ATLANTA - T.I.'s lawyers asked a federal judge Friday to release the rapper on $2.2 million bond and allow him to have monitored home confinement while he awaits trial on weapons charges.
Defense attorney Ed Garland proposed putting a person in T.I.'s home 24 hours a day to monitor activities there.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Baverman said he will reserve his ruling on the singer's bond request until Oct. 26, when T.I.'s lawyers are expected to present a home monitor who must be approved by the court, pretrial services officials and prosecutors.
T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, would also have to submit to electronic monitoring. Only those on a preapproved list of visitors would be able to enter the home. Harris would surrender his passport and his right to drive, and would submit to random searches of the home and random drug screening.
Several record company executives, including some from Atlantic Records and Warner Music Group, were seated in the courtroom. Officials said they were prepared to offer signature bond on Harris' behalf in excess of $1 million.
Prosecutors countered that because of Harris' criminal history and because he was arrested while allegedly trying to buy machine guns and silencers, he poses a flight risk and danger to the community.
Harris was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on weapons charges, including possession of machine guns.
His indictment followed his arrest last Saturday for allegedly possessing unregistered machine guns and silencers and of being a convicted felon in possession of firearms.
Harris, 27, faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.
NAs Speaks on controversy with the title of new LP "Nigger" thanks to mtv.com
Nas says you shouldn't believe anything you've heard about Def Jam putting the kibosh on his next studio album. In fact, he insists he hasn't come across any resistance from the label.
The name of the LP has changed slightly, though. He's going all the way there: It's now called Nigger, and it is set to hit stores December 11.
"I don't know where that [report] came from and neither does Def Jam," Nas said early Thursday morning (October 18) in a Manhattan recording studio when asked about a Fox News article published earlier this week. The story quoted a "source close to" label head L.A. Reid, who scoffed at the thought of the company supporting an album with such a title, and also claimed the album was not on the label's release schedule. "None of us knows where that came from."
(At press time, Def Jam representatives had not responded to MTV News' requests for comment.)
Nigger has caused some strong reaction from civil-rights activists since news of the name hit the masses. The Fox News Web sitesite quoted the Rev. Jesse Jackson and representatives from the NAACP, who admonished Nas for using the N-word as his LP's name.
"I'm a street disciple," Nas responded, quoting one of his earlier album titles. "I'm talking to the streets. Stay out of our business. You ain't got no business worrying about what the word 'nigger' is or acting like you know what my album is about without talking to me. Whether you in the NAACP or you Jesse Jackson. I respect all of them ... I just want them to know: Never fall victim to Fox. Never fall victim to the sh-- they do. What they do is try to hurry up and get you on the phone and try to get you to talk about something you might not know about yet.
"If Cornel West was making an album called Nigger, they would know he's got something intellectual to say," Nas continued. "To think I'm gonna say something that's not intellectual is calling me a nigger, and to be called a nigger by Jesse Jackson and the NAACP is counterproductive, counter-revolutionary."
Nas said he hasn't talked to anyone outside his camp about the title, so he was upset to see that people are up in arms without knowing the story behind him choosing the name.
"I wanna make the word easy on mutha----as' ears," he explained. "You see how white boys ain't mad at 'cracker' 'cause it don't have the same [sting] as 'nigger'? I want 'nigger' to have less meaning [than] 'cracker.' With all the bullsh-- that's going on in the world, racism is at its peak. I wanna do the sh-- that's not being done. I wanna be the artist who ain't out. I wanna make the music I wanna hear.
"We're taking power [away] from the word," he added. "No disrespect to none of them who were part of the civil-rights movement, but some of my n---as in the streets don't know who [civil-rights activist] Medgar Evers was. I love Medgar Evers, but some of the n---as in the streets don't know Medgar Evers, they know who Nas is. And to my older people who don't now who Nas is and who don't know what a street disciple is, stay outta this mutha----in' conversation. We'll talk to you when we're ready. Right now, we're on a whole new movement. We're taking power [away] from that word."
Earlier this year, Nas told MTV News that he wanted to "have fun with the radio" while making his next LP. That was before he settled on the title, though. The album includes ideas and feelings he wanted to express for years that aren't exactly meant to make you dance or sing along in the club.
"Every time I get in the studio, I feel like I wanna have some fun," he said. "My fun is not doing the easy work. My fun is doing what's me. [Radio-friendly songs], that's easy work. My daughter could do that. My daughter could do the sh-- that's out. I wanna do me and hopefully some mutha----as would like it. At this point, I'm looking at the whole world differently. I'm looking at how politics could really be effective for people today, how me as an artist could be more effective. ... I listen to the radio sometime and I like the vibe of that. I go to a club, and my favorite sh-- is Soulja Boy ['Crank That']. I wanna get down with them joints, but ... [my records] do not come out like that."
T.I. Bond Hearing & Nas new albmn Controversy