"Live Your Life" is a song by American rapper T.I., and the
third single, from his sixth studio album
Paper Trail. It was released as the third single from
the album on September 23, 2008. The song features Barbadian
Pop singer Rihanna, and was produced by Just Blaze and Canei
Finch. It officially premiered at the 2008 MTV Video Music
Awards during T.I.'s performance. This is T.I's third Hot 100
number one single in the United States (after "My Love" with
Justin Timberlake and his previous single "Whatever You Like")
and Rihanna's fifth on the same chart (after "SOS", "Umbrella",
"Take a Bow" and "Disturbia"). The song samples O-Zone's
"Dragostea din tei".
In the United Kingdom it was released in a digital download
on November 8 and physically released on November 24. It
reached number two on downloads alone, becoming T.I.'s third
top-five hit in the UK (Destiny's Child's "Soldier" with Lil
Wayne which peaked at number four and "My Love" with Justin
Timberlake reaching number two as well) and Rihanna's ninth top
five hit in the UK.
The single has been certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA, and
Platinum by the RIANZ
It was ranked the number six hip hop song of 2008 by MTV.
This song can be heard in the film
The Hangoveras well as the trailer. It was also played
during ESPN coverage of the 2009 NFL Draft. The song also won
T.I. and Rihanna the Viewer's Choice Award at the 2009 BET
Awards, becoming T.I.'s third and Rihanna's first BET Award
win. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards the song won the award
for Best Male Video. It was nominated for 'Track Of the Year',
'Best Hip Hop Collaboration' and 'Best Hip Hop Video' at the
2009 BET Hip Hop Awards, and won in the 'Best Hip Hop
Collaboration' & 'Best Hip Hop Video' categories. The song
was also nominated for 'Favorite Music Collaboration' at the
2010 People's Choice Awards.
The first version of the song leaked onto the Internet on
August 26, earlier than the award performance, although that
version was not the mastered version. The official mastered
album version, which has Rihanna's own verse, and T.I.'s
dedication to soldiers on the Iraqi battlefield (on the first
part, he told "Ay... This a special what's haapnin' to all my,
all my soldiers over there in Iraq. Errbody right here, what
you need to do is be thankful for the life you got you know
what I'm sayin'? Stop lookin' at what you ain't got, start and
be thankful for what you do got. Let's give it to 'em baby
girl") has already been released as a promotional digital
download for radio stations. The radio edit clocks out at 4:01,
the album version is the same as above except Rihanna's verse
is longer, T.I.'s intro is longer, the chorus is extended and
the sample is used at the end, the album version clocks out at
5:39.
The song contains a rendition of the O-Zone song "Dragostea
Din Tei", a number one single throughout Europe that was
further made famous by the Numa Numa Internet meme.
"Live Your Life" debuted at number 80 on the Hot 100 for the
chart week of October 10, 2008. The following week, the song
jumped from number 80 to number one on the Hot 100. This set a
record for the highest jump to number one in history, a record
previously set by T.I. himself only six weeks prior when his
song "Whatever You Like" jumped from number 71 to number one on
the chart. However, this record was broken the following week
by Britney Spears and her song Womanizer jumping from number 96
to number one on the Hot 100. "Live Your Life" also replaced
"Whatever You Like" at number 1 on the Hot 100, making T.I. the
ninth artist to ever replace themselves at number one on the
chart. "Whatever You Like" also occupied the number 2 position
on the Hot 100 that week, making it the first time an artist
has held the number 1 and number two positions simultaneously
since Akon in 2006. It is T.I.'s second Hot 100 number one as a
lead artist, and his third overall. For the issue dated
December 6, "Live your Life" topped the Pop 100 chart in the
U.S., replacing Katy Perry's "Hot N Cold" from the top spot,
making it T.I.'s first ever number one hit on that chart. The
single held the number 1 spot for six non-consecutive
weeks.
The song debuted at number seven on Bubbling Under
R&B/Hip-Hop Singles before entering Hot R&B/Hip-Hop
Songs as the week's "Hot Shot" at number 77 and rising the
following week up to number 38, peaking at number two for 10
consecutive weeks. The song was also number one on the Hot Rap
Tracks for nine consecutive weeks. It also peaked at number
four on the Canadian Hot 100. The song debuted at number 3 on
the Irish Singles Chart, giving T.I. his highest charting
single there, and Rihanna her tenth top ten there. However, in
the week ending November 6, "Live Your Life" disappeared on the
Irish Top 50, but re-entered at number nine.
In New Zealand, "Live Your Life" debuted at number twenty
three on October 6, 2008 and peaked at number two. The song was
certified Platinum after nineteen weeks selling over 15
thousand copies.
On the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, the song debuted in
its first week at number 48, jumped up to 25, and has so far
peaked at number 3. It debuted on the Australian ARIA Physical
Singles Chart at number 10 on the 17th of November, and has so
far peaked at number seven on that chart. Also, it has peaked
so far at number 4 on the ARIA Digital Tracks Chart.
In the UK, the song entered at number 16 on the UK iTunes
chart and within hours of being available, it had reached
number 1. The Single debuted at number 39 on the official UK
Singles Chart and surged up to number 2 the next week, giving
Rihanna her sixth top two single, following "Pon De Replay",
"SOS", "Unfaithful", "Umbrella" and "Take a Bow".
The video stars T.I and Rihanna. The music video uses the
radio edit of the extended song. The video plays backwards,
starting with the end of T.I.'s day. It is 6:33PM. In the
opening scene T.I is walking. The song then starts and goes
from a series of underground shots and Rihanna in her dressing
room. T.I. goes back to walking and is shown with blood all
over his face and other various cuts. T.I. is then shown
driving in a car at 6:01PM. The video then cuts to T.I's day at
6:27PM. He gets thrown out of the car and is kicked by a large
man. The video then cuts again to 5:21PM in the day. T.I is
shown wearing the same suit he did earlier in the video, except
that it is not torn and dirty. He then encounters a group of
thugs. T.I preemptively lands a punch on one of the men. He is
then beaten up by the rest men there. Here the video begins a
different story arc, showing T.I before he made his fortune.
The video takes its turn going from T.I. singing in a recording
studio to him and in front of a house playing dice and dominoes
with some of his friends. This portion of the video is
interspersed with clips of the other story arc, such as showing
T.I with a briefcase full of money. After this, the video is
mostly back to main story arc. T.I is shown in the bathroom of
a bar at 4:35PM. At 4:37PM he walks out into the bar. The video
shows T.I. talking to a man saying "[he] want[s] out."; the man
replies by explaining that there is no getting out, not for him
nor for the character that Rihanna plays. At 4:41PM T.I slams
the money briefcase down on the table and shows it to the man
saying that "I'm done. I got myself here, I'll get myself out".
Then he is seen walking into that same bar, in a flashback,
with a CD in his hand. The man that T.I spoke to earlier calls
him over. This is a flashback showing T.I trying to get a
record deal. The last shot of the video takes place at around
the same time as the first shot of the video. T.I. is walking
down the L.A. sewers, raising his hands triumphantly in the air
with a bloodied and scarred face. Meaning that he was
successful in buying his way out of the original record deal,
both with the money he made and by getting jumped out.
During this scene you can hear T.I.'s song "U Don't Know Me"
playing in the background.
The song's producer, Just Blaze, is briefly seen playing
pool in the bar during the second verse and final chorus.
The Official Charts Company of the UK censored the video and
only play a 30 second clip of the end of the video with no
blood.