T.I. has appeared to address the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct that he and his wife Tameka “Tiny” Harris have faced in recent months on his new song ‘What It’s Comes To’.
It was reported earlier this week that the rapper (real name Clifford Harris) and Tiny are both under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) over fresh allegations of sexual assault and drugging after a woman filed a police report last month relating to an alleged 2005 incident.
A second police report with allegations of sexual assault was also filed earlier this month with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVPD). The department subsequently told the New York Times that this alleged 2010 incident fell outside the state’s statute of limitations for the crime and that the case was closed as a result.
T.I. and Tiny’s lawyer Steve Sadow denied the allegations in a statement and said that the “Harrises have not spoken to or been contacted by the LAPD, the LVPD or, indeed, any member of law enforcement from any other jurisdiction in the country”.
“Even assuming the story in the Daily Beast is close to accurate, it appears the LAPD ‘accuser’ has chosen once again to remain anonymous, thereby preventing us from being in a position to disprove or refute her allegations – or even examine them,” he added. “Meanwhile, although we now appear for the first time to have the name of an ‘accuser’ who supposedly filed a police report with LVPD, we have absolutely zero details about her or her claim.”
These developments follow on from the multiple allegations of sexual abuse and coercion against T.I. and Tiny that have emerged this year, which the pair have continued to deny.
In a new song that was released overnight, T.I. has appeared to make reference to the allegations that have been made against him and his wife this year.
“Go put yo face and reputation on it / These kind of claims deserve more than anonymous provocative conversation, don’t it?” he raps on ‘What It’s Comes To’. “Willing to face whatever consequences for his vision … while I’m up against some lyin’ ass bitches / Damn, this is what it’s come to.”
NME has contacted T.I.’s representatives for comment on whether his lyrics in ‘What It’s Comes To’ reflect the recent allegations he and Tiny have been subject to.
The woman who filed the LAPD police report, whose identity has been kept anonymous, is being represented by lawyer Tyrone A. Blackburn, who is also representing 11 alleged sexual assault victims of T.I. and Tiny. In February it was reported that Blackburn had contacted multiple state and federal prosecutors in the US seeking a criminal investigation into the couple.
The following month, Blackburn said that six more people had come forward to him with allegations of sexual assault against T.I. and Tiny. “If I was a prosecutor, I’d have brought charges already,” he said.
Blackburn is also representing the couple’s former friend Sabrina Peterson, who made the first allegations of sexual abuse and coercion against T.I. and Tiny back in January/
T.I. and Tiny “emphatically” denied Peterson’s allegations in a subsequent statement. In February, the couple’s lawyer further called the allegations “baseless and unjustified”.
The post T.I. appears to address sexual misconduct allegations in new song appeared first on NME.
