T-Pain
Faheem Rashad Najm, known professionally as T-Pain, is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for popularizing creative use of Auto-Tune pitch correction, often used with extreme parameter settings to create electronic-styled vocal performances. Blending its use with R&B and hip-hop sensibilities, T-Pain became a prominent figure in both genres throughout the 2000s.
T-Pain began his recording career as part of the hip-hop group Nappy Headz. He released his debut solo mixtape, Back @ It independently in 2004, and signed with Akon's Konvict Muzik, in a joint venture with Jive Records, the following year. His 2005 debut single, "I'm Sprung", was quickly met with commercial success, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and receiving platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. Its follow-up, "I'm 'n Luv ", peaked at number five on the chart; both served as lead singles for his debut studio album, Rappa Ternt Sanga. Despite mixed critical reception, his second album, Epiphany, peaked atop the US Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100-number one single "Buy U a Drank ", as well as the top-40 single, "Bartender". His third album, Three Ringz, was preceded by the single "Can't Believe It", and his fourth album, Revolver, was preceded by "5 O'Clock". His fifth album, Oblivion sustained long-term delays and was met with critical and commercial failure, serving as his final release on a major label.
Meanwhile, T-Pain saw continued success as a guest performer on nine Hot 100-top ten singles—"Shawty" by Plies, "Cyclone" by Baby Bash, "Good Life" by Kanye West, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "Got Money" by Lil Wayne, "Blame It" by Jamie Foxx, and "Hey Baby " by Pitbull—which includes two singles that peaked the chart: "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown and "Low" by Flo Rida. The latter was named third in the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade and received diamond certification by the RIAA. "Good Life" and "Blame It" both won Grammy Awards for Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Performance, respectively, from T-Pain's total of 12 nominations for the award. Outside of music, he founded the record label Nappy Boy Entertainment in 2005, which has signed fellow rapper Travie McCoy. He has produced and written material for other artists, and voice-acted in film and television including Tom & Jerry, Freaknik: The Musical, The Cleveland Show, Squidbillies, and We Bare Bears.
Early life
Najm was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, to parents Aliyah, a Bahamian chef, and Shasheem, who founded the Homeboyz to Men program. Najm was brought up in a Muslim household, but he has expressed his lack of interest in the concept of religion. At three years old, he got his first taste of the music business when a friend of the family, gospel jazz artist and producer Ben Tankard, allowed him to spend time and "twist the knobs" at his recording studio. At age ten, Najm turned his bedroom into a music studio, using a keyboard, a beat machine, and a four-track recorder.Career
1999–2006: Early career and ''Rappa Ternt Sanga''
T-Pain joined the rap group Nappy Headz in 1999. Through a mutual connection with music promoter TJ Chapman, he was discovered by Rocco Did It Again! and Mike Blumstein—co-founders of the independent record label Chase Entertainment—to whom he signed. His stage name is short for "Tallahassee Pain", and was chosen because of the hardships he experienced while living there. He released his debut mixtape, Back @ It in 2004, and later released the song "I'm Fucked Up", a slightly altered cover version of Akon's then-popular 2004 single, "Locked Up". Akon himself came across the song and immediately offered T-Pain a deal with his label, Konvict Muzik. While T-Pain was offered other record deals, with the highest-bidding being US$900,000, Akon promised the young artist a personal mentorship in the industry. Meanwhile, Blumstein and Rocco remained involved in T-Pain's careers as joint co-managers. Afterward, T-Pain began singing instead of rapping, and used this inspiration to begin recording for his debut studio album, Rappa Ternt Sanga. Released on December 6, 2005, through a joint venture with Jive Records, the album reached number 33 on the Billboard 200, and has since received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.The album was supported by T-Pain's debut commercial single, "I'm Sprung", which was released in August 2005 and peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Its follow-up, "I'm 'n Luv ", served as the album's second single; it was released in December of that year and peaked at number five on the former chart, and number ten on the latter. The third and final single from the album, "Studio Luv", was released in October 2006 and failed to chart.
2007–2008: ''Epiphany''
In mid-2006, T-Pain began work on his second album, now with the Zomba Label Group as well as his previous labels. The album, titled Epiphany, was released on June 5, 2007. The album sold 171,000 records in its first week, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The record has since sold 819,000 records in the United States.The album was preceded by the lead single "Buy U a Drank ", released in February 2007. The song reached number one on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first to peak atop both charts. The album's second single, "Bartender", was released in June 2007 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Church", was released in October 2007 and failed to chart in the United States.
Speaking in May 2007 to Pete Lewis of Blues & Soul about his reason for naming his second album 'Epiphany', T-Pain stated: "One of the two dictionary meanings of epiphany is 'a sudden moment of insight or revelation'. And to me the title 'Epiphany' signifies the moment I realized that, to make the best music I can, I needed to just go in the studio and be myself, and not concentrate so hard on following other people's formulas." While promoting his second album, T-Pain made guest appearances on multiple songs by other artists. T-Pain was featured on "I'm a Flirt" by R. Kelly, "Outta My System" by Bow Wow, "Baby Don't Go" by Fabolous, "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled, "Shawty" by Plies, "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown, "Low" by Flo Rida, and "Good Life" by Kanye West. For two weeks in late 2007, T-Pain was featured on four top ten singles simultaneously on the Hot 100 chart.
His performance on West's "Good Life" won the BET Award for Best Collaboration and was nominated in several other categories. In 2008, the song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song.
2007–2009: ''Three Ringz''
In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album, Three Ringz with Rocco Valdes, Akon, and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his newly launched label, Nappy Boy Entertainment. Released on November 11, 2008, the album sold 168,000 records in its first week and reached number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 for the album's promotion.Three Ringz was preceded by three singles; its lead single, "Can't Believe It", was released in July 2008 and reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, "Chopped 'n' Skrewed", was released in September 2008; it reached number 27 on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, "Freeze", was released in October 2008; it reached number 38 on the Hot 100 and number 39 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Three Ringz include T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown, and Kanye West, among others.
In 2008, T-Pain continued to guest perform on numerous singles, such as "She Got It" by 2 Pistols, "Go Girl" by Ciara, "The Boss" by Rick Ross, "Cash Flow" by Ace Hood, "Shawty Get Loose" by Lil Mama, "One More Drink" by Ludacris, and "Go Hard" by DJ Khaled. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'n' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live in the same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 as a feature in the Digital Short premiere of The Lonely Island's single, "I'm on a Boat," off their album Incredibad. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold-out shows across North America. T-Pain and Lil Wayne formed the duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was.
2009–2012: ''Revolver''
He collaborated with Taylor Swift for the CMT Music Awards, performing "Thug Story", a parody of Swift's hit single "Love Story". In an interview with MTV, T-Pain announced that he would release his fourth studio album in November 2009 and that its title would be UBER. He stated that although he originally wanted to release the album in the summer of 2010, his label had pushed the release forward. However, the album was not released in 2009.An iPhone application called "I Am T-Pain", featuring an auto tuner, allowing fans to record and modify their own voice to accompany an instrumental collection of T-Pain's music, was released in September 2009. In July 2009, T-Pain endorsed the 2009 T-Pain Killa Cam-Pain, a grassroots effort to help him become elected as president of Florida State University.
In November 2009, T-Pain released the first single from his fourth studio album, "Take Your Shirt Off". The single only managed to reach number eighty on the Hot 100, and was later dubbed a promotional single. In February 2010, he released "Reverse Cowgirl", which was the official lead single from his fourth studio album. He later release an updated version of the song excluding Young Jeezy's verse and adding a new bridge. The single reached number seventy-five on the Hot 100 and number sixty-four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming a mild hit. The single has since been dubbed a promotional single. T-Pain was later featured on the "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" single in February 2010, which reached number two on the Hot 100. In March 2010, T-Pain developed and starred in Adult Swim's animated musical special, Freaknik: The Musical.
T-Pain released a mixtape on his Nappy Boy label in February 2010, T-Pain Presents: Nappy Boy All Stars Vol.1, which contained remixes of songs including "Forever" by Drake. On May 5, 2011, he announced another mixtape, Prevolver, serving as a predecessor to his album. The mixtape including collaborations from artists such as Lil Wayne and Field Mob. In June 2010, T-Pain confirmed that his fourth studio album, now titled Revolver, had been completed and mastered, but that it would not be released until album sales increase. T-Pain's first feature film, Lottery Ticket, was released on August 20, 2010. In October 2010, T-Pain release his third promotional single, "Rap Song". The song charted poorly, peaking at 89 on the Hot 100.
T-Pain was featured on the hit single "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled, along with the remix. He featured on Wisin & Yandel's single "Imaginate" and Bun B's single "Trillionaire". In the last two quarters of 2010, he was featured on the hit singles "Hey Baby " by Pitbull, and "Move That Body" by Nelly. He was also featured on another single by Wisin & Yandel along with 50 Cent called "No Dejemos Que se Apague". The last two singles T-Pain was featured on in 2010 were the official remixes to "Black and Yellow" by Wiz Khalifa and "Loving You No More" by Diddy – Dirty Money.
T-Pain was featured on the first single by DJ Khaled called "Welcome to My Hood" off his 2011 album We the Best Forever. The song featured him along with Rick Ross, Plies, and Lil Wayne. He was also featured on albums such as Drake's Take Care, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV, and Tech N9ne's All 6's and 7's. A new toy called "iAm T-Pain Microphone" was released in 2011, at the price of $39.99. On January 29, 2011, T-Pain was featured on Italian DJ Benny Benassi's song "Electroman", released as the third single in the album of the same name. In January, JRandall released a single, "Can't Sleep", featuring T-Pain. On March 22, 2011, the next single from Revolver, "Best Love Song", was released. On Twitter, T-Pain stated that he would release his mixtape Prevolver when he got 500,000 followers and release his album Revolver when he got 1,000,000 followers. Also in 2011, he appeared on another Adult Swim series: the sixth-season premiere episode of Squidbillies, performing a version of the theme song in addition to the original song " Drivin' In My Truck" with Unknown Hinson; this song was released in 2012 as part of the free digital album The Squidbillies Present: Music for Americans Only Made by Americans in China for Americans Only God Bless America, U.S.A. on the Adult Swim Music website.
On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista and J Records. With the shutdown, T-Pain would henceforth release all material on the RCA Records brand. The album Revolver was eventually released in December 2011, alongside the transatlantic Top 10 single "5 O'Clock", which features Lily Allen and Wiz Khalifa.