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Welcome to a new segment of this blog I like to call Lyrical Theology. Let me first say that everything written here is intended to be humorous and not taken seriously. It is a moment for me to apply exegetical and theological analysis in a light-hearted way (hopefully entertaining and informative). The lyric’s author’s views are not necessarily the views of this author. Now on to our first installment, A theology of T.I. via his Billboard.com #1 hit “Live Your Life”.

The song begins and ends with the curious chorus as follows:

“Mia hee, mia haa, mia hoo, mia ha ha.
Mia hee, mia haa, mia hoo, mia ha ha.
Mia hee, mia haa, mia hoo, mia ha ha.
Mia hee, mia haa, mia hoo, mia ha ha.”

The position of these lyrics form what narrative critics call an inclusio. Usually an inclusio is used to emphasize a theme by framing the narrative. Here we see the important theme of what I like to refer to as, mia h. The author clearly is attempting to convey the importance of mia (most likely intended to mean “my” from the Spanish language) with consonantal sounds beginning with h. Curiously enough, hii and huu are absent. Is this the work of a later redactor who was opposed to the letters i and u? Perhaps we will never know.

The song moves on with the words:

“You’re gonna be a shining star, in fancy clothes, and fancy ca-ars.
And then you’ll see, you’re gonna go far,
Cause everyone knows, just who you are-are.”

The listener is informed that they will become a shining star. Those subscribing to a more literalistic interpretation might be led to believe that some sort of physical transformation will suddenly overcome their body and they will become a star that shines. However, given the impossibility of such action (no known physical transformation of this kind has ever been recorded) combined with the fact that most stars do not have clothes or ca-ars, leads this author to postulate that the words are to be taken metaphorically.

Keeping this in mind we see that the author, T.I. is suggesting that his listeners are going to become metaphorical stars that have fancy clothes and ca-ars. The repetition of the adjective fancy suggests this is important, it is not simply clothes and ca-ars that the listener will have, it is instead fancy clothes and ca-ars. In all likely-hood this is because a metaphorical shining star could not possibly have non-fancy clothes and ca-ars.

This shining star is going to go far. The grammatical construction leads us to conclude that the reason the listener (shining star) is going to go far is because every one knows who the listener is. Now the text is not conclusive as to how one fact leads to another; that is, how the fact that “everyone knows who the listener is” will cause the listener “to go far.”

This section, when seen in light of the inclusio, suggests that the consonantal sounds of the listener (or possibly the author – depending on to whom mia is referring) causes the listener to become a fancy clothes wearing and fancy ca-ar driving shining star that is known by all and will go far. In the theology of T.I. it is critically important, in the mia h theme, that the listener utter the consonantal sounds haa, hee, hoo (but not hii and huu). Presumably being a shining star with fancy clothes and so forth is of high importance as well to this author. A practical conclusion from this section of the text is that we must practice uttering his consonantal sounds until we attain to the perfection of such utterance. Perhaps then, and only then, will the listener truly become a shining star with fancy clothes… and fancy ca-ars.

The remaining lyrics of the chorus are as follows:

“So live your life, ay ay ay.
Your steady chasing that paper,
Just live your life (Oh!), ay ay ay.
You got no time for no hata’s
Just live your life (Oh!), ay ay ay.
No telling where it’ll take ya,
Just live your life (Oh!), ay ay ay.
Cause I’m a paper chaser,
Just living my life (Ay!), my life (Oh!), my life (Ay!), my life(Oh!),
just living my life (Ay!), my life (Oh!), my life (Ay!), my life(Oh!),
just living my life”

The chorus is very important to the meaning of any song, since it is typically repeated several times. In this case it is repeated three times. In it a clue is given that sheds more light on the identity of the author. While we know that T.I. has written this song (hence the theology of T.I.) in this section he identifies himself as a “paper chaser.” Hidden amongst all the ays and the ohs, we find that to “live your life” involves “chasing paper.” Context is extremely important to tell us what sort of paper it is which he chases. Is it possible that T.I. is secretly a paper boy that can never seem to keep track of his “papers” that he has to deliver? Or does T.I. enjoy chasing down paper to bring it to the recycling center? If we follow the lead of his earlier inclusio we may come to the conclusion that the paper has something to do with the mia h, his consonantal sounds haa, hee, and hoo (excluding hii and huu). However, there seems to be no logical connection. Maybe the clues that will lead us to the identity of the paper lie further on in the passage.

“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, how much I think they should pay.
Instead of being gracious, they violated in a major way.
I never been a hater still I love them, in a crazy way.
Some say they sold yay and know they couldn’t even work on Labor day.
It ain’t that that black and white, it has an area that’s shaded gray.
I’m West side anyway, even if I left the game and stayed away.
Some move away to make a way not move away cause they afraid.
I give back to the hood and all you ever did was take away.
I pray for patience but they make me want to melt they face away.
Like I once made them scream, now I could make them plead their case away.
Been thuggin’ all my life, can’t say I don’t deserve to take a break.
You rather see me catch a case, and watch my future fade away.”

T.I. lists the accomplishments he has made: He gave game away, paved the way for cats to get paid, he saved the day, he loves the cats in a crazy way, he has left the game and stays away, he gives back to the hood, he prays for patience, he made the cats scream, has “thugged” all his life, and now watches his future fade away. This lends itself to the conclusion that T.I. is a patient, philanthropic, slightly psychotic, time traveling, horrific veterinarian thug who used to work for Milton Bradley. Presumably this is all due to his uttering of the consonantal sounds and chasing paper. Yet it does not identify the nature of the paper which he is chasing. It is unclear from this verse if the accomplishments that T.I. has made are prescriptive or simply descriptive. It is outside the scope of this article to decide this, perhaps further work by theologians will shed more light on this matter.

“I’m the opposite of moderate, immaculately polished with the spirit of a hustler and the swagger of a college kid.
Allergic to the counterfeit, impartial to the politics.
Articulate but still would grab a nigga by the collar quick.
Whoever having problems wit, they record sales just holla Tip
If that don’t work and all else fails, then turn around and follow Tip
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 argueing.
Where you from, who you know, what you make and what kind of car you in.
Seems as though you lost sight of whats important with the positive.
And checks until your bank account, and you’re about poverted.
Your values is a disarrayed, prioritized are horribly.
Unhappy with the riches cause you piss poor morraly.
Ignoring all prior advice and fore warning.
And we mighty full of ourselves all of a sudden, aren’t we?”

Again this verse gives us more information about the author. He walks like a student yet in his inner being remains a thief. He has allergies and refrains from getting involved in government. Some of the words require further word studies to be thoroughly conclusive about their meaning; words such as: wit, holla, and Tip. This author is not convinced that they add much to the overall meaning of the passage; in other words, they are not all that important for interpretation. The text can still have authority without being error free here. We learn that he enjoys working for Milton Bradley, but not the company itself. He likes his anonymity, but still enjoys watching comedians, especially those who argue. The remaining few lines are known to have textual errors and will not be considered in this article. Unfortunately, at this point the identity of the paper is still mystery.

“Got everbody watching what I do
come walk in my shoes
and see the way Im livin if you really want to
got my mind on my money

and Im not goin awaaay

So keep on getting ya paper and keep on climbing
looking in the mirror and keep on shining
till the game ends till the clock stop
we gonna post up on the top spot”

This last verse sheds much light on the identity of the paper. He notes that his mind is on his money, so potentially paper is money. However, in many cultures money is made of precious metals, or at least backed up by them. So it is not clear that the paper must be money. Yet further contextualizing leads us to recognize that T.I. lives in the United States. Therefore his paper that he chases must be money, because in the United States, that is all money is… paper.

So in the theology of T.I. we find that following the theme of mia h, we must utter his consonantal sounds (haa, hee, hoo, excluding hii and huu) and chase paper around. I hope that you will continue to practice this theology that you also may become a patient, philanthropic, slightly psychotic, time traveling, allergic, outwardly studental yet inwardly thiefic, indifferent, horrific veterinarian thug who loves the work he used to do at Milton Bradley, but not Milton Bradley itself.

I hope that you have enjoyed this first installment and I look forward to your thoughts and suggestions on how to improve this segment.

Lyrics obtained from: http://www.metrolyrics.com/live-your-life-lyrics-ti.html (some spelling corrections have been made).