Atlanta bred rapper T.I. began his 1,000 hours of community service by visiting a local high school yesterday (April 4).

Last week, T.I. plead guilty to various weapons charges as part of a plea deal.

Under the agreement, T.I. was ordered to spend at least 1,000 hours over the next year speaking against drugs, guns and gangs to “at-risk youth”.

If he fulfills the obligations of the community service, he will only receive a year and a day behind bars when he is sentenced in March 2009. 

If he doesn’t abide by the plea agreement and fails to stay out of trouble, he faces up to over 3 years behind bars.

According to  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, T.I. spoke to Stockbridge High School students Friday afternoon using his recent brush with  the law as a warning.

“Hopefully the mistakes I've made can come across to you and you can see where I went wrong, so you don't have to go down the same road,” T.I. told a gymnasium filled with 10th and 11th graders.

T.I. is expected to make more visits to various schools in the coming months. Hours after his guilty plea last week, the rapper's attorney revealed that he has received numerous requests for T.I.