After T.I. was arrested in a drug case, Ne-Yo called him one of the smartest people in the music industry.
“I just feel that he makes a lot of poor decisions when it comes to the people that he surrounds himself with,” Ne-Yo told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday night.
T.I. was taken into custody Wednesday with his wife Tameka “Tiny” Cottle on suspicion of possessing methamphetamines after police pulled over their Maybach in West Hollywood. They were released on $10,000 bail Thursday.
The arrest occurred while T.I. is on three years probation in a weapons case.
Ne-Yo said he’s not familiar with the company T.I. surrounds himself with, but “nine times out of 10 when he gets in trouble, it’s not him, it’s the people that he’s with.”
T.I. was poised to have a major comeback.
He stars in the nation’s No. 1 movie, the heist thriller “Takers,” recently married his longtime girlfriend and was wrapping up a new album. But now there are questions about whether he’s returning to the music charts – or prison.
Ne-Yo says it’s time for the multiplatinum rapper to get his life together.
“You’ve been given a bunch of different chances,” Ne-Yo said. “Now is the time to really go, you know I get it, all right, I get it.”