THE JUDGE USES EXPERIMENTAL PLEA ON T.I. AND SAYS HE'S NO SNITCH

At T.I.'s sentencing on Friday, the judge on the case called it “experimental.” The U.S. attorney who helped broker the arrangement called it “unique.” And T.I. himself acknowledged that his plea deal — which reduced a potential 10-year prison term into community service and, more than likely, less than a year’s worth of jail time — was “an opportunity.” T.I. wasn’t the recipient of the plea deal because he snitched, he’s often said. Nor did he get the benefit of the doubt from the legal system because he’s rich. Tip landed his plea deal due to a combination of his fame, his familiar troubled past and his ability to recount his transformation from trap star to rap star as a means of influencing at-risk youth. “If they would have gave Joe Blow, who got arrested with guns the next day or the next week — if [the court] would have gave him my deal, could he have turned around and given as much back to the community as I have? No he couldn’t,” T.I. told MTV News’ Sway during their conversation for “Road to Redemption: The Reckoning,” which airs Tuesday on MTV. “I showed I was worthy of this and this was something possible,” Tip continued. “So they decided the opportunity was worth the chance.”