T.I. Portrays Rebellious Slave In Roots 2016 Remake, Ignorant To His Own Ancestral Roots
Grammy-winning rapper, Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr., also known as T.I., has signed on to portray the role of Cyrus—described as a headstrong slave fighting for freedom for the Union Army against Confederate Forces. T.I. will portray Cyrus in the A&E remake of the ground breaking, 1977 slave epic, Roots.
T.I. Gave an extensive interview to Siruis Radio’s, Sway In The Morning on his role in the Roots 2016 miniseries.
“If you’re gonna be a slave in the 1860’s Cyrus is the man to be…I’m not gonna be your ‘boy,’ I’m gonna conduct myself as a man, I’m gonna expect and demand, respect in return.”
T.I. tells Sway In The Morning, “This is the most important work I’ve ever done”.
However, T.I. tells Sway when asked by a reporter if he’d ever “traced his roots,” he was startled by the question. A question which left the Atlanta, Georgia rapper in awe, as he currently does not know the origins of his own ancestors.
“My daddy from Fair Street, My mama from Bankhead,” the rapper jokes with journalist, Sway.
This is a common struggle in the African American community—not knowing where ancestors descended from. A large amount of African Americans may think researching their family tree is impossible beyond 1870, according to the Black Voices section of the Huffington Post.
“If you descend from a black ancestor who was freed before the Civil War, she or he would have been listed in the census by name, and in other documents, just like any other free person; but slaves were not, making it extraordinarily difficult to trace them in the era of slavery.”
A DNA test can give an incredibly accurate sense of where ancestral lines trace back on the continent. However, this fact should not deter all from searching for their ancestors. In reading familial census, “One discovery leads to other discoveries, like links in a chain—the chain of your own ancestry.”
T.I. On “Modern Day Slavery”
In the interview with fellow African American journalist, Sway jokingly compared Jay-Z to Roots character, Chicken George, and T.I. being a “real life Cyrus” by T.I. partnering with Jay-Z to form his own music label, Tidal. Sway jokes about being happy and content with Sirius radio—having his own office in a corner at VH1.
He then jokes his “slave name” was “Kunta-KenSway.” T.I. says he partnered with Jay-Z after his creative freedom was restricted with Sony. T.I. says he thought he’d have freedom to manifest his ideas using Sony as a vehicle—due to Sony having various labels including music and motion pictures. T.I. says his “thoughts” were wrong.
Struggles Rapper T.I. Faced In The Portrayal of Rebellious Slave, Cyrus
T.I. was left feeling quite uncertain when he was asked to join the cast due to the huge historical impact the original 1977 series left on the world. Upon reading the script, T.I. felt compared to portray the role of Cyrus. The Huffington Post reports T.I. channeled the character of Cyrus by inserting himself into the mind of “someone who would do anything for freedom”—this included pulling from his experiences of being incarcerated.
“I do know what it’s like to have your freedom be taken from you or to not have it be available to you…”
The rapper continues, “I kind of amplified my thoughts and how I felt when my freedom was separate and apart from me. So I kind of took that and pushed upon it, because Cyrus is actually thee most rebellious and non-subservient character that there is. You never see Cyrus in ‘Roots’ as a slave, he’s always a runaway slave – running, dodging bullets and doing whatever it takes to maintain his freedom. So it wasn’t as slave written as the rest of the characters, but I think all of the characters collectively to the story are important.”
Not Your “Typical Rapper”
“Rapper T.I. NYC Shooting Leaves One Dead and Three Injured” is a common headline in association with this rapper. However, T.I. has managed to stay true to what he values most, family. T.I’s devotion to his wife and children landed him a reality television show on MTV entitled, The Family Hustle.
The show displays the everyday life of T.I., his wife and six children. T.I. And his wife, Tameka “Tiny” Harris recently gave birth to their seventh child, a girl named Heiress.
T.I.’s wife, Tameka “Tiny” Harris (formerly known as Tameka Cottle) made headlines in 2014 after going under controversial eye color changing surgery when she opted to change her eye color from dark brown to “Ice-gray.” Many felt Tameka was not being loyal to her African American heritage. Tameka has since indirectly become the poster child for eye-color change surgery after publicly revealing her new eye color on Instagram. Tameka underwent eye surgery under the care of BrightOcular. According to the website, “Bright Ocular” is an artificial eye implant placed in the eye to change the appearance of the iris for medical and cosmetic purposes.
T.I. Is Not Your “Typical Rapper”
T.I. has continued to go against the grain in the hip hop community by not falling into temptations of the hip-hop industry, which may include cheating, drugs and promoting illegal activities. Others have called T.I. The “Bill Cosby of the Rap Game”—T.I. makes sure to correct those by saying he is the “Cliff Huxtable of the Rap Game” because as he puts it, “There’s no stain on the Huxtable name.” T.I. has been well known to many as a “family man,” something not heavily promoted in the rap industry. Many have called T.I’s wife, Tiny—”a waste of light skin”—indicating the rapper has had ample opportunities to cheat, date or marry many of his video vixens, but has remained faithful to his wife of six years. The fun family antics of T.I. and his family of nine can be seen on MTV’s The Family Hustle.
