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Tameka “Tiny” Harris and T.I. have been married for more than 15 years and have been dating since 2001.

Like every relationship, theirs had its ups and downs and they split in December 2016 when Tiny filed for divorce. At that time, the filing suggested a serious break, and the couple lived apart for a period. However, the divorce was never finalized, and in 2017, they began appearing together again publicly and reconciled.

Together, Tiny and T.I. have three biological children: two sons, King and Major, and a daughter, Heiress. In addition, they have a blended family that includes children from previous relationships. T.I. has three kids from earlier relationships, and Tiny has one daughter from a previous relationship, bringing their total to seven children.

As one of hip-hop’s most enduring couples, fans have wondered about their early relationship and how they met. Here’s what Tiny shared about when T.I. first tried to talk to her.

Tiny blew T.I. off but he was persistent

On a recent episode of Rickey Smiley on the Spot, Tiny recalled that she and T.I. originally met while at Jazze Pha’s Noontime Studios in Atlanta. But at the time, she ignored the rapper when he was “trying to talk” to her.

“I blew him off or whatever. But he was so young at the time,” Tiny, who is five years older than her husband, explained.

They ran into each other again at a mall, and Tiny admitted that T.I. “looked good” that day, saying, “I noticed that he looked damn good. I still remember what he looked like, what he had on” in a “Polo outfit” and a “country twang.” The Grammy winner added that when she went into a lingerie store, he followed her.

“I talked to him for a minute and I end up going into Victoria’s Secret, and he end up coming in there,” she remembered.

Thanks to T.I.’s persistence, they finally exchanged numbers and had their first date, which was at a “$3 dollar café,” where they ate chicken wings and talked in a parked car. Tiny also told Smiley that T.I. insisted that he knew he was “going to get her” years before they even met when she was a member of Xscape and he saw her in a music video.

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Tiny Harris Says She Spoke to Biggie Just Before He Died and He Apologized for Calling Her ‘Ugly’

T.I. said when Xscape’s first video came out, he knew ‘I’m gonna get that little one’

The story Tiny was referring to about T.I. knowing he would “get her” is what he relayed during an appearance on HOT 97.

T.I.P. revealed that Tiny was his childhood crush as he was a 13-year-old kid when he saw her in the video “Just Kickin’ It” and said, “I’m gonna get that little one.”

The “Whatever You Like” artist recalled, “When ‘Just Kickin’ It’ came out, I ain’t playin’. I said ‘I’m a get the little one. See cause she was my size … Lo and behold, when I got the opportunity to be in the same room with her, the 13-year-old me said, ‘Go get her.'”

T.I. continued, “I introduced myself like she’s supposed to know who I am … And she looked at me, and she kinda brushed me off and I said to myself, ‘I’ll see you again.’ And the next time I seen her, I said, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ I always talked to her like we knew each other already. She laughed, and I said, ‘I got her.’ When she started laughing, I knew I had her.”

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