Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., known professionally as T.I. or Tip, is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Harris is credited as a pioneer of the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with fellow Georgia-based rappers Jeezy and Gucci Mane. He met local music executive Kawan "KP" Prather in the late 1990s, joining his company Ghet-O-Vision Entertainment — an imprint of Arista and LaFace Records — by 1999.