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A pulse (Latin "puls",^[1] from Ancient Greek πόλτος poltos "porridge")^[2] is an annual leguminous crop yielding from one to twelve seeds of variable size, shape, and color within a pod. Pulses are used for food and animal feed. Archaeologists have discovered traces of pulse production around Ravi River (Punjab), the seat of the Indus Valley civilization, dating circa 3300 BCE. Meanwhile, evidence of lentil cultivation has also been found in Egyptian pyramids and dry pea seeds have been discovered in a Swiss village that are believed to date back to the Stone Age. Archaeological evidence suggests that these peas must have been grown in the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia regions at least 5,000 years ago and in Britain as early as the 11th century.^[3] The term "pulse", as used by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), is reserved for crops harvested solely for the dry seed. This excludes green beans and green peas, which are considered vegetable crops. Also excluded are crops that are mainly grown for oil extraction (oilseeds like soybeans and peanuts), and crops which are used exclusively for sowing (clovers, alfalfa). However, in common use these distinctions are not clearly made, and many of the varieties so classified and given below are also used as vegetables, with their beans in pods while young; cooked in whole cuisines; and sold for the purpose; for example, black eyed beans, lima beans and Toor or pigeon peas are thus eaten as fresh green beans, or cooked as part of a meal. Pulses are important food crops due to their high protein and essential amino acid content. Like many leguminous crops, pulses play a key role in crop rotation due to their ability to fix nitrogen.

Just like words such as "bean" and "lentil", the word "pulse" may also refer to just the seed, rather than the entire plant.

World economy[link]

India is the world's largest producer and the largest consumer of pulses. Pakistan, Canada, Burma, Australia and the United States, in that order, are significant exporters and are India's most significant suppliers. Canada now accounts for approximately 35% of global pulse trade each year. The global pulse market is estimated at 60 million tonnes.^[3]

Classification[link]

Variety of pulses

FAO recognizes 11 primary pulses.

1. Dry beans (Phaseolus spp. including several species now in Vigna)
   • Kidney bean, haricot bean, pinto bean, navy bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)
   • Lima bean, butter bean (Phaseolus lunatus)
   • Azuki bean, adzuki bean (Vigna angularis)
   • Mung bean, golden gram, green gram (Vigna radiata)
   • Black gram, urad (Vigna mungo)
   • Scarlet runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus)
   • Ricebean (Vigna umbellata)
   • Moth bean (Vigna acontifolia)
   • Tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius)
2. Dry broad beans (Vicia faba)
   • Horse bean (Vicia faba equina)
   • Broad bean (Vicia faba)
   • Field bean (Vicia faba)
3. Dry peas (Pisum spp.)
   • Garden pea (Pisum sativum var. sativum)
   • Protein pea (Pisum sativum var. arvense)
4. Chickpea, garbanzo, Bengal gram (Cicer arietinum)
5. Dry cowpea, black-eyed pea, blackeye bean (Vigna unguiculata )
6. Pigeon pea, Arhar /Toor, cajan pea, Congo bean, gandules (Cajanus cajan)
7. Lentil (Lens culinaris)
8. Bambara groundnut, earth pea (Vigna subterranea)
9. Vetch, common vetch (Vicia sativa)
10. Lupins (Lupinus spp.)
11. Minor pulses, including:
    • Lablab, hyacinth bean (Lablab purpureus)
    • Jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis), sword bean (Canavalia gladiata)
    • Winged bean (Psophocarpus teragonolobus)
    • Velvet bean, cowitch (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis)
    • Yam bean (Pachyrrizus erosus)

Nutrient-rich pulses[link]

Pulses provide protein, complex carbohydrates, and several vitamins and minerals. Like other plant-based foods, they contain no cholesterol and little fat or sodium. Pulses also provide iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc and other minerals, which play a variety of roles in maintaining good health.

• Protein content

Pulses are 20 to 25% protein by weight, which is double the protein content of wheat and three times that of rice. While pulses are generally high in protein, and the digestibility of that protein is also high, they often are relatively poor in the essential amino acid methionine, although Indian cuisine includes sesame seeds, which contain high levels of methionine. Grains (which are themselves deficient in lysine) are commonly consumed along with pulses to form a complete diet of protein.

Health[link]

Pulses have significant nutritional and health advantages for consumers.^[4] They are the most important dietary predictor of survival in older people of different ethnicities,^[5] and in the Seven Countries Study, legume consumption was highly correlated with a reduced mortality from coronary heart disease.^[6] Furthermore, pulses are especially high in amylose starch making them a good source of prebiotic resistant starch.^[7]

• Diabetic diet: For people with diabetes, consuming lentils, peas and beans helps control blood glucose management. Compared with some other carbohydrate sources, pulses have a lower glycemic index. Studies have also shown that consuming pulses can result in more stable blood glucose levels after meals.
• Weight management diet: Although more research is needed in this direction, consuming pulses can help with weight management. For people trying to lose weight, pulses are high in fiber and protein, low in fat and moderate in calories. One cup of cooked lentils or dry peas contains about half of the daily fiber recommendation for adults. Foods higher in fiber content usually help people feel “full” or satiated at mealtime.^[3]

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Grain legumes portal / AEP – European-based network of scientists and end-users concerned with grain legumes.
• Pulse Canada – Industry association that represents growers, processors and traders of pulse crops in Canada.
• Canadian Special Crops Association – National trade association that represents companies involved in the merchandising of Canadian pulse and special crops.
• [1] – International Pulses Trade & Industry Confederation representing companies and entities involved in pulses production, consumption and promotion.

Asaf Avidan
Asaf Avidan
Background information
Born	(1980-03-23) March 23, 1980 (age 32) Jerusalem
Genres	Folk, Folk rock, Rock, Blues
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Piano
Years active	2000s–present
Labels	Telmavar Records, Sony-Columbia
Associated acts	Asaf Avidan & The Mojos
Website	www.asafavidanmusic.com

Asaf Avidan (Hebrew: אסף אבידן‎) (born March 23, 1980) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and musician, best known for his voice, often compared to Janis Joplin and Robert Plant. He is also the creative force and front-man of folk/rock band Asaf Avidan & the Mojos.

Biography & Early Career[link]

Avidan was born in Jerusalem in 1980. His parents were diplomats for the Israeli Foreign Office, and he spent four years of his childhood in Jamaica. After the mandatory army service in Israel, Avidan studied animation at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design. His final project short film, “Find Love Now”, won its category at the Haifa Film Festival that year. After his studies, Avidan moved to Tel Aviv and worked as an animator, until a breakup with his long-time girlfriend shook his world and made him move back to Jerusalem, quit his job and turn full time to his up-till-then hobby – music. Six songs about that breakup and subsequent heartache would constitute his debut EP, “Now That You’re Leaving”, which was released independently in 2006 to critical acclaim.

Asaf Avidan & the Mojos[link]

The Reckoning (2008)[link]

In late 2006, while playing solo shows across Israel, Avidan put together a support cast of musicians who would become The Mojos (Ran Nir – Bass, Yoni Sheleg – Drums, Roi Peled – Guitar, Hadas Kleinman – cello). The group played extensively in Israel, and also played a few New York shows, including MEANY Fest, where they advanced to the finals. In 2007 the band went into the recording studio together for the first time, and recorded “The Reckoning”. The album’s 15 tracks blended rock, folk and blues with Avidan’s lyrics about relationships and betrayal. By now the band had accumulated a huge live following in Israel and most record labels expressed interest. But Avidan decided to continue on the independent path, and founded (with his brother and manager, Roie Avidan) Telmavar Records, on which “The Reckoning” was released in March 2008. It reached Gold status in a year, platinum later, and would become the biggest selling independent record of all time in Israel. It was chosen as Album of the Year (2008) by various media, including TimeOut Tel Aviv. “Weak”, the second single of the album, became a huge radio hit and its video was Video of the Year on Israel’s music channel. “Weak” would also be the title song of the film "L'Arbre" by Julie Bertuccelli, which starred Charlotte Gainsbourg and was the closing film at Cannes Film Festival 2010.

While several European labels put offers on the table, the band opted to embark on a self-funded summer tour in 2009, playing dozens of festivals and venues across Europe. By the end of that summer, Telmavar Records signed a licensing deal with Sony-Columbia in Europe, for "The Reckoning" and for the band's future second LP.

The Reckoning was released in parts of Europe in 2009, to generally good reviews. In France iTunes chart it would peak at #8.

PoorBoy/Lucky Man (2009)[link]

"Poor Boy/Lucky Man", the band's second album, was released in Israel on 9/9/09. The album's title song and main theme would revolve around a boy born with a hole instead of a heart. The album was originally released in two different names and covers, leaving it up to the audience to decide whether this figure was poor or lucky. It would reach Gold status in Israel in 5 months, and garner ecstatic reviews. It was released in parts of Europe in April 2011. Among others, it was album of the month on France's national FIP radio, in the newspaper Liberacion, and in Germany's Eclipsed magazine.

The band continued to tour non-stop from 2009 all through 2011 (mostly in Israel and Europe but also in the US, Canada, China and India), building up a devoted following and a reputation for a legendary live show. Amongst the hundreds of shows, they played at Brandenburg Bridge at The World Championship of Athletics in Berlin; at the closing event at Cannes Film Festival 2010; at China’s biggest May 1 festivals; and at a tribute concert for The Who in Carnegie Hall, New York. They would play dozens of festivals across Europe (including Solidays France, Latitude UK, Paleo Switzerland, Frequency Austria, and Haldern Pop Germany) as well as countless radio and TV shows (including Taratata and One Shot Not in France, and two Rockpalast performances in Germany).

Through the Gale (2010)[link]

On November 30, 2010 the band released their 3rd album in Israel, "Through the Gale", a concept album telling the tale of the voyage of a blind and stubborn captain and his loyal crew in search of immortality, to the realms of the gods themselves, only to understand at the end that a voyage with no home, that a life without death, is meaningless.

Solo career[link]

In July 2011, following another summer tour that saw them sharing the stage with Robert Plant, Ben Harper and Lou Reed among others, Asaf Avidan & the Mojos announced that they are taking an indefinite creative break.

Avidan had continuously played solo and duo acoustic shows throughout the band's career, including "regular" venue shows as well as a TED Global Conference performance, supporting Bob Dylan, playing a tribute concert for The Who at Carnegie Hall and many radio and TV performances.

Avidan is set to continue touring and plans to go into the recording studio in the winter with a yet-unknown support cast of musicians.

Discography[link]

• 2006 – Now That You're Leaving (Asaf Avidan, Telmavar Records)
• 2008 – The Reckoning (Asaf Avidan & the Mojos, Telmavar/Columbia)
• 2009 – Poor Boy / Lucky Man (Asaf Avidan & the Mojos, Telmavar/Columbia)
• 2010 – Through the Gale (Asaf Avidan & the Mojos, Telmavar Records)

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Official Myspace profile
• Official Facebook fan page
• Official Vimeo page
• Official Youtube channel
• "Taratata" French TV performance
• TEDxTLV performance
• "Ce Sor Ou Jamais" TV performance
• Israel "Haproyect" video blog
• NYC show review
• The Reckoning album review, UK

Steve Reich in 2006

Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich ( /ˈraɪʃ/;^[1] born October 3, 1936) is an American composer who is one of the pioneering composers of minimal music along with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass.^[2][3][4]

His innovations include using tape loops to create phasing patterns (examples are his early compositions, "It's Gonna Rain" and "Come Out"), and the use of simple, audible processes to explore musical concepts (for instance, "Pendulum Music" and "Four Organs"). These compositions, marked by their use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm and canons, have significantly influenced contemporary music, especially in the US. Reich's work took on a darker character in the 1980s with the introduction of historical themes as well as themes from his Jewish heritage, notably the Grammy Award-winning Different Trains.

Reich's style of composition influenced many other composers and musical groups. Reich has been described, in The Guardian by music critic Andrew Clements, as one of "a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history",^[5] and the critic Kyle Gann has said Reich "may...be considered, by general acclamation, America's greatest living composer."^[6]

On January 25, 2007, Reich was named the 2007 recipient of the Polar Music Prize, together with jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins. On April 20, 2009, Reich was awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Double Sextet.^[7]

Career[link]

Early life[link]

Reich was born in New York City to the Broadway lyricist June Sillman. When he was one year old, his parents divorced, and Reich divided his time between New York and California. He was given piano lessons as a child and describes growing up with the "middle-class favorites", having no exposure to music written before 1750 or after 1900. At the age of 14 he began to study music in earnest, after hearing music from the Baroque period and earlier, as well as music of the 20th century. Reich studied drums with Roland Kohloff in order to play jazz. While attending Cornell University, he took some music courses, but he graduated in 1957 with a B.A. in Philosophy. Reich's B.A. thesis was on Ludwig Wittgenstein; later he would set texts by that philosopher to music in Proverb (1995) and You Are (variations) (2006).

For a year following graduation, Reich studied composition privately with Hall Overton before he enrolled at Juilliard to work with William Bergsma and Vincent Persichetti (1958–1961). Subsequently he attended Mills College in Oakland, California, where he studied with Luciano Berio and Darius Milhaud (1961–1963) and earned a master's degree in composition. At Mills, Reich composed Melodica for melodica and tape, which appeared in 1986 on the three-LP release Music from Mills.^[8]

Reich worked with the San Francisco Tape Music Center along with Pauline Oliveros, Ramon Sender, Morton Subotnick, and Terry Riley.^[9] He was involved with the premiere of Riley's In C and suggested the use of the eighth note pulse, which is now standard in performance of the piece.

1960s[link]

Reich's early forays into composition involved experimentation with twelve-tone composition, but he found the rhythmic aspects of the twelve-tone series more interesting than the melodic aspects.^[10] Reich also composed film soundtracks for Plastic Haircut, Oh Dem Watermelons, and Thick Pucker, three films by Robert Nelson. The soundtrack of Plastic Haircut, composed in 1963, was a short tape collage, possibly Reich's first. The Watermelons soundtrack used two old Stephen Foster minstrel tunes as its basis, and used repeated phrasing together in a large five-part canon. The music for Thick Pucker arose from street recordings Reich made walking around San Francisco with Nelson, who filmed in black and white 16mm. This film no longer survives. A fourth film from 1965, about 25 minutes long and tentatively entitled "Thick Pucker II", was assembled by Nelson from outtakes of that shoot and more of the raw audio Reich had recorded. Nelson was not happy with the resulting film and never showed it.

Reich was influenced by fellow minimalist Terry Riley, whose work In C combines simple musical patterns, offset in time, to create a slowly shifting, cohesive whole. Reich adopted this approach to compose his first major work, It's Gonna Rain. Composed in 1965, the piece used a fragment of a sermon about the end of the world given by a black Pentecostal street-preacher known as Brother Walter. Reich built on his early tape work, transferring the last three words of the fragment, "it's gonna rain!", to multiple tape loops which gradually move out of phase with one another.

The 13-minute "Come Out" (1966) uses similarly manipulated recordings of a single spoken line given by Daniel Hamm, one of the falsely accused Harlem Six, who was severely injured by police. The survivor, who had been beaten, punctured a bruise on his own body to convince police about his beating. The spoken line includes the phrase "to let the bruise’s blood come out to show them." Reich rerecorded the fragment "come out to show them" on two channels, which are initially played in unison. They quickly slip out of sync; gradually the discrepancy widens and becomes a reverberation. The two voices then split into four, looped continuously, then eight, and continues splitting until the actual words are unintelligible, leaving the listener with only the speech's rhythmic and tonal patterns.

A similar, lesser known example of process music is "Pendulum Music" (1968), which consists of the sound of several microphones swinging over the loudspeakers to which they are attached, producing feedback as they do so. "Pendulum Music" has never been recorded by Reich himself, but was introduced to rock audiences by Sonic Youth in the late 1990s.

Reich's first attempt at translating this phasing technique from recorded tape to live performance was the 1967 Piano Phase, for two pianos. In Piano Phase the performers repeat a rapid twelve-note melodic figure, initially in unison. As one player keeps tempo with robotic precision, the other speeds up very slightly until the two parts line up again, but one sixteenth note apart. The second player then resumes the previous tempo. This cycle of speeding up and then locking in continues throughout the piece; the cycle comes full circle three times, the second and third cycles using shorter versions of the initial figure. Violin Phase, also written in 1967, is built on these same lines. Piano Phase and Violin Phase both premiered in a series of concerts given in New York art galleries.

Reich also tried to create the phasing effect in a piece "that would need no instrument beyond the human body". He found that the idea of phasing was inappropriate for the simple ways he was experimenting to make sound. Instead, he composed Clapping Music (1972), in which the players do not phase in and out with each other, but instead one performer keeps one line of a 12-quaver-long (12-eighth-note-long) phrase and the other performer shifts by one quaver beat every 12 bars, until both performers are back in unison 144 bars later.

The 1967 prototype piece Slow Motion Sound was not performed although Chris Hughes performed it 27 years later as "Slow Motion Blackbird" on his Reich-influenced 1994 album Shift. It introduced the idea of slowing down a recorded sound until many times its original length without changing pitch or timbre, which Reich applied to Four Organs (1970), which deals specifically with augmentation. The piece has maracas playing a fast eighth note pulse, while the four organs stress certain eighth notes using an 11th chord. This work therefore dealt with repetition and subtle rhythmic change. It is unique in the context of Reich's other pieces in being linear as opposed to cyclic like his earlier works— the superficially similar Phase Patterns, also for four organs but without maracas, is (as the name suggests) a phase piece similar to others composed during the period. Four Organs was performed as part of a Boston Symphony Orchestra program, and was Reich's first composition to be performed in a large traditional setting.

1970s[link]

In 1971, Reich embarked on a five-week trip to study music in Ghana, during which he learned from the master drummer Gideon Alorwoyie. Reich also studied Balinese gamelan in Seattle. From his African experience, as well as A. M. Jones's Studies in African Music about the music of the Ewe people, Reich drew inspiration for his 90-minute piece Drumming, which he composed shortly after his return. Composed for a nine-piece percussion ensemble with female voices and piccolo, Drumming marked the beginning of a new stage in his career, for around this time he formed his ensemble, Steve Reich and Musicians, and increasingly concentrated on composition and performance with them. Steve Reich and Musicians, which was to be the sole ensemble to interpret his works for many years, still remains active with many of its original members.

After Drumming, Reich moved on from the "phase shifting" technique that he had pioneered, and began writing more elaborate pieces. He investigated other musical processes such as augmentation (the temporal lengthening of phrases and melodic fragments). It was during this period that he wrote works such as Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ (1973) and Six Pianos (1973).

In 1974, Reich began writing what many would call his seminal work, Music for 18 Musicians. This piece involved many new ideas, although it also hearkened back to earlier pieces. It is based on a cycle of eleven chords introduced at the beginning (called "Pulses"), followed by a small section of music based on each chord ("Sections I-XI"), and finally a return to the original cycle ("Pulses"). This was Reich's first attempt at writing for larger ensembles. The increased number of performers resulted in more scope for psychoacoustic effects, which fascinated Reich, and he noted that he would like to "explore this idea further". Reich remarked that this one work contained more harmonic movement in the first five minutes than any other work he had written. Steve Reich and Musicians made the premier recording of this work on ECM Records.

Reich explored these ideas further in his frequently recorded pieces Music for a Large Ensemble (1978) and Octet (1979). In these two works, Reich experimented with "the human breath as the measure of musical duration … the chords played by the trumpets are written to take one comfortable breath to perform".^[11] Human voices are part of the musical palette in Music for a Large Ensemble but the wordless vocal parts simply form part of the texture (as they do in Drumming). With Octet and his first orchestral piece Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards (also 1979), Reich's music showed the influence of Biblical cantillation, which he had studied in Israel since the summer of 1977. After this, the human voice singing a text would play an increasingly important role in Reich's music.

In 1974 Reich published a book, Writings About Music (ISBN 0814773583), containing essays on his philosophy, aesthetics, and musical projects written between 1963 and 1974. An updated and much more extensive collection, Writings On Music (1965–2000) (ISBN 0195111710), was published in 2002.

1980s[link]

Reich's work took on a darker character in the 1980s with the introduction of historical themes as well as themes from his Jewish heritage. Tehillim (1981), Hebrew for psalms, is the first of Reich's works to draw explicitly on his Jewish background. The work is in four parts, and is scored for an ensemble of four women's voices (one high soprano, two lyric sopranos and one alto), piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, two clarinets, six percussion (playing small tuned tambourines without jingles, clapping, maracas, marimba, vibraphone and crotales), two electronic organs, two violins, viola, cello and double bass, with amplified voices, strings, and winds. A setting of texts from psalms 19:2–5 (19:1–4 in Christian translations), 34:13–15 (34:12–14), 18:26–27 (18:25–26), and 150:4–6, Tehillim is a departure from Reich's other work in its formal structure; the setting of texts several lines long rather than the fragments used in previous works makes melody a substantive element. Use of formal counterpoint and functional harmony also contrasts with the loosely structured minimalist works written previously.

	Pat Metheny "Electric Counterpoint III Fast" (1989) noicon 25 seconds of "Electric Counterpoint III Fast" performed by Pat Metheny. Composed by Steve Reich. From "Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint" album.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Different Trains (1988), for string quartet and tape, uses recorded speech, as in his earlier works, but this time as a melodic rather than a rhythmic element. In Different Trains Reich compares and contrasts his childhood memories of his train journeys between New York and California in 1939–1941 with the very different trains being used to transport contemporaneous European children to their deaths under Nazi rule. The Kronos Quartet recording of Different Trains was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition in 1990. The composition was described by Richard Taruskin as "the only adequate musical response—one of the few adequate artistic responses in any medium—to the Holocaust", and he credited the piece with earning Reich a place among the great composers of the 20th century.^[13]

1990s to present[link]

In 1993, Reich collaborated with his wife, the video artist Beryl Korot, on an opera, The Cave, which explores the roots of Judaism, Christianity and Islam through the words of Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans, echoed musically by the ensemble. The work, for percussion, voices, and strings, is a musical documentary, named for the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, where a mosque now stands and Abraham is said to have been buried. The two collaborated again on the opera Three Tales, which concerns the Hindenburg disaster, the testing of nuclear weapons on Bikini Atoll, and other more modern concerns, specifically Dolly the sheep, cloning, and the technological singularity.

As well as pieces using sampling techniques, like Three Tales and City Life (1994), Reich also returned to composing purely instrumental works for the concert hall, starting with Triple Quartet (1998) written for the Kronos Quartet that can either be performed by string quartet and tape, three string quartets or 36-piece string orchestra. According to Reich, the piece is influenced by Bartók's and Alfred Schnittke's string quartets, and Michael Gordon's Yo Shakespeare.^[14] This series continued with Dance Patterns (2002), Cello Counterpoint (2003), and sequence of works centered around Variations: You Are (Variations) (2004) (a work which looks back to the vocal writing of works like Tehillim or The Desert Music), Variations for Vibes, Pianos, and Strings (2005, for the London Sinfonietta) and Daniel Variations (2006).

Invited by Walter Fink, he was the 12th composer featured in the annual Komponistenporträt of the Rheingau Musik Festival in 2002.

In an interview with The Guardian, Reich stated that he continues to follow this direction with his piece Double Sextet (2007) commissioned by eighth blackbird, an American ensemble consisting of the instrumental quintet (flute, clarinet, violin or viola, cello and piano) of Schoenberg's piece Pierrot Lunaire (1912) plus percussion. Reich states that he was thinking about Stravinsky's Agon (1957) as a model for the instrumental writing.

Reich was awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Music, on April 20, 2009, for Double Sextet.^[15]

December 2010 NoneSuch and Indaba Music held a community remix contest where over 250 submissions were received, and Steve Reich and Christian Carey judged the finals. Reich spoke in a related BBC interview that once he composed a piece he would not alter it again himself; "when it's done, it's done". On the other hand he acknowledged that "remixes" have an old tradition e.g. famous religious music pieces where melodies were further developed into new songs.^[16]

In May 2011, Steve Reich received an honorary doctorate from the New England Conservatory of Music.^[17]

Influence[link]

Reich's style of composition has influenced many other composers and musical groups, including John Adams, the progressive rock band King Crimson, the new-age guitarist Michael Hedges, the art-pop and electronic musician Brian Eno, the experimental art/music group The Residents, the composers associated with the Bang on a Can festival (including David Lang, Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe), and numerous indie rock musicians including songwriter Sufjan Stevens^[18][19] and instrumental ensembles Tortoise,^[20][21][22] The Mercury Program (themselves influenced by Tortoise),^[23] So Many Dynamos, Do Make Say Think and A Silver Mt. Zion.^{[citation needed]} Godspeed You! Black Emperor composed a song, unreleased, entitled "Steve Reich".^[24]

John Adams commented, "He didn't reinvent the wheel so much as he showed us a new way to ride."^[25] He has also influenced visual artists such as Bruce Nauman, and many notable choreographers have made dances to his music, Eliot Feld, Jiří Kylián, Douglas Lee and Jerome Robbins among others; he has expressed particular admiration of Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's work set to his pieces.

In featuring a sample of Reich's Electric Counterpoint (1987) the British ambient techno act the Orb exposed a new generation of listeners to the composer's music with its 1990 production “Little Fluffy Clouds.”^[26] Further acknowledgment of Reich's influence on various electronic dance music producers came with the release in 1999 of the Reich Remixed^[27] tribute album which featured reinterpretations by artists such as DJ Spooky, Kurtis Mantronik, Ken Ishii, and Coldcut, among others.^[26]

Reich often cites Pérotin, J.S. Bach, Debussy, Bartók, and Stravinsky as composers he admires, whose tradition he wished as a young composer to become part of.^[28] Jazz is a major part of the formation of Reich's musical style, and two of the earliest influences on his work were vocalists Ella Fitzgerald and Alfred Deller, whose emphasis on the artistic capabilities of the voice alone with little vibrato or other alteration was an inspiration to his earliest works. John Coltrane's style, which Reich has described as "playing a lot of notes to very few harmonies", also had an impact; of particular interest was the album Africa/Brass, which "was basically a half-an-hour in F."^[29] Reich's influence from jazz includes its roots, also, from the West African music he studied in his readings and visit to Ghana. Other important influences are Kenny Clarke and Miles Davis, and visual artist friends such as Sol LeWitt and Richard Serra. Reich recently contributed the introduction to Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture (The MIT Press, 2008) edited by Paul D. Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky.

Recent projects[link]

Reich has the world premiere of a piece, WTC 9/11, written for String Quartet and Tape, a similar instrumentation to that of Different Trains. It premiered in March 2011 by the Kronos Quartet, at Duke University, North Carolina, USA.^{[citation needed]}

Quotations[link]

[...] I drove a cab in San Francisco, and in New York I worked as a part-time social worker. Phil Glass and I had a moving company for a short period of time. I did all kinds of odd jobs [...] I started making a living as a performer in my own ensemble. I would never have thought that it was how I was going to survive financially. It was a complete wonder.
—From an interview with Richard Kessler, 1998^[30]

The point is, if you went to Paris and dug up Debussy and said, 'Excusez-moi Monsieur…are you an impressionist?' he'd probably say 'Merde!' and go back to sleep. That is a legitimate concern of musicologists, music historians, and journalists, and it's a convenient way of referring to me, Riley, Glass, La Monte Young [...] it's become the dominant style. But, anybody who's interested in French Impressionism is interested in how different Debussy and Ravel and Satie are—and ditto for what's called minimalism. [...] Basically, those kind of words are taken from painting and sculpture, and applied to musicians who composed at the same period as that painting and sculpture was made [...].
—From an Interview with Rebecca Y. Kim, 2000^[31]

All musicians in the past, starting with the middle ages were interested in popular music. (...) Béla Bartók's music is made entirely of sources from Hungarian folk music. And Igor Stravinsky, although he lied about it, used all kinds of Russian sources for his early ballets. Kurt Weill's great masterpiece Dreigroschenoper is using the cabaret-style of the Weimar Republic and that's why it is such a masterpiece. Only artificial division between popular and classical music happened unfortunately through the blindness of Arnold Schoenberg and his followers to create an artificial wall, which never existed before him. In my generation we tore the wall down and now we are back to the normal situation, for example if Brian Eno or David Bowie come to me, and if popular musicians remix my music like The Orb or DJ Spooky it is a good thing. This is a natural normal regular historical way.
—From an Interview with Jakob Buhre^[32]

Works[link]

• Soundtrack for The Plastic Haircut, tape (1963)
• Music for two or more pianos (1964)
• Livelihood (1964)
• It's Gonna Rain, tape (1965)
• Soundtrack for Oh Dem Watermelons, tape (1965)
• Come Out, tape (1966)
• Melodica, for melodica and tape (1966)
• Reed Phase, for soprano saxophone and tape (1966)
• Piano Phase for two pianos, or two marimbas (1967)
• Slow Motion Sound concept piece (1967)
• Violin Phase for violin and tape or four violins (1967)
• My Name Is for three tape recorders and performers (1967)
• Pendulum Music for 3 or 4 microphones, amplifiers and loudspeakers (1968) (revised 1973)^[33]
• Four Organs for four electric organs and maracas (1970)
• Phase Patterns for four electric organs (1970)
• Drumming for 4 pairs of tuned bongo drums, 3 marimbas, 3 glockenspiels, 2 female voices, whistling and piccolo (1970/1971)
• Clapping Music for two musicians clapping (1972)
• Music for Pieces of Wood for five pairs of tuned claves (1973)
• Six Pianos (1973) – transcribed as Six Marimbas (1986)
• Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ (1973)
• Music for 18 Musicians (1974–76)
• Music for a Large Ensemble (1978)
• Octet (1979) – withdrawn in favor of the 1983 revision for slightly larger ensemble, Eight Lines
• Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards for orchestra (1979)
• Tehillim for voices and ensemble (1981)
• Vermont Counterpoint for amplified flute and tape (1982)
• The Desert Music for chorus and orchestra or voices and ensemble (1983, text by William Carlos Williams)
• Sextet for percussion and keyboards (1984)
• New York Counterpoint for amplified clarinet and tape, or 11 clarinets and bass clarinet (1985)
• Three Movements for orchestra (1986)
• Electric Counterpoint for electric guitar or amplified acoustic guitar and tape (1987, for Pat Metheny)
• The Four Sections for orchestra (1987)
• Different Trains for string quartet and tape (1988)
• The Cave for four voices, ensemble and video (1993, with Beryl Korot)
• Duet for two violins and string ensemble (1993)
• Nagoya Marimbas for two marimbas (1994)
• City Life for amplified ensemble (1995)
• Proverb for voices and ensemble (1995, text by Ludwig Wittgenstein)
• Triple Quartet for amplified string quartet (with prerecorded tape), or three string quartets, or string orchestra (1998)
• Know What Is Above You for four women’s voices and 2 tamborims (1999)
• Three Tales for video projection, five voices and ensemble (1998–2002, with Beryl Korot)
• Dance Patterns for 2 xylophones, 2 vibraphones and 2 pianos (2002)
• Cello Counterpoint for amplified cello and multichannel tape (2003)
• You Are (Variations) for voices and ensemble (2004)
• For Strings (with Winds and Brass) for orchestra (1987/2004)
• Variations for Vibes, Pianos, and Strings dance piece for three string quartets, four vibraphones, and two pianos (2005)
• Daniel Variations for four voices and ensemble (2006)
• Double Sextet for 2 violins, 2 cellos, 2 pianos, 2 vibraphones, 2 clarinets, 2 flutes or ensemble and pre-recorded tape (2007)
• 2x5 for 2 drum sets, 2 pianos, 4 electric guitars and 2 bass guitars (2008)
• Mallet Quartet for 2 marimbas and 2 vibraphones or 4 marimbas (or solo percussion and tape) (2009)
• WTC 9/11 for String Quartet and Tape (2010)

Selected discography[link]

• Drumming. Steve Reich and Musicians (Two recordings: Deutsche Grammophon and Nonesuch) So Percussion (Cantaloupe)
• Music for 18 Musicians. Steve Reich and Musicians (Two recordings: ECM and Nonesuch), Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble (Innova), Ensemble Modern (RCA).
• Octet/Music for a Large Ensemble/Violin Phase. Steve Reich and Musicians (ECM)
• Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards/Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices and Organ/ Six Pianos. San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Edo de Waart, Steve Reich & Musicians (Deutsche Grammophon)
• Tehillim/The Desert Music. Alarm Will Sound and OSSIA, Alan Pierson (Cantaloupe)
• Different Trains/Electric Counterpoint. Kronos Quartet, Pat Metheny (Nonesuch)
• You Are (Variations)/Cello Counterpoint. Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon, Maya Beiser (Nonesuch)
• Steve Reich: Works 1965-1995. Various performers (Nonesuch).
• Daniel Variations, with Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings. London Sinfonietta, Grant Gershon, Alan Pierson (Nonesuch)
• Double Sextet/2x5, Eighth Blackbird and Bang on a Can (Nonesuch)
• Piano Phase, transcribed for guitar, Alexandre Gérard (Catapult)
• Phase to Face, a film documentary about Steve Reich by Eric Darmon & Franck Mallet (EuroArts) DVD

Further reading[link]

• D.J. Hoek. Steve Reich: A Bio-Bibliography. Greenwood Press, 2002.
• Steve Reich. Writings about Music. Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 1974.
• K. Robert Schwarz. Minimalists. Phaidon Press, 1996.

See also[link]

• Minimalist music
• Steve Reich and Musicians

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Potter, Keith (2000). Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass. Music in the Twentieth Century series. Cambridge, UK; New York, New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Reich, Steve; Hillier, Paul (Editor) (April 1, 2002). Writings on Music, 1965–2000. USA: Oxford University Press. p. 272. ISBN 0-19-511171-0. 
• Reich, Steve (1974). Writings About Music. Halifax: Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. p. 78. ISBN 0-919616-02-X. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Steve Reich

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Steve Reich

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T.I.
T.I. performing at the 2008 Bumbershoot festival.
Background information
Birth name	Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr.
Born	(1980-09-25) September 25, 1980 (age 31) Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, songwriter, record producer, actor, author
Instruments	Keyboards, sampler
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Grand Hustle, Atlantic
Associated acts	P$C
Website	trapmuzik.com

Clifford Joseph Harris, Jr. (born September 25, 1980), better known by his stage name T.I., is an American rap artist, film and music producer, actor and author. He is also the founder and co-chief executive officer (CEO) of Grand Hustle Records.^[1][2]

T.I. has released seven studio albums (I'm Serious, Trap Muzik, Urban Legend, King, T.I. vs. T.I.P., Paper Trail, and No Mercy) with the most recent five being highly successful on the commercial market. He has released such successful singles as "Bring Em Out", "What You Know", "Big Shit Poppin' (Do It)", "Swagga Like Us" (featuring Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne), "Whatever You Like", "Live Your Life" (featuring Rihanna), "Dead and Gone" (featuring Justin Timberlake), "Got Your Back" (featuring Keri Hilson) and "That's All She Wrote" (featuring Eminem). He has served two stints in county jail, twice for probation violations and a federal prison bid for a U.S. federal weapons charge. While serving 11 months in prison he released his seventh studio album, No Mercy. T.I. has also had successful acting career, starring in the films Takers and ATL.

Biography[link]

1980–2000: Early life and career beginnings[link]

T.I. was born Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. on September 25, 1980, in Riverdale, Georgia, the son of the late Clifford "Buddy" Harris Sr. and Violeta Morgan.^[3][4] He was raised by his grandparents in Bankhead, Atlanta, Georgia. His father lived in New York and he would often go up there to visit him. His father suffered from Alzheimer's and later died from the disease.^[5] T.I. began rapping at age nine.^[5] He attended Douglass High School, but later dropped out. As a teenager, he was a drug dealer.^[6][7] He was once known as Rubber Band Man, a reference to the custom of wearing rubber bands around the wrist to denote wealth in terms of drugs or money.^[8] By age 14, he had been arrested several times.^[5] He was nicknamed "Tip" after his paternal great-grandfather.^[9] Kawan "KP" Prather, a record executive, discovered and signed T.I. when he was a teenager.^[10] Upon signing with Arista Records subsidiary LaFace Records in 2001, he shortened his name to T.I. out of respect for label mate Q-Tip.^[11]

[edit] 2001–02: I'm Serious

T.I. released his debut album, I'm Serious, in October 2001 through Arista Records.^[12] The album spawned the eponymous single, which featured Jamaican reggae entertainer Beenie Man. His debut single, "I'm Serious," was released on June 26, 2001. The single received little airplay and failed to chart. The album included guests appearances from Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes (who called him "the Jay-Z of the South"),^[13] Jazze Pha, Too Short, Bone Crusher, Lil Jon, Pastor Troy, P$C and YoungBloodZ. The album featured production from The Neptunes, DJ Toomp, Madvac, and The Grand Hustle Team. Despite the album's guests appearances and production team, the album peaked at number 98 and only sold 163,000 copies in the United States.^[14] Critics pointed to the fact that many of the tracks sounded the same and that a few were blatant rip-offs.^[15] Other critics commented saying, "T.I. claims to be the king of the South, but fails to show and prove. He does, however, have potential. If his talent ever matches his confidence, he may be headed for stardom."^[16]

Due to the poor commercial reception of the album, T.I. was dropped from Arista Records.^[12] He then formed Grand Hustle Entertainment and started releasing several mixtapes with the assistance of DJ Drama.^[12] He resurfaced in the summer of 2003 with fellow Atlanta rapper and former label-mate Bone Crusher's song "Never Scared." His mixtapes and mainstream exposure from "Never Scared" eventually recaptured major label attention and he signed a joint venture deal with Atlantic Records.^[17][18]

[edit] 2003–05: Trap Muzik and Urban Legend

T.I. released his second album Trap Muzik on August 19, 2003 through Grand Hustle Records; it debuted at number four and sold 109,000 copies in its first week.^[19] It spawned the singles "24s", "Be Easy", "Rubberband Man", and "Let's Get Away". The album featured guest appearances by 8Ball & MJG, Jazze Pha, Bun B and Macboney and was produced by Jazze Pha, Kanye West, David Banner, Madvac and DJ Toomp. In March 2004, a warrant was issued for T.I.'s arrest after he violated his probation of a 1997 drug conviction.^[20] He was sentenced to three years in prison.^[21] While imprisoned in Cobb County, Georgia, he filmed an unauthorized music video.^[22] One month later, he was allowed a work release program.^[23]

T.I. was on probation stemming from a 1998 conviction for violating a state controlled substances act and for giving false information. After being released on probation, he earned a litany of probation violations in several counties around Georgia for offenses ranging from possession of a firearm to possession of marijuana.^[21] In 2006, after appearing in an Atlanta court on (May 10) and having charges that he threatened a man outside a strip club last year dropped for lack of evidence, T.I. was arrested on an outstanding probation violation warrant from Florida. The warrant claimed that T.I. did not complete the required number of community service hours he was sentenced for a 2003 assault of a female sheriff deputy at University Mall in Tampa. T.I. was detained by several mall Security Guards at the time of the incident. According to WSB-TV Atlanta, the rapper’s attorney said that the problem was nothing more than a "technical matter" between Georgia and Florida. The confusion arose because T.I. was also sentenced to community service in Georgia for driving with a suspended license, for which he did complete 75 hours of community service in his home state. The rapper was released on bail shortly after being arrested, and was expected to surrender to Florida state authorities the following week to resolve the matter.^[24]

T.I. released his third studio album, Urban Legend, in November 2004. It debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200, selling 193,000 copies in its first week.^[19] The album's official lead single, "Bring Em Out", was released in January 2005 and became his first top ten hit, peaking at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100, while the second single "U Don't Know Me" peaked at number twenty-three on the Billboard Hot 100. His third single "ASAP" reached number 75 on the U.S. charts,^[25] number 18 on the U.S. R&B/Hip-Hop charts^[25] and number 14 on the Rap chart.^[25] T.I. created a video for "ASAP"/"Motivation". However, "Motivation" only made it to number 62 on the U.S. R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart.^[25] He was featured in Destiny's Child's 2004 single "Soldier" along with Lil Wayne, peaking at number three on the U.S. Hot 100 and the U.S. R&B Charts.^[26]

In 2006, T.I. received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Song Collaboration ("Soldier" w/ Destiny's Child & Lil Wayne) and Best Rap Solo Performance for "U Don't Know Me" at The 48th Grammy Awards. That same year he won Rap Artist of the Year, Rap Album Of The Year, Rap Album Artist Of The Year, Rap Song Artist of the Year and Video Clip Artist of the Year on the Billboard Music Award and Best Male Hip-Hop Artist on the BET Awards.

[edit] 2006–07: King, T.I. vs. T.I.P. and federal weapons charges

T.I.'s fourth album, King, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart in the first half of 2006, selling 522,000 copies in its first week.^[27] T.I. released "Front Back" and "Ride with Me" as promotional singles prior to the release of the album. The singles garnered little attention, but helped to promote not only the album, but also ATL. The album also included the singles, "What You Know," "Why You Wanna," and "Live in the Sky," plus a remix of "Top Back." King earned numerous awards and nominations including a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Album. He was also featured in the single "Shoulder Lean" by Young Dro reaching the top ten on the U.S. Hot 100 and #1 on the U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Tracks.

T.I. at the 2006 Summer Jam concert in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

"What You Know" won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance and was nominated for Best Rap Song at the 49th Grammy Awards.^[28] Also that year, T.I. collaborated with Justin Timberlake for "My Love," which proved to be a worldwide hit, and won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration with Justin Timberlake at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards^[28] and also won Best Male Hip-Hop Artist at the BET Awards for the second straight time. He then served as a featured performer on "We Takin' Over" by DJ Khaled also featuring Akon, Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Birdman and Lil Wayne.

T.I. released his fifth album, T.I. vs. T.I.P., on July 3, 2007. The first single from the album was "Big Shit Poppin' (Do It)," which was produced by Mannie Fresh and was released to radio stations on April 17, 2007. The second single, "You Know What It Is" featuring Wyclef Jean, was released June 12, 2007. T.I. vs. T.I.P. sold 468,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It was T.I.'s second chart-topper in a row: King opened at number one on the Billboard 200 with 522,000 copies in late March 2006.^[29] The album included guest performances by Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Wyclef Jean, Nelly, and Eminem, and production by Eminem, Jeff Bass, Mannie Fresh, Grand Hustle, The Runners, Just Blaze, Wyclef Jean and Danja. Absent from this album's production lineup were T.I.'s longtime producer DJ Toomp and The Neptunes. In October 2007, T.I. released his third single, "Hurt," featuring Busta Rhymes and Alfamega.

On October 13, 2007, federal authorities arrested T.I. four hours before the BET Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta.^[30] He was charged with two felonies — possession of three unregistered machine guns and two silencers, and possession of firearms by a convicted felon. The arrest was made in the parking lot of a downtown shopping center, which a witness identified as the Walgreens drug store at the corner of North and Piedmont Avenues. T.I. was arrested after allegedly trying to purchase the guns from a "cooperating witness" with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. According to federal officials, the witness had been cooperating with authorities a few days prior to the T.I. arrest, when the cooperating witness was arrested on charges of trying to purchase guns from a federal agent. The witness had been working as T.I.'s bodyguard since July, authorities said.^[31][32] T.I. walked out of the Atlanta United States District Court after appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan J. Baverman on October 26, 2007. Judge Alan J. Baverman required T.I. post a $3 million bond, $2 million in cash and $1 million in equity on property he owns. The rapper was required to remain at home except for medical appointments and court appearances. The only people allowed to live with him were his girlfriend and children. Visitors were required to be approved by the court.

[edit] 2008–09: Paper Trail and prison sentence

T.I.'s suppression hearing was scheduled for February 19, 2008. The performer later pleaded guilty to U.S. federal weapons charges. He was sentenced to an undefined prison sentence, a year of house arrest and 1,500 hours of community service. In an interview with MTV about serving prison time, T.I. stated, "Presumably, while I'm there, I'll be able to strategize my comeback." He went on to say that he would not "just be sitting still doing nothing".^[33] At that time T.I. collaborated with Mariah Carey on the "I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time" remix, peaking at number 58 on the U.S. Hot 100 and number 36 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

	Whatever You Like (2008) noicon T.I.'s second single from his sixth studio album Paper Trail.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

While under house arrest, T.I. began writing lyrics down on paper for his following album.^[34] The first promotional single from the album, "No Matter What," was released in April 2008. The music video was released on June 2008 on MTV's FN Premieres. The second promotional single was "Swing Ya Rag" which was produced by and featured Swizz Beatz.^[35] The official lead single was "Whatever You Like," was released on July 2008, and became his most successful single of his career so far, breaking the record for the highest jump to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, jumping from number 71 to number one. Also becoming T.I.'s first solo number one on the chart. While "Whatever You Like" was number one, "Weird Al" Yankovic did a parody of T.I.'s song called "Whatever You Like", the same title as the song by T.I. He released his sixth album, Paper Trail, in September 2008. The title of the album refers to the lyrics he had written down on paper. Like many other rappers, T.I. abandoned this style of rapping after his debut album I'm Serious by just memorizing lyrics. His representative explain that T.I. wanted to "take more time to really put something down [this time]".^[36] The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 selling 568,000 copies in the United States.^[37]

The second single from the album, "Swagga Like Us", featuring Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lil Wayne, debuted and peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. With the third single "Live Your Life" featuring Rihanna, T.I. broke his own record on the Billboard Hot 100 when it jumped from number 80 to the number one.^[37] The fourth single "Dead and Gone", featuring Justin Timberlake, peaked at number two for five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, eventually going on to be nominated during the 52nd Grammy Awards for both "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration" and "Best Rap Song". During the 51st Grammy Awards, he was nominated for four Grammy Awards, eventually winning Best Rap Performance by a Duo Or a Group for "Swagga Like Us". "Remember Me", featuring Mary J. Blige, was released digitally on July 7, 2009. It was the planned first single from the re-release of T.I.'s sixth studio album, "Paper Trail", but the re-release was eventually shelved. The single peaked at number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100. On October 6, "Hell of a Life" was released digitally and went on to peak at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2009, T.I. appeared as himself on an episode of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. On the episode, he took the comedienne to Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles in LA and gave her a lesson on how to "swagger."^[38]

On November 21, 2008, T.I. testified in the murder trial of a member of his entourage and a close friend, Philant Johnson (1980–2006), who was murdered in a shooting that occurred after a post-concert party at a club. T.I. has dedicated several songs to Johnson, from the single version of "Live in the Sky" to his more recent hit "Dead and Gone" where Johnson's grave can be seen in the video.^[39]

On March 27, 2009, U.S. District Judge Charles A. Pannell, Jr. sentenced T.I. to one year and one day in prison and ordered to pay $100,300 for federal weapons charges; T.I. had his sentence reduced from a maximum 10 years and a $250,000 fine with a plea bargain.^[40][41] On May 26, 2009, T.I. began serving his sentence in Forrest City, Arkansas.^[42] Two days prior to being imprisoned, T.I. performed a farewell concert at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.^[43] T.I. was released from FCC Forrest City on December 22, 2009^[44] and was moved into a halfway house in Atlanta.^[45] T.I. had the Federal Bureau of Prisons ID 59458-019 and was released from CCM Atlanta on March 26, 2010.^[46] After his release from prison, he was subjected to an audit of his finances, drug counseling, DNA testing, and random searches of his property.^[47]

[edit] 2010–2011: No Mercy and drug charges

On March 26, 2010, T.I. was released from the halfway house.^[48] He was in the studio working on his seventh studio album titled King Uncaged.^[49] Jim Jonsin, the producer who previously worked with him on his single, "Whatever You Like" and R&B singer Trey Songz, were scheduled to work on the project.

T.I. made his first public appearance since prison, stepping out with then fiancée Tameka "Tiny" Cottle in support of her Alzheimer's research fundraiser "For the Love of Our Fathers" at Atlanta's Opera venue. "I am very well, very happy to be seen," said T.I., who joined Cottle onstage at the end of the benefit.^[50] T.I. released a new street single titled "I'm Back" on March 8, 2010.^[51] The single peaked at #44 on Billboard's Hot 100 charts.^[52] Around this time, he made a featured guest appearance on Diddy-Dirty Money's single "Hello Good Morning" where the single peaked at #27 in US and charted internationally in eight other countries.^[53]

He also made a guest appearance on Larry King Live on May 13 to discuss with Larry King about his nine-month prison term on federal gun charges and other topics.^[54] T.I. released a promotional soundtrack single entitled, "Yeah Ya Know (Takers)" on May 24.^[55] It peaked at number forty-four on Billboard Hot 100 and number sixty-eight on Canadian Hot 100.^[52] T.I. released another promotional single entitled; "Got Your Back" which featured American R&B singer Keri Hilson and it peaked at number thirty-eight in the US.^[52] Later, T.I. made more featured single appearances such as Jamie Foxx's single "Winner" featuring Justin Timberlake and Drake's single "Fancy" which it featured Swizz Beatz. Both singles made an impact on the Billboard charts peaking at the top 50.

T.I. released a mixtape entitled "Fuck a Mixtape"; the move was somewhat controversial due to its title, with many feeling he was insulting the Mixtape format. T.I. has addressed the issue by stating that it was a response to all the people who told him to just focus on an album and not on a mixtape. T.I. further defended his decision to release a mixtape by saying: "I already have 60, 70 songs. A lot of these songs are period pieces that speak volumes to what's going on right now. If I hold onto them next year or the year after, they'll be dated, because my life will be in another direction. If I'm not gonna put it on the album — and they all can't make the album — then they might as well have another platform to present it to the world".^[56]

On September 1, T.I. and his wife Tiny were arrested on drug charges in Los Angeles.^[57] 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, specifically for possessing ecstasy, testing positive for opiates and associating with a convicted felon. On October 25, the drug charges against T.I. were dropped.^[58]

T.I. changed the title of his seventh studio album and renamed it No Mercy due to his new prison sentencing. He then released the first single from the newly titled album, "Get Back Up" featuring Chris Brown on the same day that he was sentenced back to prison for violating the terms of his probation.^[59] "Get Back Up" peaked at number seventy in the US.^[52] On November 1, T.I. reported back to the Forrest City Federal Facility to serve his 11-month sentence.^[60] His date of release was set to be September 29, 2011.^[46]

No Mercy was released on December 7, 2010. The album peaked at number four in the US and it sold over 159,000 copies in its first week.^[61] RIAA certified No Mercy Gold with over 500,000 copies sold. His second and last single from the album "That's All She Wrote" featuring Eminem was released on December 19 and it peaked at number eighteen in the US.^[52]

T.I. was nominated for two Grammy Awards for Best Rap Solo Performance for "I'm Back" and Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group (Fancy with Drake and Swizz Beatz) at the 53rd Grammy Awards. He was also nominated for a Soul Train Music Award for Best Hip Hop Song of the Year for "Got Your Back" and he earned three BET Hip Hop Awards nominations for Hustler of the Year, Made You Look Award, and Best Club Banger for "Hello Good Morning" w/Diddy-Dirty Money.

In early June 2011, T.I. said in a letter: "I’ll be releasing a record in the near future (couple of weeks tops) to hold y’all over til I get back in action." On June 30, 2011, a new song was released onto T.I.'s official website and on his official YouTube channel - titled "We Don't Get Down Like Y'all", which features fellow Grand Hustle rapper B.o.B on the hook. While commenting on the song, T.I. said in another letter; "It's a song that I did soon after my release last time. What inspired me to write this record was the differences in how we do us and how they do them suddenly became incredibly evident in just a very short period of time." It was originally only available on Atlantic Records's online store.^[62][63][64] The song was available on iTunes and other vendors, such as Spotify on August 9 and it peaked at number seventy-eight in the US.

On August 31, T.I. was released from Forrest City Correctional Facility in Arkansas at 7:29 a.m. and was sent to a community living facility to serve out the rest of his 11 month prison sentence. He then released a statement on Twitter saying: "The storm is over & da sun back out. IT'S OUR TIME TO SHINE SHAWTY!!!!! Welcome to the beginning of our Happy Ending!!!!"^[65] He recently inked a deal with VH1 for a new reality show that will follow him as he re-adjusts to life as a free man after the incarceration and he's also working on a book entitled, "Power & Beauty" which was set to be released in October.^[66] He was sent back to federal custody on September 1, less than 48 hours after his release due to a dispute involving T.I. taking a luxury bus from a prison in Arkansas to a halfway house facility in Atlanta. T.I.'s attorney, Steve Sadow, told the Associated Press that the Federal Bureau of Prisons has moved T.I. to a different facility and clarified that the dispute was not drug related.^[67] T.I. was later released from prison and was sent back to the halfway house, where he was released on September 29 at midnight.^[68]

[edit] 2011-present: Trouble Man and The Man and the Martian

On September 30, T.I. released "I'm Flexin'", the first promotional single from his upcoming eighth studio album. The song was produced and features Big K.R.I.T.. T.I. reunited with Young Jeezy on "F.A.M.E." for Jeezy's album TM103.^[69][70] "I'm Flexin" peaked at number sixty-six on Billboard Hot 100, while "F.A.M.E." peaked at number sixty-seven on Billboard Hip Hop/R&B. On October 18, T.I. made appearances on The Howard Stern Show and The View to promote his new novel, "Power & Beauty: A Love Story of Life on the Streets" and discuss other issues involving his time in prison. Later that day, he released the second promotional single "Here Ye, Hear Ye" featuring Pharrell Williams, under the alias Sk8brd. ^[71][72][73]

After his release from prison, T.I. appeared on several remixes such as; "Spend It" by 2 Chainz, "Sleazy" by Ke$ha", Niggas in Paris" with Jay-Z and Kanye West, "Hard White (Up in the Club)" by Yelawolf also featuring Slaughterhouse, "Ima Boss" by Meek Mill alongside a freestyle over Drake's "Headlines", and Lil Wayne's "She Will". He was also featured on Future's second single "Magic" taken from his debut studio album Pluto.

T.I. revealed the title of his eight studio album to be Trouble Man. The album was partly inspired by Marvin Gaye’s 1972 song of the same name, he revealed on Billboard. In a previous interview with Rolling Stone; he said he was debating between two titles, Trouble Man and Kill the King. The third promotional single "Pyro", was released on November 21.^[74] On December 5, his new reality show "T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle" premiered on Vh1 at 9p after the first full episodes were leaked onto the internet.^[75]

In preparation for the album, T.I. released a mixtape entitled, Fuck da City Up on New Year's Day. Two songs off the mixtape charted on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, "Popped Off", featuring and produced by Dr. Dre and "This Time of Night" featuring Nelly, respectively.^[76]

While on set for the "Strange Clouds" music video, MTV interviewed B.o.B and confronted him of a rumor that he and T.I. are working on a collaborative album, B.o.B responded: "The joint album, it actually started as a joke. Tip would always refer to me as 'the Martian', and in one of his lyrics, he said, ‘It’s the man and the Martian,’ and we said, ‘Man that could be an album title.’ We kinda just played around with it. But it seems to be taking form in a very organic way."^[77] On December 1, 2011, B.o.B appeared on New York City's Hot 97 radio station and confirmed that he and T.I. are indeed working on a collaborative album titled The Man and the Martian.^[78][79]

On March 1, 2012, T.I. announced he signed Iggy Azalea, Chip and Trae Tha Truth to Grand Hustle Records.^[80][81] He will act as executive producer on Azalea's debut studio album The New Classic and was featured on her debut single "Murda Bizness", which premiered March 26, 2012.^[82] On March 30, T.I. released a snippet of "Love This Life", Trouble Man's lead single, produced by Mars of 1500 or Nothin'. He also revealed that the song will be released on April 2, 2012.^[83]

Other ventures[link]

Acting career[link]

In 2006 T.I. starred in his first film, ATL, which was loosely based on the rapper's life growing up in Atlanta and attending a skating rink named "Jellybeans" (the name of the skating rink was changed due to "Jellybeans" not giving the movie rights to the name). The other cast members included Lauren London, Antwan Patton, Evan Ross, Mykelti Williamson, Jason Weaver, and Keith David. The movie was written by Tina Gordon Chism and Antwone Fisher, produced by Timothy M. Bourne, Tionne Watkins, and Will Smith, and directed by Christopher Robinson. T.I. played the character Rashad Swann, an orphaned 17-year-old senior in high school. In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $11.5 million, ranking third in the United States box office, and went on to gross $21.2 million.^[84]

He also appeared in American Gangster as Stevie Lucas, Drug Kingpin Frank Lucas' nephew.^[85]

T.I. starred in the crime heist film Takers (originally called Bone Deep) as Ghost. The film was directed by John Luessenhop and was produced by William Packer, Michael Ealy, Tom Lassally, Jason Geter, Gary Gilbert and T.I. himself. The film was released on August 27, 2010 through Grand Hustle Films and Rainforest Films distributed by Screen Gems. The film also includes Chris Brown, Idris Elba, Matt Dillon, Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen, and Zoe Saldana. Takers debuted at number one at the American box office at 20.5 million in its opening weekend.^[86]

Music and film producing[link]

T.I. was co-executive producer of B.G.'s upcoming album and making beats for artists like Mariah Carey, Cassidy, Rick Ross, Maino, B.o.B, Yung Joc, Young Dro, and himself.^[87] He also executive produced the soundtrack to the film Hustle & Flow and released the collection through his record label.^[88]

T.I. also a songwriter. He has credits from Diddy, Dr. Dre, and Bow Wow.

T.I. launched his film company, Grand Hustle Films. Late 2007, T.I. linked up with Los Angeles-based production company 828 Entertainment to executive produce a new reality show titled Life on Mars which chronicles the life of young prodigy music producer LaMar "MARS" Edwards.^[89][90] T.I. partnered 828 Entertainment with his company Grand Hustle Records to produce a slate of both television and film projects. He also created a reality show on MTV called "T.I.'s Road to Redemption".

Community work[link]

In addition to helping with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, T.I. worked with troubled youths at Paulding Detention Center in Atlanta, provided scholarships for single parent families at Boys and Girls Clubs, and headlined the Boost Mobile Rockcorps concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall, which featured such performers as Fat Joe, Slim Thug, and Kanye West, and was held exclusively for community service volunteers. As part of his community service time, T.I. has come to a number of middle-grade and high schools in Georgia, where he speaks with the students in an assembly holding a positive message, while maintaining a philathropic view about morals and growing up in the same areas as himself. In June 2005, The Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes Foundation, named for the deceased member of multi-platinum female group TLC, and Atlanta's V-103 honored T.I. with the 2005 Lisa Lopes Award for groundbreaking achievements in music and community service which was court ordered. With this steady list of growing accomplishments T.I. is being recognized as the "Jay-Z of the South," according to Pharrell Williams of multi-platinum production team The Neptunes.^[91]

T.I.'s night club, Club Crucial, hosted a giveaway of 200 bicycles to neighborhood children in the Boys and Girls Club with V-103 announcer Greg Street.^[92] Upon being asked his opinion on Obama supporting gay marriage, he responded that people should be free to do what they want to do.^[93]

Business ventures[link]

Forbes Magazine announced its first ever Hip-Hop Cash Kings list early 2007 with list of the top 20 hip-hop earning artists for the previous business year. T.I. was listed on their list three times.^[94][95][96]

T.I. opened his own nightclub, Club Crucial in Bankhead, Atlanta. It is considered one of the most popular clubs in Atlanta and features full entertainment centers with large flat screen TVs, pool rooms, VIP rooms, food, etc. Celebrities such as Monica, Big Boi, Mike Epps, Shawty Lo make appearances there. The club also hosts weekly events such as Monday night Open Mic Night, Free Fridays, and Celebrity Saturdays where local hip-hop artists are known to come perform their songs at the club.^[97]

Chevrolet secured an endorsement deal with T.I. earlier in 2007 to promote their line of cars, with a focus on the new Impala. Due to his arrest for federal gun charges, he was on the verge of losing his deal with the company.^[98]

T.I. had an endorsement with a social networking website focusing on the hip-hop culture named StreetCred. The website was founded in 2007 by investment banker Rocky Williform. Celebrities such as Diddy, Lil Kim, and Jeezy had accounts on the website. As of 2008, the website was temporarily shut down until further notice.

On June 29, T.I. was named Global Creative Consultant of Rémy Martin Cognac. XXL Magazine revealed that the partnership will include collaborative projects and a focus on continuing the philanthropic works of his K.I.N.G. Foundation. He also announced on Chelsea Lately that he will be releasing his own signature brand of the liquor.^[99]

T.I. lost his endorsement deal with Axe body spray after his arrest for drug possession.^[100]

Controversy[link]

Ludacris[link]

A dispute with Ludacris started when T.I. saw Disturbing tha Peace rapper I-20's video. In the video, a man wearing a shirt which said "Trap House" was being beaten. T.I. mistook the logo to refer to "Trap Muzik". Former G-Unit artist Young Buck asked fellow Southern rappers T.I. and Ludacris to appear on his new record on the track "Stomp". T.I. recorded a verse which contained a line that Young Buck considered to be an underhanded snub towards Ludacris: "Me gettin' beat down?/That's ludicrous/". Young Buck spoke to Ludacris about the verse, to maintain his neutrality in the controversy. Ludacris then recorded the verse that can be found on the album.^[101] T.I's record company wanted Ludacris to change his verse before they sanctioned it but Ludacris refused and T.I. was therefore replaced by Game on the album version.

On June 24, 2007 at the Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood, California, T.I. was involved in a brawl. During a luncheon held by Kevin Liles of Warner Music Group (parent company of T.I.'s label, Atlantic Records), the MC got into a fight with Ludacris' manager Chaka Zulu. According to witnesses, T.I. punched Zulu in the face and choked him and a brief melee ensued.^[102]

T.I. brought home the award for Best Hip-Hop Artist at the BET Awards, and took the opportunity to apologize for his scuffle with Disturbing tha Peace executive Chaka Zulu earlier in the week. While accepting his award, he expressed regret over the situation. "They say it's a fine line between brilliance and insanity," he said, in an apparent reference to his troublesome alter ego, T.I.P. During the broadcast, cameras showed his onetime rival Ludacris smiling in the audience. The audience stood up and applauded T.I.^[103]

The two rappers have since resolved the dispute and have collaborated on two songs: "Wish You Would" on Ludacris's sixth studio album, Theater of the Mind, and "On Top of the World" on T.I.'s sixth studio album, Paper Trail. The original version of the latter had Kanye West.

Lil' Flip[link]

According to AllHipHop,^[104] T.I. and Lil' Flip had an altercation in Lil' Flip's neighborhood, the Cloverland section of Houston. It has been said that T.I. went there to create a DVD exposing Lil' Flip to be a fraud. When T.I. went to Cloverland with his entourage, he was met by Flip and his people. Then it was said a fight broke out with one of the members of Lil Flip's entourage started swinging on T.I. until one of T.I.'s bodyguards started shooting. The same day T.I. went on a Houston, Texas radio station talking about the altercation. He revealed that he had the tape and he was going to release it with an upcoming mixtape, but that did not happen because James Prince stopped him from distributing the tape. It is unknown whether T.I. still has the tape or not. The feud was squashed by Rap-a-Lot's Prince after having them sit down and resolve their feud. The feud was documented by the Houston Press.^[105]

Shawty Lo[link]

In 2008, T.I. was involved in a highly publicized feud with Shawty Lo. The feud was characterized by Shawty Lo's track Dunn Dunn, and T.I.'s reply in What Up, What's Haapnin. The song Dunn Dunn appears to question T.I.'s roots in Bankhead. The music video for What Up, What's Haapnin was shot in Shawty Lo's housing project Bowen Homes, an apparent insult towards Shawty Lo. In an interview, T.I. insisted that his song No Matter What was only partially aimed at Shawty Lo.^[106]

The feud reached its climax at the November 2008 Dirty Awards where the entourages of both artists clashed during the ceremony, forcing it to be shut down.^[107] Two incidents forced police to use pepper-spray and evacuate the audience.^[108]

The feud was publicly squashed on March 7, 2009, when Shawty Lo and T.I. appeared on-stage together at Club Crucial in Bankhead, for T.I.'s farewell concert.^[109][110] After this performance, T.I. gave an interview to MTV, in which he stated that the feud with Shawty Lo was exaggerated by the media, and was not a 'beef'.^[111]

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

T.I. has been in a relationship with former Xscape member Tameka "Tiny" Cottle since 2001.^[9] The couple married on July 30, 2010 in Miami Beach, Florida.^[112][113] Together, they have two sons: Clifford "King" Joseph Harris III, born August 25, 2004,^[9][114] and Major Philant Harris, born May 16, 2008.^[115][116] Their daughter Lelah Amore Harris was stillborn on March 22, 2007, six months into a complicated pregnancy.^[117]

In addition, T.I. has two sons with ex-girlfriend Lashon Dixon: Domani Uriah, born in 2000, and Messiah Ya'Majesty, born in 2001. T.I. also has a daughter named Deyjah Imani, born in 2001, from another relationship.^[6][118]

Through his marriage to Cottle, T.I. has one stepdaughter, Zonnique Pullins, born in 1996 to Cottle and Zonnie Zebo Pullins.^{[119][119][120][121]}

Rescue of suicidal man[link]

T.I. has been praised for helping a twenty-four year old suicidal man in Atlanta named Joshua Starks, convincing the man not to go through with jumping from a 22-story building.^[122] On October 13, 2010, T.I. reportedly heard about the situation on the radio and drove to the scene at Atlanta's 400 Colony Square Building.^[123] He drove to the site, and asked the police if he could help Starks. T.I. then talked to the man, and convinced him not to jump. Afterwards, T.I. stated "For one, I'm not taking any credit. I didn't do it... I could've just as well came down there and it could have been resolved in another way. The fact of the matter is that God put me in a position to help, and I can't take any credit for that."^[124]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• I'm Serious (2001)
• Trap Muzik (2003)
• Urban Legend (2004)
• King (2006)
• T.I. vs. T.I.P. (2007)
• Paper Trail (2008)
• No Mercy (2010)
• Trouble Man (2012)

Collaborative albums

• The Man and the Martian (With B.o.B) (TBA)

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

	Book: T.I.
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• List of artists who reached number one in the United States
• List of awards and nominations received by T.I.

References[link]