T-Pain: Pitch Perfect

A few years ago, if you turned on any pop radio station there would be a song featuring the auto-tune, or some other pitch-changing vocal effect within minutes of listening.  Musicians from The Dixie Chicks to Maroon 5 have used this technology in their hits, but only Rapper/Producer T-Pain relies on these effects almost entirely.  The Tallahassee native has produced and sung for dozens of Billboard hits, and his newest album “Revolver” continues his trademark style of electronic vocals.

According to MTV, T-Pain was originally a part of the Florida hip-hop group Nappy Headz, but he left when Rapper/Producer Akon heard his song “I’m F*cked Up.”  The song is a remixed version of Akon’s own “Locked Up,” and Akon was so impressed that he signed T-Pain to his label Konvict Muzik.  Once he joined with the label, T-Pain switched from rapping to traditional singing.

His first album, “Rappa Ternt Sanga” was released in 2005, and T-Pain hit the bank with the single “I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper)” featuring fellow MC Mike Jones.  Other rappers such as Bone Crusher and Trick Daddy made appearances on the record, and Lil’ Wayne and Pitbull contributed vocals to remixes of “Studio Love“ and “Dance Floor,” respectively “Epiphany” and “Thr33 Ringz” made their debuts over the next three years, and artists like Yung Joc, Ludacris, Ciara, T.I., and Kanye West worked with T-Pain over this time.  Kanye West even went so far as to use auto-tune throughout his fourth album, “808s and Heartbreak.”  These collaborations with other industry heavyweights and promotion of his singles have made T-Pain a titan of the R&B/Rap scene.

Since his verses on other people’s tracks and those on his own songs continually have employed auto-tune, in 2008 T-Pain told MTV that he actually made a request for other musicians to give him royalties for any songs containing auto-tuned lyrics.  This led to royalties from P. Diddy and Kanye West, even though T-Pain admitted that they legally do not owe him anything. “He signed the contract and everything.  If I can do that with Diddy, somebody else better be signing something.  It’s Diddy. He didn’t have to involve me at all…I’m writing and producing on his album, and he gave me extra royalties on top of that,” T-Pain said in his interview with MTV regarding the release.

The following year Rapper/Hip-Hop Extraordinaire Jay-Z released the song “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” as the leading single for his album “The Blueprint 3.”  In the song Jay-Z repeatedly slams vocal effects, calling their use a “lack of aggression that might turn our recession into the Great Depression.” T-Pain responded to the song’s message positively, saying that there are in fact instances in which auto-tune does not have a place.  He said that auto-tune does not belong in songs that deal with serious topics and that auto-tune is for light-hearted material.  He told MTV, “Jay-Z said something…I gotta do it now. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, so I’m ready.”  T-Pain’s love for pitch effects will be forever memorialized in the microphone toy “I Am T-Pain,” which allows users to add an auto-tune effect to their voices as they sing over T-Pain’s own songs and other beats which are exclusive to the toy.  The device has sold well, and even retail giant Walmart stocks it for sale at its locations and on its website.

Though “Revolver” has not sold as well as his previous efforts, T-Pain still has his eye on the limelight.  His appearance on Singer Adele’s “Rolling in The Deep” kicked the year off right, and he still has all of 2012 to make whatever moves he desires.

- Taylor Burns