less than one cent each.

In September 2020, T.I. settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission, agreeing to pay a civil monetary penalty of $75,000 and agree not to "participate in offerings or sales of digital-asset securities for at least five years," also per the press release. The SEC says that T.I. promoted and sold FLiK tokens on his official social media accounts, even claiming (inaccurately) to be a co-owner of the cryptocurrency as he encouraged his followers to invest in the taken.

Through a spokesperson, T.I. explained that he regretted the business venture with FliK's founder Ryan Felton:

"Mr. Harris regrets his involvement with Mr. Felton…He attempted to help a local entrepreneur who presented an innovative idea for a streaming online platform that would help reduce the barriers of entry for creators of music and video content. Regrettably, Mr. Felton apparently never built the platform he promised T.I. and many others, and instead sought to profit from Mr. Harris's popularity and reputation. Mr. Harris never took a dollar from Mr. Felton's failed venture and immediately removed his name from it once he learned that the project was undeveloped. Mr. Harris responded to all inquiries made by the SEC, and the settlement announced today is in full satisfaction of that investigation. Mr. Harris will continue to look for ways to help new artists gain access to digital distribution."

Jewelry Lawsuit

According to a lawsuit filed in 2016 by Aydin andamp; Co, a jewelry store in a Georgia, T.I. had been stiffing the business for their jewelry for years. The company says that they gave the rapper an 18.5 karat white gold bracelet, a ring and a yellow gold rosary. He paid the store $20,000, but the bill for the three pieces was $64,000. The lawsuit also stated that he owed the store over $400,000. As a result, the store sued the rapper for a grand total of $755,000. In September 2018 the case was settled out of court.

Personal Life

T.I. and Tameka Cottle, better known as Tiny Harris, started dating in 2001 and married on July 30, 2010, in Miami. Tiny and T.I. share two sons and one daughter together. T.I. also has two sons and a daughter with two different women and a stepdaughter through Tiny.

His stage name originally came from his childhood nickname "Tip," after his paternal great-grandfather.

In October 2015, T.I. made a controversial statement about 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton: "Not to be sexist but, I can't vote for the leader of the free world to be a woman. Just because, every other position that exists, I think a woman could do well. But the president? It's kinda like, I just know that women make rash decisions emotionally – they make very permanent, cemented decisions – and then later, it's kind of like it didn't happen, or they didn't mean for it to happen. And I sure would hate to just set off a nuke. [Other leaders] will not be able to negotiate the right kinds of foreign policy; the world ain't ready yet. I think you might be able to [get] the Loch Ness Monster elected before you could [get a woman]." Following the reaction from social media, T.I. publicly apologized on Twitter.

In November 2019, T.I. faced another backlash after telling the Ladies Like Us podcast that he accompanied his 18-year-old daughter annually to have her hymen checked to by a gynecologist to confirm her virginity.

In July 2020, T.I.'s daughter Deyjah Harris explained that the whole hymen incident traumatized her and she's been keeping her distance from her dad as a result. On July 27, she tweeted: "watch how you speak to your children. i don't care how old they are, they still deserve the same respect that you expect in return. i still love you .. but from a distance. not because i don't care about you, but more so for the sake of my own well-being and inner peace."

Atlanta Mansion

In January 2020, T.I. and Tiny paid $3.27 million for a 14,000-square-foot mansion in Atlanta, Georgia. The mansion, which is located in a private gated community, sits along the Chattahoochee River and features a large pool, spa, gym and outdoor fireplace. Here is a video tour of T.I. and Tiny's Atlanta mansion: