Live Your Life (T.I. song)

"Live Your Life"
Song

"Live Your Life" is a song by American rapper T.I. off his sixth album Paper Trail. The song features Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna, who uses a vocoder, and was produced by Just Blaze and Canei Finch. It was released as the third single from the album. It officially premiered at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards during T.I.'s performance. This is T.I's third Billboard 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 as a Digital Download on November 8 and physically released on November 24, it reached #2 on downloads alone, becoming T.I.'s first top five hit in the UK and Rihanna's ninth top five hit in that country.

According to Billboard, the song has reached Platinum sales (RIAA).

Release

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 get it to 'em baby girl") has already been released as a promotional digital download for radio stations. The radio edit clocks out at 4:05, 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 but also known from the Numa Numa Internet fad.

Chart performance

"Live Your Life" debuted at number 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart solely on airplay for the chart week of October 10, 2008. The following week, the song made history and broke several records when it skyrocketed from 80-1 on the Hot 100, setting the record for the highest jump to number one, a record previously set by T.I. himself only six weeks prior when his song "Whatever You Like" jumped 71-1 on the chart. However, this record was broken the following week by Britney Spears and her song Womanizer jumping from 96-1 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, and the first time since Usher did it in 2004. "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. In addition, the song broke the record for second highest first week digital sales ever, behind of Flo Rida's "Low", shifting 334,000 digital downloads to debut at number one on the Hot Digital Songs chart. It is T.I.'s second Hot 100 number one as a lead artist, and his third overall. On the issue dated November 15, "Live your Life" again jumped to the number one spot this time again overthrowing T.I.'s massive hit "Whatever You Like" from the top spot again. He is the only artist to replace himself twice on the Hot 100 with the same song. 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. On the issue dated December 14, Live Your Life regained the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a third time. The single held the number 1 spot for six non-consecutive weeks.

The song originally 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, an impressive 39-place jump, so far peaking at number two for 10 consecutive weeks (being held off by Beyoncé's "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"). The song has also been number 1 on the Hot Rap Tracks for 8 consecutive weeks making it the second longest number 1 charted song on that chart (right behind "Whatever You Like" which was number 1 for 10 consecutive weeks). It has also made a "Hot Shot Debut" at number 20 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart on the issue of October 11, and jumped to number five the following week, making it his biggest hit there, it peaked at number 4 in early January. 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. T.I. currently has two top ten hits on the RIANZ singles chart, with 'Live Your Life' at number two and 'Whatever You Like' at number one.

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.

Music video

The video premiered on October 28, 2008 on BET. The video is a mini-movie starring T.I and Rihanna. The music video uses the radio edit of the extended song. 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. He gets thrown out of the car and kicked by a fairly large man. He arrives at a drug deal with about ten dealers. He then proceeds as usual before he lands a punch on one of the dealers. He is then beaten up by the rest of the dealers. The video then takes its turn with 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. A quick shot of the bathroom appears with T.I. looking at his briefcase of money that he is preparing. The rest of the video takes turns going from the bar where T.I. refuses a deal and Rihanna singing on stage. The end of the video shows T.I. saying he wants out of the deal; during this scene you can hear T.I.'s song U Don't Know Me playing in the background. Then he is seen walking into the bar with a CD in his hand. This is a flashback, referring, apparently, to the original deal that T.I. wanted to get out of. The last shot of the video is T.I. walking down the L.A. sewers, raising his hands triumphantly in the air.

Formats and track listing

Promo CD single

1. "Live Your Life" (Clean) (Featuring Rihanna) - 4:05
2. "Live Your Life" (Instrumental) - 5:45
3. "Live Your Life" (Explicit Radio Edit) (Featuring Rihanna) - 4:02
4. "Live Your Life" (Explicit Album Version) (Featuring Rihanna) - 5:38

U.K. CD single

1. "Live Your Life" (Explicit Album Version) (Featuring Rihanna) - 5:38

Australian CD single

1. "Live Your Life" (Radio Edit) (Featuring Rihanna)
2. "Collect Call"
3. "No Matter What"

Remixes

Remixes & Freestyles

1. "Royce Da 5'9 - Live Your Life(I’m Nice) Pt.2
2. "Trey Songz - Live Your Life (Freestyle)
3. "Rick Ross - Live Your Life (Freestyle)

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart	3
Austrian Singles Chart	5
Belgian Ultratop 50 Singles	15
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	4
Canadian Hot 100	4
Danish Singles Chart	15
Dutch Top 40	5
German Singles Chart	12
Irish Singles Chart	3
Israeli Singles Chart	12
French Singles Chart	17
New Zealand Singles Chart	2
Norwegian Singles Chart	6
Slovakia Singles Chart	11
Swedish Singles Chart	6
Swiss Singles Chart	8
Turkey Top 20 Chart	3
UK Singles Chart	2
UK R&B Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	2
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks	1
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	1