TI - No Mercy - Motivation Review

Tuesday December 7, 2010 marked the release of TI’s studio Album titled “No Mercy”

Overall this is a good CD. With all of his legal troubles, TIP made a decision to stay away from the violent lyrics this time around. There does seem to be a heavy emphasis on the strong sexual lyrics. I want to point that out up front. Other than that he seems to be very motivational and self reflecting on this CD. Instead of doing a track by track review I want to focus on the songs that I found inspirational. There were four in particular that I feel can make a significant impact in your daily motivational walk.

I rate each of these songs by the beat, chorus, verses and overall motivational value (using a traditional 1-5 scale).


Track 2 - How Life Changed (feat. Mitchelle’l/Scarface)
Produced by: Lil' C
Beat- 5 Can’t even front, this is a HARD beat. Oh my...
Hook- 5
Verses- 5

This is a feel good song about his days of making it from the struggle. He reflects on how he grew up getting into trouble as a kid in Atlanta. How he came from nothing, and somehow made it to superstar status today. Scarface is perfect over this beat and compliments the track very well.

Overall this song inspires me to go hard despite difficult circumstances. Particularly if you come from a rough background like TIP did. He acknowledges some of the mistakes he made in his younger days and maybe you have made some mistakes but you can change your life. It’s all about choices...

Track 3 - Get Back Up (feat. Chris Brown)
Produced by: The Neptunes
Beat- 5
Hook- 4
Verses- 4

This is a good song for anyone that has made a huge mistake or did something that they really regret. Bad things cause us to reach a low point in life but it’s up to us to make a change or stay down in the dumps. This is a good song about redemption.

The beat is very nice and upbeat. The Neptunes are my favorite producers so I’m biased obviously but the music is good. Chris Brown is a logical choice given the mistakes that he has made. The assumption is that he is genuinely sorry for what he did and is changing his life. Overall this is a nice feel good song that should inspire.

Track 5 - Thats All She Wrote (feat. Eminem)
Produced by: Dr. Luke, Max Martin
Beat- 5
Hook- 5
Verses- 5

Now on the surface you may not find this song motivational but I do. It's probably my favorite song on this CD. First of all the beat is another upbeat/feel good vibe. This song is all about getting rid of the negative people in life that bring you down. I cant roll with people who are just bad people and will do you wrong without thinking twice about it. This happens often in relationships. Eminem highlights this with his classic wordplay in his verses as he gives his attitude on women who are no good. Again, this may seem anti-motivational but if you have ever been done wrong this is a good song to get your swagger back. Some may disagree but hey this song has helped me get through life lately.

Some of my favorite quotes from TI and Em on this song

TI
“You tell lies, get caught, n**** kick rocks
You never did blend in with the big shots
On the fast track, aint no need for no pit stops”EM
“Buy u a bag of fritos I would’nt let u eat the f****** chip on my shoulder.
If you was bleach and I was hair I would’nt die for ya..........
....so why would I buy you a teddy bear b**** you’re already bi-polar” (wow!)

Track 7 - Castle Walls (feat. Christina Aguilera)
Produced by: Alex Da Kid
Beat- 4
Hook- 4
Verses- 4

This is a reflective song about the struggles of trying to chased success and being a good person at the same time. He talks about being a good father verses being a superstar entertainer. These two endeavors sometimes conflict. He speaks of his deep care for his people and at the end he speaks of his vow to put whats most important first despite the effect it could have on his career. Alex Da Kid (he did Eminem’s Love the Way You Lie) laced this beat nice and Christina did her thing on it as well. There’s no way though you cannot feel this song and be inspired by it. There has been some talk that this would be the next single off the CD. If so great choice.


Bonus Track - Follow Your DreamsProduced by: Polow Da Don, Hollywood Hot Sauce (per wikipedia?)
Beat- 5
Hook- 5
Verses- 4

This song can only be found on a special edition of the CD. This is a motivational song all the way. Here he encourages big time. I admit it borderline corny but it works. It works really well. I would say this is probably my 2nd favorite song on here behind Thats All She Wrote. If you’ve ever seen his VH1 Behind the Music special, you recall the story of how TIP started out and how very few believed in him besides his manager. He speaks on his manager in the song.

As someone who is chasing my own dreams I find this song very encouraging and it gives me that extra “juice” I need to go even harder. We have to remember when it comes to fulfilling our destiny it’s not a matter of possibility. ANYTHING is possible. The question is will we work hard enough, do whats necessary, and not give up.

How to Deal With Difficult Circumstances

How to deal with Difficult Circumstances

We all at one point or another faced a situation or circumstance that was difficult to deal with. Losing a job, a loved one, or going through a divorce for example can be a hard thing to cope with. Sometimes we cause these things in our lives through our own actions but then there are other times where things just happen. You can live your life to the best of your ability and do the best that you can and then BAM! Something hits you and you may feel like you din’t do anything to precipitate it. Regardless of why or how these difficulties came upon you, I want to encourage you to KEEP YOUR HEAD UP (hear Tupac song playing in the background lol).

We must understand that how we deal with a negative circumstance plays a vital role in our overall outcome and quality of life. When something bad hits us, we can easily just sit there and take it. We can mope around and be depressed or whatever. Make no mistake about it, sitting around feeling sorry for yourself WILL NOT fix the problem. Tears while they can help relieve us for a moment and are often necessary for a moment, will not magically make the problem or issue go away. Many times a prolonged “pity party” is just gonna make the situation worse.

Now on the flip side, we can deal with a situation in a positive manner. After we take a moment to digest and contemplate our situation (maybe have a cry or whatever lol), we must take action. Negative situations do not have to overtake us. We can win indeed. Here are four things that we must do in order to make it through the storm. As you read them, lets reflect on our own life and see where we are at...

1. Have Faith. You have to believe that everything will be ok. This is where a belief in a higher power comes into play. Draw strength from your faith. Even if you don’t believe in a higher power, you have to understand that you were created with the ability to overcome. There is an innate resilience that we are all born with. Believe in it. Believe in yourself. You have to know that you know that you will make it. Sometimes faith is the only thing that you have.

2. Be Thankful. When things happen to us, it’s so easy to focus on the negative. However you must focus on the positive. (i.e. if you cant see, be thankful that you can hear, etc.). Remember things can always be worse. I like to look at it this way, whenever I am struggling, I have to think about the fact that there is always someone worse off than me. As long as I am alive then there is always someone who is worse off (I see dead people lol j/k). There is just something about being thankful. It can create a great feeling within!!!

3. Focus on helping others. Look at others people’s needs and make yourself useful. It’s always good when you can brighten someone’s day or improve the quality of their circumstances. They say it’s more blessed to give than to receive (actually Jesus said that) and it’s so true. If you don’t think so then you’ve got to look at yourself in the mirror for real.

Another benefit of helping others is that it helps get the focus off of yourself temporarily and you can for a moment forget about your own troubles. You do this enough and you will find yourself being depressed less and feeling better overall.

4. Invest in Yourself. It’s time to work on you. Often we allow ourselves to get down in the dumps about something and this wont allow us to move forward and improve. Life is all about constantly going to the next level. If you’re not moving forward, you are going back. Many times negative circumstances attack our self esteem. We can feel like we are simply not worthy of something better than what we are currently experiencing. Working on yourself makes you feel better because you can envision yourself improving and as a consequence you do actually get better!!!

You know that dream that you always had? That hobby that you used to love to do that you just stopped. Well when you’re down or going through something, that's a good time to get back up and go after these things. Remember some of the greatest accomplishments began during dark times.

You may be hurting but you’re not alone. Other people are going through it as well. Reach out and help them! Finally forget all the stupid stuff and reach after your goals.

LETS GO!!!!!!!!!