Creed's lead singer Scott Stapp is one of T.I.'s biggest personal fans. In 2006, the Atlanta rapper came to Stapp's rescue after he had taken a near-death fall from the balcony of his 16th floor room at the swank Delano Hotel in Miami Beach. Stapp recalls the ordeal in his recently released autobiography, Sinner's Creed.
Stapp, who was intoxicated and drugged at the time, writes that he was depressed, paranoid and hallucinating. He believed that he was being chased, and, in an effort to flee, he climbed over the balcony railing and attempted to lower himself onto the balcony below, but slipped and fell onto his forehead.
As Stapp lay on a concrete ridge next to the 15th floor balcony, he called for help, but the adjoining room was not occupied. It took two hours before Stapp, who was in excruciating pain, was discovered with a broken nose, arm and hip.
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"Finally, the balcony door opened," Stapp wrote. "As it did, I leaned my head over the edge, and a puddle of blood splattered at the feet of the gentle-man standing there. He looked up toward the ledge. I saw his face and thought, Wait a minute, I know this guy." Stapp and T.I. had met in 2004 while working on music for The Passion Of The Christ: Songs, an album of tracks inspired by the Mel Gibson film.
T.I. (photo: Michael Tullberg, Getty Images)The "Live Your Life" rapper immediately recognized his colleague. "Scott Stapp?" he said. "Man, you messed up."
Stapp said he thanked God for loving him as he couldn't believe that a friend would be coming to his aid. "What were the chances that T.I. — the great rapper … would walk in off the street, check in to the last available room, and arrive just in time to save my life?"
Not only did T.I. come to Scott's rescue, he also made an effort to help keep the incident out of the press. Stapp said T.I. had a plan. "I'll call an ambulance and get you out of here," he said. "I don't know your name — if you know what I mean."
When the paramedics arrived, they also recognized Stapp and suggested keeping his identity a secret. "A police officer is going to be here soon," the medic told him. "That's routine procedure. We're going to clean you up before he gets here. We'll confirm that this was not a suicide attempt, and we'll report it as an accident … Forget your name. You don't want this in the papers."
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When Stapp reached the hospital, doctors were shocked that he survived the fall. "We have no medical explanation for why you're alive," the physician told him. "A human skull is not strong enough to survive that kind of direct impact. Your head should have cracked open like a watermelon. ... You're officially the luckiest man I've ever seen."
In Sinner's Creed, co-written by David Ritz, Stapp discusses his struggles with drugs, faith, marriage and time as the lead singer of the Grammy Award-winning rock band Creed.
Last month, T.I. released his own Ritz-co-authored book, Trouble & Triumph: A Novel Of Power & Beauty.