TI raises money for Alzheimer's

2010-10-04 12:28

Atlanta - Facing fallout from a recent arrest, TI raised money on Sunday for his family's new Alzheimer's disease charity and explained how the idea for it took shape during a previous period of legal trouble.

The rapper, whose real name is Clifford Harris jnr, and his wife, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, held a luncheon for the foundation called "For The Love Of Our Fathers," which honours their fathers' battles with Alzheimer's disease.

The Grammy winner would not talk about his arrest last month on suspicion of drug offences, but said the inspiration for the foundation came in the aftermath of his 2007 arrest on weapons charges.

Disease research

"It's very, very personally close to our family," said TI, who served seven months in prison for the firearms offences. "And while I was, you know, while I was going through my (...) period of hiatus, Tameka had the idea of (...) starting this foundation. And I thought it was an outstanding idea."

Cottle's father, Charles Pope, has Alzheimer's, an irreversible neurological disorder that causes its victims to lose their memory, become disoriented and suffer personality changes. No cure is known. TI said his father and grandmother also had the disease when they died.

The couple said the charity will raise funds for disease research and possibly offer relief to caregivers.

Legal trouble

Nicknamed the "King of the South," TI has sold millions of albums and created the hits Whatever You Like and U Don't Know Me. He recently starred in Takers, a movie about an armed car robbery gone wrong, and is working on a new album.

But his career has been threatened by legal trouble. In 2007, he was caught trying to buy semi-automatic weapons on his way to a BET Awards show. Still on supervised release for that offense, TI was arrested last month in Los Angeles and accused of drug offenses.

A federal probation officer in Atlanta claims that TI violated the terms of his supervised release by possessing codeine, marijuana and Ecstasy, testing positive for opiates and associating with a convicted felon. The rap star would not discuss the arrest on Sunday.

"We're not going to talk much except for Alzheimer's," he said.

- AP