T-Pain

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About T-Pain

T-Pain used natural talent, Auto-Tune, and cheeky song ideas to become one of the most influential, affable R&B acts of the 2000s. Born Faheem Najm in 1985, T-Pain was raised in Tallahassee, Florida, and was introduced to music when family friend Ben Tankard allowed him to tinker around at the studio. He eventually joined a rap group called Nappy Headz, but caught Akon's attention with "I'm F*cked Up," a cover of the latter's hit "Locked Up." T-Pain signed to Akon's Konvict Muzik in 2003 and smartly transitioned into singing. His 2005 debut, Rappa Ternt Sanga, featured "I'm Sprung" and "I'm n Luv (Wit a Stripper)," songs that caught fire just as much for their inescapable hooks as for their charismatic relatability. T-Pain had proven his skill at tunes that were sexy, funny, and infectious, using a vocoder to add emotion and personality to his melodic voice. He replicated the formula in 2007 with "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" and "Bartender." And before long, the rest of the industry followed suit: Countless artists copied the vocal style, while acts like Kanye West and DJ Khaled enlisted T-Pain personally for what felt like an endless series of hits. He added to his pop-culture cred in 2019, when he won the playful TV competition The Masked Singer and released his sixth LP, 1Up. T-Pain's fingerprints are all over contemporary rap and R&B: Vocal enhancements are inescapable now, as both rappers and singers use them to add dimension to their music. Just remember who started the trend.

HOMETOWN
Tallahassee, FL, United States
BORN
September 30, 1985
GENRE
Hip-Hop/Rap
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