ATLANTA, Ga. -- Tuesday at high noon, Clifford Harris, Jr., the Atlanta rapper known as T.I. who sold tens of millions of CDs and songs worldwide and then pleaded guilty to a weapons charge, must report to federal prison in Arkansas to begin his sentence of a year and a day.

In the 14 months since T.I. accepted the conviction in a plea deal with federal prosecutors in Atlanta, he has spent hundreds of hours speaking to young people [part of his sentence], trying to convince them that he's turned his life around and they should flee from the thug life that once was so prominent in his writing.

Sunday night at Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta, T.I. gave one last, pre-prison concert for 16,000 fans -- fans who loved the old gangsta rapper T.I. -- and he told them the new T.I. is not like the old one. This T.I. wants to be a positive influence.

"I'm doing the best I can, Man, to get out there, Man, and put something positive in these young kid minds. I try my best. I need y'all help, though."

Skeptics like to say that T.I. is pretending to change his ways.

Is it just an act, simply to get one year in prison instead of 30?

"Definitely he has no choice," said Gabriel Fowler of Scottdale Monday evening. "And he can show the world that you're definitely going to be dealt with by the system if you break it.... What he's going through, right now, I believe it's going to be a great turn-around for him. He should go ahead and man-up for his wrong-doing. And let's see" if his repentance is genuine.

James Moss of Atlanta said he's willing to be forgiving once T.I. serves his time.

"Because he's taking time out with the children and going to schools and talking to these guys to change their life around."

Derrick Bembry of Atlanta said he likes the new T.I. and his music better than the old T.I. and his music.

"He's trying to change his life around, because when he was the old T.I., he stayed in trouble a lot, see. And now I think he's trying to give his life to God, and trying to change his life around."

Darshaun Farmer of Atlanta said he doubts T.I. has lost any credibility among young people more accustomed to rappers who glorify violence.

"I think the kids are really, really paying attention to him, more than they were before.... He has problems, just like everybody else. He lost a friend, one of his best friends in the world [26-year-old Philant Johnson, T.I.'s childhood friend, who was shot to death in 2006 in Cincinnati; the murderer was sentenced in December, 2008, to 66 years in prison], and he just went down to the bottom from there. And now he's trying to pick himself up."

In T.I.'s own words in "Dead and Gone," written and recorded after entering his guilty plea, "The old me is dead and gone."

"Usually people don't know what do to when their back's against the wall, so they start shootin'. For red or for blue or for blow, I guess. From Bankhead at the old projects. No more stress, now I'm straight. Now I get it, now I take my time to think before I make mistakes, just for my family's sake. That part of me left yesterday. The harder me is strong today. No regrets, I'm blessed to say, the old me -- dead and gone away."

T.I.'s message to young people when he gets out of prison, he says, will be the same one he's delivering now -- don't repeat my mistakes.

And he knows the federal courts will be watching closely to make sure he upholds his end of the plea deal once prison is behind him.