Records have leaked online that reveal T.I.'s artist, Cedric "Alfamega" Zellars, as a one time Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informant and government witness.
According to a report from The Smoking Gun, Grand Hustle’s Alfamega worked with the DEA in the mid-1990’s.
Court records show that Zellars began working with law enforcement officials after he was sentenced in September 1995 to 110 months in a federal gun case (Zellars, who had a prior felony robbery conviction, was collared for selling weapons to an undercover federal agent). Zellars “agreed to cooperate with authorities and was debriefed” about the criminal activity of several individuals. “In particular he was debriefed concerning the drug trafficking activities of a Mr. Ali Baaqar,” according to a government court filing. During his cooperation against Baaqar, Zellars met with a DEA agent and a federal prosecutor, and subsequently testified at trial. “Ali Baaqar was convicted of conspiracy to distribute heroin based upon the trial testimony of [Zellars] and others.” In return for his snitching, Zellars had 18 months shaved off his prison term when he was resentenced in July 1997 by Judge J. Owen Forrester. (The Smoking Gun)
While the topic of snitching is taken seriously within the hip-hop community, T.I. previously addressed detractors who called him a snitch for appearing in an ATL Crime Stoppers PSA last year.
“I ain’t trippin’,” Tip said. “Can’t nobody challenge my integrity…I ain’t told nobody to go and get yourself in trouble and tell on somebody to get yourself out of trouble. I said man, if there’s an old lady walking down the street and you see her getting knocked down and beat up, call somebody and do something about it. I don’t see that as snitching man, I see that as being responsible for your neighborhood. Anybody who disagree, so be it. They can shove it up they a** sideways if they don’t like it. I don’t care.” (SOHH)
However, Bang Bang Boogie‘s Mysonne said Tip’s actions were not justified.
“Any time a n*gga that advocates that he is the king, that he is the streets, that he is a trap star, that he glorified how he got here, that he grinded and he never did this and all this sh*t any time a n*gga do that and he get up here and make a Crime Stoppers commercial, them n*ggas made you sell your soul,” Mysonne said in a video. “The police utilized you. They took you and made you a motherf*cking tool.” (SOHH TV)
Alfa previously reached out to SOHH to speak about his upcoming debut album and how he linked with Tip.
“I got with Tip, we did a handshake deal, never signed no contracts or nothing,” Alfamega explained. “The Capitol deal came about because me and him had a discussion about me being as big as he is and it wouldn’t be feasible to either one of us to go through Atlantic.” T.I. helped the rapper secure a deal with Capitol Records through his own label, Grand Hustle. (SOHH)
Alfamega has not yet responded to the recent DEA reports.