American rapper T.I. and wife Tameka Cottle visit Ghana’s slave castle in ‘Year of Return’

Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., professionally known as T.I. and wife Tameka Cottle are the latest African-Americans to land in Ghana as part of the ‘Year of Return‘ initiative.

The initiative is to attract diaspora people with Ghanaian or African heritage to make a return.

The 39-year-old American rapper and actor from Atlanta, although received some backlash online for revealing he went to the gynecologist every year with his daughter Deyjah Harris to check if she still was a virgin has been warmly received in the land of cocoa, gold, oil and technology.

The couple with their team were treated to some drumming and dance by a dance ensemble at Terminal 3 of the Kotoka International Airport on Sunday, December 8 upon their arrival.

Already, Ghana’s ‘Year of Return’ Secretariat has indicated that its data for the first nine months of 2019 showed 80,862 more arrivals from the United States of America (USA), Britain (UK) and other key target nations than the figure recorded the previous year.

The figures show that in-bound airport arrivals from the USA increased by 26 per cent (17,455).

“Although not all the 80,862 passengers could be classified as tourists, the YoR impact has undoubtedly surged interest in Ghana among Diasporan Africans in the UK and the USA since the programme got underway,” according to the YoR Secretariat.

And for T.I., his wife and crew visited the Elmina Castle which is also a museum in Ghana’s Central Region – one of the sites which held kidnapped Africans shipped to the Americas and has been a source of sober reflection for many of the diaspora returnees. The pair also were seen in a video having a swell time at a night club with fellow American rapper Cardi B who was in the country on Sunday.

T.I. is regarded as one of the artistes who popularized the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with Jeezy and Gucci Mane.

He has released 10 studio albums, with seven of them reaching the top five of the US Billboard 200 chart. He also has several highly successful singles, including Billboard Hot 100 number one hits “Whatever You Like” and “Live Your Life.”

Harris’ sixth album, Paper Trail (2008), became his most successful project, with the album being certified gold for first-week sales of over 500,000 copies in the United States.

As the festive season beckons, patrons will be spoiled for choice as many more events and shows have been lined up right into January 2020.