This video and song directly relates to how I view things in my life. I try to make myself the, "Shining star," in everything I do. I also aspire to, "Go far," in all my sports, studies, and all other aspects of life. The song tells you to live your life. That's exactly what I do. I don't worry about anyone elses life and focus on mine. The harder I work the more benefits that I can reap. The more benefits the better quality of life that I can achieve. However, I don't try to make everyone know who I am. I like to know that people are watching me and noticing what I'm doing. Never do I let that go to my head, I just pass off events that occur in sports and school as anyone could've done it just as good or better then I. Those that are caught up in making their money are those that live life only to make make money and do nothing else. Most of them are involved in things that are illegal like Micheal Vick in dog fighting and countless others in steroid abuse. Money does crazy things to people. It makes them unlike their normal personality. I leave all those distractions on the field. Once I leave the playing field I don't think about my accomplishments I relish in the teams accomplishment. The best players are the ones that are team players. This video and song describe me very well both how I am and how I'm not. It also shows us how people caught up in all those things can act. They can act out of greed and personal motivation to get what they want. I am one that shines and one that goes far but I'm not one that steps on those that helped get me where I am today. T.I.
This video is edited in a way that connects the video to the lyrics of the song itself as is common in most music videos. The lighting for this song is bright and vibrant because the song is about having everything that you could ever want. When you associate having everything you could ever dream of you are often happy during the thought process. General happy thoughts are thought of as bright colors, this is why T.I. and his producers choose to set this video in the sunlight. Another way that the lighting is used to set the tone in the video is the dinner scene. Sunset is often seen as one of the most romantic times of the day. T.I. must believe this because he chooses to have dinner with his new girlfriend at sunset which sets the mood for the rest of the video. The audio and visual aspects of this video go hand in hand with one another. The visuals often take cues from the lyrics. When T.I. says, "Stacks on you," an image of a stack of $100 dollar bills is shown on the screen. There are many patterns in this video including: the chorus scenes, his girlfriend telling other guys to leave her alone, and the pool in the background. In the chorus T.I. repeats the words just like all songs do and the images that are associated with the chorus at the beginning are the exact same images every time the chorus is sung. T.I.'s girlfriend is constantly bothered by other men, however, he gives her everything she wants there for she always sends them away. Every time it's a different guy. Finally the T.I. is pictured in front of a pool for each verse of the song. I'm not sure why this is but every time he starts a new verse he is standing in front of the pool. From these examples you can tell that the video is composed of many different elements that with just one the video wouldn't be complete. T.I.
