“Haven’t I been to jail enough times so you should know how to treat me when I come home?” – T.I.
VH1 has been on quite a hot streak with its reality programming of late. A lot of their shows fall into the reality television sub-genre known as “Wives + Noun” shows, a term I first heard used by Grantland’s David Jacoby. Examples of VH1’s “Wives + Noun” shows include Basketball Wives, Basketball Wives L.A., Love and Hip Hop, and Baseball Wives. I’ve thoroughly and non-ironically enjoyed all of these.
Unfortunately, VH1 breaks from its winning “Wives + Noun” formula with T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle. Instead of being about a group of fame whores getting drunk and slapping each other, The Family Hustle is about… well, a family. And not a particularly interesting one either — aside from the fact that the patriarch is a well-known rapper.
The show has a distinct Run’s House vibe, which sucks. Run’s House was boring enough; there is no need to reboot it. The Family Hustle follows T.I. as he pretends to play Mr. Mom and doting husband. Tameka “Tiny” Cottle-Harris is T.I.’s wife, who some of you might remember from the ’90s R&B group Xscape. Tiny and T.I. have a bunch of kids, who mainly run around the edges of the show looking vaguely adorable.
There is a lot about The Family Hustle that strikes me as disingenuous, not the least of which is T.I. himself. Before I go any further, let me say that I was/am a T.I. fan. Trap Muzik is an unquestionably great album, deserving a place in the pantheon of great Southern Rap records. His stuff since then… eh, I could take or leave most of it. What annoys me about T.I. is the fact that he feigns intelligence. He’s just smart enough to convince dumb people that he’s smart, but too dumb to convince smart people. He has a habit of over-enunciating words and making sentences more complex than necessary in an effort to come across like an intellectual.
I give the show props for not ignoring the fact that T.I. was just released from prison when Family Hustle was filmed. But I have a small issue with VH1 airing a show about family and parenting starring a man who was charged with weapon and drug offenses. Sure, it’s great that you skipped rehearsal to attend your son’s football game. But you know what he would probably appreciate even more than that? If you hadn’t just missed the last 11 months of his life!
Furthermore, the producers clearly want the audience to view T.I.’s parenting style positively. But from what we’ve seen on the show – completely discounting his jail time – can we really say he’s a good dad? I would argue no. While sitting on a couch next to Amare Stoudemire in the BET Awards greenroom, T.I. admonishes his kids for playing “booty tag” with other children. Then in the next breath he praises his son’s “swag.”
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.