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YouTubeI love music. I am pretty sure that I’ve made that quite clear over time on here.
I believe that EVERY song written has something to say to somebody and that no matter who you are or what your belief system is you should listen to it to see what it says to you even if all it says to you is that you shouldn’t listen to it. There is nothing that ticks me off more than over zealous religious (and non-religious types) who say “Well I don’t listen to that type of music because it’s bad.” Shut up! There is no such thing as bad music only music that you don’t prefer to listen to - get your story straight. I don’t listen to goth rock or “screamo” mainly because it gives me a headache. Not because of my moral system or what I believe. If someone introduces me to new music that is in that genre I still listen to it but, most of the time I find that I just don’t like it. Anyway, if you’re not open to hearing new music even if it’s outside your “norm” you’re close-minded and not getting the big picture. I would encourage you to reconsider.
The point of this is not to ramble so I digress.
One song that I am really digging right now is Live your life by T.I. featuring Rihanna. I’ve been listening to it over and over for days and it speaks something new every time.
First of all, T.I. and Rihanna are on top of their “game” right now. They have both been putting out some insane joints lately and live your life is no exception.
Check out Live your life by T.I. featuring Rihanna then read some of my observations below.
Obviously the song is an anthem for all those out there doing their thing and being successful yet there are still folks out there who want to hate on them simply because of their success. Outside of that underlying theme the song is demonstrating that if you align yourself in a manner that is going to lead to success you will enjoy the fringe benefits of that success.
The first few verses say:
“Never mind what haters say, ignore them ’til they fade away.
Amazing they ungrateful after all the game I gave away.
Safe to say I paved the way, for you cats to get paid today.
You still be wasting days away, now had I never saved the day.
Consider them my protege, homage I think they should pay.
Instead of being gracious, they violated and made you wait.
I never been a hater still I love them, in a crazy way.”
I think that is demonstrative of the world we live in now. There are a lot of folks out there who are consistently paving the way for the rest of us to be successful and to achieve incredible things yet, we are always forgetting that fact. We are selfish and love to attribute all of our successes to ourselves and not the folks who helped get us there. The funny thing is the folks who helped us get there continue to love us.
The next verse is one that I could listen to on repeat for hours and still get something new out of it. One particular strand of the verse that is incredible says:
“The hootin’ and the hollerin’, back and forth with the arguing.
Where you from, who you know, what you make and what kind of car you in.
Seems as though you lost sight of what’s important when depositin’
Them checks into ya bank account, and you’ve up out of poverty
Your values is a disarrayed, prioritized are horribly.
Unhappy with the riches cause you piss poor morally.
Ignoring all prior advice and fore warning.
And we mighty full of ourselves all of a sudden, aren’t we?”
Obviously that verse is wrote in the context of the “rap game” but, it can be applied to life in general especially on the eve of our recent presidential election. Most days during the election I was sick to my stomach. There was so much hate mongering and nasty things being said that it was unreal. The continual arguing was absolutely disgusting and sometimes it really felt like we were all forgetting what was important. We lost touch with our values because our priorities weren’t straight. Our ridiculously selfish nature caused us to be so full of ourselves that we were not getting anything positive accomplished and worse we really became quite piss poor morally. Folks on every side of the spectrum were spewing so much hate filled words it was unreal. I can’t begin to count how many friends said some hateful and downright hurtful things. The sad part is most of them were Christians, or so they claim. It’s funny how one things can divide folks so quickly.
In the end though the underlying message of the song is to:
Just live your life
No telling where it’ll take ya,
Just live your life
**Update 12-2-08** Did you know that half the lyrics sites out there are CRAP? When I originally posted this the site I got the lyrics from was all jacked. Thanks to Elaine, I found the real lyrics on Lyric Wiki.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:01 pm
You have some of the lyrics wrong.
“homage I think they should pay.
Instead of being gracious, they violate in a major way”
“Seems as though you lost sight of whats important when depositing the checks into your bank account, and you’re up out of poverty.”