'Takers' Staring Chris Brown, T.I. Hollywood Movie Premiere Red Carpet

video & story courtesy of KABC 7 News Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- "Takers" is an action film that revolves around a group of criminals, and two of its stars have dealt very publicly with their own crimes.

Chris Brown pled guilty to one count of felony assault on his ex-girlfriend, singer Rihanna, and T.I. served time in jail for weapons possession.

The two men are now back in the spotlight, but this time under much better circumstances.

"Takers" is a cops and robbers heist film that takes place in L.A.

Idris Elba is among the ensemble cast.

"It's a great action film," Elba says. "It has great characters in it, lots of men being men, lots of explosions and it's a good laugh. There's some humor in it."

Chris Brown is one of the film's stars and an executive producer on the project.

At this world premiere, he wasn't interested in talking, so I asked Brown's co-star, Michael Ealy, to talk about him.

"He's got so much energy and his personality was just infectious on set," Ealy says.

"He's a good kid," Ealy added. "He made a mistake, but he's a good kid."

Clifford "T.I." Harris, who's had a lot of legal trouble in the past, is now looking ahead.

"I believe this entire year represents a new beginning for me," T.I. says. "I'm very proud to embark on a new journey."

"Snoop Dogg, as the representative of the hip hop community, is very pleased with Chris Brown, T.I. and the rest of the staff for what they've done and what they're doing to correct their situations and make it a better life," says Snoop Dogg in the third person.

"If Hollywood will have me, I definitely plan on spending as much time here as possible," T.I. says.

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Film Magic - After Party

Jim Jonsin On Working With Eminem, T.I. & B.o.B In A Us Weekly Interview

UsMagazine.com: What was your favorite part of working with Eminem?

Jim Jonsin: It was my first time working with him. What was my favorite part? I guess just creating and coming up with ideas and kind of getting to know him. It's kind of rare to be in a room with a guy like that. So being a fan at first was really cool, you know? It's one of those things where you go 'holy s--- I'm in here working with Eminem.' That is a big deal for someone like me. Just meeting him as a person was probably the coolest part. Working with him in the studio is pretty standard, you write songs, you record them, you put down ideas, make beats. It is all about kicking it with the person. He is a lot more serious than most artists I've worked with. He takes his business and craft and music very seriously. He is very detail-oriented, so it could be something like a mix of drums on a record, and he is going to be really crucial about how it sounds, and crucial about instrumentation, his lyrics, his delivery.

Us: Why does this album differ from Eminem's past ones?

JJ: Because he had me producing records on there. No, first off, that is actually a good point, he had other producers working on this album with him, and not only Dre. That was a huge part of it --different sounds, different ideas. Not taking anything [away] from Dre. because he's a genius, but this was a way for Eminem to grow and learn more from different people. I'm always learning, no matter who I work with I learn different things, and I think the same thing goes for Eminem. If you're working with new producers, you're seeing different angles, and different sounds being used, different motivation and things like that. I think that's what makes this album different. Also, maybe what he is going through in his life right now, [is] different than before.

Us: You said his work ethic was very serious, very detail-oriented...

JJ: He has a strong work ethic. I'm a father, he's a father, [and] he came in at a certain time, early in the afternoon and he planned to leave like [at] a job. He went in, he did his thing, and was out at a certain time to be with his kid and his family, which I admire. It's kind of hard [having a family] in this business, but if you can balance it, it's a really good thing.

Us: So right now you're in the process with working with B.O.B?

JJ: We're going to get started in another 30 days. We are working on ideas, I'm going to get in with him and whoever else is involved and start working on the album. I've been working with him for over three years, producing and writing for him. We're working on some new stuff and I think creatively B.O.B and I have had many firsts together. He's very talented. He is a Jack of all trades -- he plays guitar, keys, writes, raps, sings. I’m sure he'd pick up a saxophone if it called for it and try to play that.

Us: How is T.I.'s album coming along?

JJ: I have done two sessions with him. We've done three songs together now and we are working on other stuff.

Us: How would you sum up your goals for his album?

JJ: I think he is just trying to write some classic records. Some really good, solid songs. (source)

B.o.B: Guardian UK Feature

'This is the gateway," says an animated Bobby Ray Simmons Jr, rearranging glasses of water on a table in a central London hotel to represent a portal. The rapper, already a veteran at 21, is trying to explain why his career to date has been defined by the tussle between his experimental inclinations and commercial realities, between going his own way and following the gangs/guns/girls crowd. And in so doing he is providing an object lesson in how hip-hop – once a music defined by its resistance to compromise – operates as an increasingly dysfunctional business in 2010.

"You have everybody filing in," he continues, marching a pepper pot and a salt cellar between the drinks to represent the rappers who are content to simply supply music to the mainstream market. "And it's easy, because it's just straight up-and-down, everybody followin' the format. But when you wanna do something different, you have to go all the way around …" At which point Simmons picks up his own drink – an Earl Grey Martini, rather than the rapper stereotype of Moët or brandy – and sweeps it to the left, around the side of the gateway.

"And a lot o' people don't wanna do that," he smiles. "They'd rather just go straight in, rather have a surefire way of makin' it as an artist. I kinda started that way, but it was like, 'Aargh! I just can't do it!' I can't. I can't conform, it's not in my nature. So it took me a long time."

Read the full feature here:
B.o.B - Guardian UK

Killer Mike 'Ready Set Go' Ft. T.I.

Killer Mike 'Ready Set Go' Ft. T.I. produced by No. I.D. (Dirty)

Download HERE

Killer Mike Pledge Allegiance To The Grind 3 coming soon.

T.I. - 'I'm Back' (video)

T.I. King Uncaged on Grand Hustle/Atlantic Records arrives August 17th.

T.I.: Rolling Stone Magazine 'King Uncaged' Feature

T.I. is setting the bar high for his post-prison album, King Uncaged, comparing it to Tupac’s 1996 classic All Eyez on Me, which was released months after ‘Pac got out of prison. “This is the most significant return from incarceration that the game has had since then,” T.I. says. “Just given the enormous success of that project, everyone’s expecting the same results. I just want to meet the expectations, if not surpass them.”

The Atlanta MC says he didn’t get much work done while serving 10 months in Federal penitentiary in Arkansas on weapons charges (”I didn’t have a lot of time by myself just to think,” he says), but he got cracking on the day he was released to a halfway house in January, recording the defiant single, “I’m Back.”

He’s been on a creative tear since, recording more than 60 songs for the album, due out in August, working with the producers who have crafted his biggest hits, including Jim Jonsin, who made the beat for Paper Trail Number One hit “Whatever You Like,” Danja (”No Matter What”), and DJ Toomp (”What You Know”).

“Some songs talk about my time in prison — how I was affected by that, the way I’ve grown from that, things I see now that I may have not seen then,” says T.I. “Sometimes I talk about love, some songs I talk about life, some songs I talk about me being the shit on every level.”

No songs will talk about T.I. carrying a gun. “Regardless of what may happen, what circumstances may present themselves, how extreme they may be, I will not be the one carrying firearms,” says the MC, who was arrested in 2007 for trying to buy a small arsenal of weapons, including machine guns. He has said he was buying guns in a misguided attempt to protect himself after his best friend Philant Johnson was killed.

T.I. considers the new album the last chapter in a trilogy that began with 2007’s T.I. vs. T.I.P. and continued with Paper Trail, which was the eighth best-selling album of 2008. “If it was a film, the opening act would be the night that Phil got shot, and all the emotions and the sentiments that led to T.I. Vs. T.I.P.,” he says. ”From there, the schizophrenia of it all led to an unfortunate chain of events that left me incarcerated with federal weapons charges, which inspired Paper Trail, and now, people are waiting to hear the end of the story.” (source)

T.I. White Party Fete in Miami (video)

Warner Music Group decided to take the audio off, but you can see the haps.

T.I. And The K.I.N.G. Foundation Anti-Gun Rally And Press Conference (video)

At Al Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters in Harlem May 11.


Ja Rule & T.I.


Kevin Liles


Al Shapton speaks about 2pac