T.I., "Live Your Life"

   This week I'm writing about T.I. and his song "Live Your Life". His real name is Clifford Joesph Harris, Jr. He was born September 25, 1980 in Georgia. He was raised by his grandma and grandpa. His father lived in New York, he did visit, but his father suffered from Alzheimer's and later died. T.I. began rapping at the age of seven. He went to Douglass High School but dropped out at a young age. He began becoming a drug dealer when he got into his teenage years. He was nicknamed "Tip" by his great- grandpa. When he was a teenager, a record executive by the name of Kawan "KP" Prather signed him a record deal.  Upon signing with Arista Records, T.I. shortened his name because of a label name by the name of "Q-Tip".

   T.I. released five albums all including, "I'm Serious", "Trap Muzik", "Urban Legend", "King", and "T.I. vs. T.I.P". In March of 2004, a warrant was issued because he violated his probation of a 1997 drug conviction. He had to go to prison for three years. His third album, "Urban Legend", went to number seven on the Billboard 200. It sold 193, 000 copies just in the first week. His album's lead single, "Bring Em Out" went to number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. Also that year, he featured in Destiny's Child's single, "Solider", along with Lil Wayne. In 2006, he received two Grammy Award nominations, one for Best Song Collaboration  for "Solider" by Destiny's Child and Best Rap Solo Performance for "U Don't Know Me". That same year he won Rap Artist Of The Year, Rap Album Of The Year, Rap Album Of The Year, Rap Album Artist Of The Year, Rap Song Artist Of The Year, and Video Clip Artist Of The Year on the Billboard Music Awards. At the BET Awards, he won Best Male Hip-Hop Artist. His fifth album, King, went number on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 552,000 copies. "What You Know" won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Also, he won another Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for the song "My Love" by Timberlake. So overall, he has been quite successful. I don't listen to a lot of his music, but i do enjoy this song.

   I chose this song because I love the lyrics to it. It talks about not letting your haters get you down. It's pretty much saying to live your life the way you want to and don't let people judge you. I have always loved the saying. "Live your life to the fullest." I try to live by that saying everyday. I use to care a lot about what people thought about me. But now that I'm older, I don't care as much because I have friends that love me for who I am. I don't need to let others bring me down and tell me that I'm living my life wrong. I have come to find out that people who do say stuff about the way you live your life are either jealous or mad because they don't have a life like yours. I know that I have made some mistakes on living my life but I changed my ways. I think everyone has a least one thing that they know was a mistake but they learned from that mistake. I'm glad I did, because now I'm living a life that I enjoy and can be happy about. I'm one of those people that can't stand having drama or conflict in their lives. I like to have a good, happy, enjoyable life. So, if there's something going on I resolve it because like I said, I want to live life to the fullest. So you should definitely check out T.I's music on YouTube or on his personal website.