Live Your Life by T.I. featuring Rihanna

One of the most popular rap songs today is “Live Your Life” by T. I. which features Rihanna. The first time I heard this song I thought it was just one more rap songs talking about doing drugs, having sex or committing crimes. However, once I looked up the lyrics I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is one of the few songs that don’t promote a very empirical lifestyle. After looking even further into this song to determine its meaning, I discovered that when T.I. speaks at the beginning of the song, he is dedicating the song to soldiers in Iraq.

Like almost every industry, music is greatly influenced by the empire, and the majority of musical groups are in it only for the money and fame. Most musicians don’t play so that they can send a message or so that they can make a person’s life better. T.I. might be a part of the industry for the wrong reasons, but if it he is, this song does not reflect that. As someone who has been a part of the empire, he can see what’s wrong and his second verse really hits on the problems of the rap industry; he says

I got love for the game but ay I'm not in love with all of it
I do without the fame and the rappers nowadays are comedy
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 those
Checks into your bank account, and you up out of poverty
Your values is a disarrayed, prioritizing horribly
Unhappy with the riches cause you’re piss-poor morally
Ignoring all prior advice and forewarnin
And we mighty full of ourselves all of a sudden aren't we?

Several qualities of the empire are illuminated such as instant gratification, driven by money, conformity to cool, and consumerism. He criticizes the empire saying that money, possessions and who you know are not what’s important in life. People don’t realize how good they have things because they forget what their lives used to be like when they lived in rough neighborhoods and in bad home situations.

In this song, T.I. and Rihanna encourage people to “just live your life.” They recognize we need to be content with what God has given us and stop trying to get things which we don’t have. I’m pretty sure that they didn’t have the kingdom of God in mind when they thought of the values they were implying, but listening to their song I know it speaks directly to everyone who is busy chasing money and possessions without end. Hopefully the influence of these musical artists will convince people to change from a lifestyle that does exactly what the empire wants to a lifestyle that reflects qualities of God’s kingdom.