Gotty’sâ„¢ Note — Trackstar is Crew without officially being labeled as a Crew member. He’s been around since the Blogger days & always contributed in various ways. Sometimes with interviews or dropping off his latest mixtape and, other times, behind the scenes much more than you know.

When he told me that he would have a chance to hear T.I. speak to the residents of a local juvenile detention facility, I felt obligated to share it with you. Added into his weekend edutainment was a chance to hear Michael Eric Dyson give a lecture as well. You can read the full piece on Track’s site (he’s a DJ, not a blogger), but here’s an excerpt.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to witness, in the span of about 20 hours, two of Black America’s foremost public leaders address their constituents live and in-person.

Friday night, at the University of Missouri-St Louis, Michael Eric Dyson spoke at the Black Radical Congress’ 10th Anniversary opening ceremony, to a crowd, presumably mostly Black radicals or at least inclined towards Dyson’s way of thinking, who had paid to see him speak. He addressed Barack Obama’s candidacy and its effects with eloquence, charisma, and an excellent balance of academic and street talk.

The next day, karma paid off nicely: I was lucky enough to be one of the few non-”residents” to hear Clifford Harris, better known as T.I., address a sea of red, blue, green, yellow and orange sweatsuits at the Circuit Court 22 Juvenile Detention Center as a result of my volunteering there. While he was there to fulfill his community service requirement as part of his sentencing on gun charges, his 45 minute speech had every bit of the swagger, intelligence, heart and wittiness (not to mention his unbelievably thick-in-person accent) he displays in his music.

His influence and impact on the kids was evident from before he even arrived. While waiting for him to traverse security and make his way to the cafeteria, the incarcerated youth sat more quietly and appropriately than I have ever seen them before—and any door creak or footstep in the hallway was greeted by 70 heads quickly swiveling towards the door.

Both men spoke of being realistic when choosing your methods in life. Dyson discussed the practicality of Obama’s potential presidency as well as the role from which Black radicals can affect the most change, while T.I. questioned how likely it was for the young men in the room to actually make a living (and a life) out of doing the wrong thing.

“Most cats that’s livin like that is rottin in prison and those not locked wish they made better decisions”-NYOil, F***ing Dumba**

He started by making it very clear that he wanted the youth to differentiate between real life and entertainment—and the difference between the messages in his records, and what he was about to say. Whether speaking as T.I., T.I.P., or Cliff Harris, his authority in the room was unquestioned. The youth knew that T.I. grew up similar to them, and that he had been locked up many times–that he could relate to them in a way that many of the speakers who visit them never could.

“There ain’t probably nothing that any of you in this room have done that I ain’t did. Well, it might be a few of you who mighta done one or two things I ain’t done, but it’s not much.”-T.I.

His focus for much of his time was instructing the youth on how to “get money”, but along the way he slipped in diverse lessons on listening to your elders, on weighing risk and reward, on hope, hard work and on the power we all possess over our destinies.

– Read the rest of “T.I. Vs. M.E.D.” @ Hurt Me Soul.