T.I. is turning his personal pain into a bit of good fortune for a deserving college student. The rapper and reality-TV personality has started a scholarship fund in the name of his sister Antoinette “Precious” Harris Chapman, who died earlier this year.
“My sister Precious was a single mother who worked to make life better for her children and everyone she encountered,” T.I. said in making the announcement during VH1's Dear Mama: A Love Letter to Mama broadcast, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. “In the spirit of that, we are awarding a deserving student a scholarship in my sister’s name.”
T.I. partnered with VH1 as well as the United Negro College Fund to start the Precious Chapman Scholarship Fund in honor of his sister, who died in February from an asthma attack brought on by a car accident.
This year’s recipient of the $25,000 scholarship is Tierani Scott, a single mom and a junior at Philander Smith College, an HBCU in Little Rock, Ark.
The scholarship fund is hardly the first time T.I.’s been down to help the people or the culture.
Last month, he helped bail out people jailed for nonviolent offenses in time for Easter, just weeks after calling out Fox News’ Laura Ingraham for her disrespect of the memorial for slain artist and activist Nipsey Hussle.