T-Pain

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T-Pain
T-Pain in 2008.
T-Pain in 2008.
Background information
Birth name Faheem Najm
Born September 30, 1985 (1985-09-30) (age 22)
Origin Tallahassee, Florida, United States
Genre(s) Pop rap, Contemporary R&B, crunk, hip-hop, snap, Dirty South
Occupation(s) Singer, rapper, producer
Instrument(s) keyboard, guitar, Logic Studio, GarageBand
Years active 2005 - present
Label(s) Konvict Muzik, Jive, Nappy Boy
Associated acts Akon, DJ Khaled, Chris Brown, Plies,Kanye West, Yung Joc, Flo Rida, Rick Ross, Ace Hood, R. Kelly, Usher, Bow Wow, Lil Mama, Tay Dizm, Lil Wayne, Dolla
Website [1]

Faheem Najm (born September 30, 1985), better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American hip hop, R&B Singer-songwriter and producer who has been noted for using the auto-tune effect (often mis-cited as a vocoder effect) in his singing.[1][2]

Contents

Early life

He was born in Tallahassee, Florida to entrepreneur Muslim parents Shasheem Najm and Aliyah Najm.[3] At the age of ten, Faheem reworked his bedroom into a small studio with a keyboard, beat machine and four-track recorder, and began composing music. Faheem later graduated from James S. Rickards High School.[3] Prior to becoming a solo singer, Faheem was part of the Tallahassee rap group Nappy Headz, allowing T-Pain to start his career as a solo artist.[4] In 2002, he founded his own label, Hard & B, and soon caught the spotlight as a solo artist when his song "I'm Fucked Up", a reworked version of Akon's "Locked Up", gained popularity in the region. Akon noticed the song and signed T-Pain to his newly formed Konvict Music record label.[4]

Career

2005: Rappa Ternt Sanga

Main article: Rappa Ternt Sanga

T-Pain released his solo debut title single, "I'm Sprung", in August 2005. His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, ("rapper turned singer") was released on November 6, 2005, under Konvict Music. Guest appearances included Mike Jones, Trick Daddy, Youngbloodz, Styles P., Akon, BoneCrusher, & Tay Dizm. Hit singles "I'm Sprung" and "I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)" which sold over 5 million ringtones spawned official remixes titled "I'm Sprung 2" with Trick Daddy and YoungBloodZ, and "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper), The Remix" with Twista, Pimp C, Paul Wall, R. Kelly, MJG and Too Short. He is featured on E-40's 2006 summer hit single U and Dat along with Kandi Girl, which was produced by Lil Jon. One of his leftover tracks is "You And Me", original version of the song "I Can't Wait" by Akon.

2007: Epiphany

Main article: Epiphany (album)

He has released his second album Epiphany on the 5th of June, 2007, that features "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" and "Bartender" featuring Akon. This album has shipped platinum. Guest appearances included Yung Joc, Akon, Shawnna, Cham, Kardinal Offishall and Jay Lyriq. During that time, he has appeared on the remix of R. Kelly's "I'm a Flirt", with T.I., Bow Wow's "Outta My System", Fabolous's "Baby Don't Go", Plies's "Shawty", Chris Brown's "Kiss Kiss", & Kanye West's "Good Life". His new single is "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc, which he produced for his upcoming album Church. The video for "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" was released April 9, and the song went to #1. It contains cameos by Jay-Z, Huey, Shawnna, and E-40. He is recently featured on Flo-Rida's debut single, "Low". Even more recently, he was featured in Lil' Mama's single "Shawty Get Loose" alongside with Chris Brown. He has released a song for MySpace lovers, called "What's Your Myspace" featuring Tay Dizm. He released a song with Florida Artist J-Shin, called "Send Me An E-Mail". The video for the song was co-directed by T-Pain and fellow Floridian filmmaker JOKES and co-starred "MySpace Queen" Tila Tequila. It is said that T-Pain helped Miami rappers Plies and Flo-Rida start their music career through their debut singles.

2008

So far, T-Pain and his label mate Tay Dizm has been featured on Dolla (rapper)'s "Who the Fuck is That?" and 2 Pistols "She Got It". T-Pain has also appeared on Rick Ross's "The Boss", Lil Mama's "Shawty Get Loose" with Chris Brown and Mariah Carey's "Migrate" and had featured songs on the Step Up 2 The Streets soundtrack which included "Church", "Low" (with Flo Rida) and wrote "Lives in the Da Club" by Sophia Fresh featuring Jay Lyriq. He produced some of Mega-Platinum Artist Ciara's New Album "Fantasy Ride" coming out in September.. For the 2008 BET Awards, the most nominations were awarded to T-Pain, at five primarily for his work in other artists' tracks.[5]

2008: Thr33 Ringz

Main article: Thr33 Ringz

He is releasing his third studio album, Thr33 Ringz. It is tentatively set to release on September 30, 2008, the same day as his birthday. He has stated Toby Keith is planning to perform a track with him , as well as Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit on another. It can also be expected to see his label mates Jay Lyriq, Tay Dizm, Young Ca$h and Sophia Fresh heavily featured on the album. T-Pain has also stated on his MySpace page that he would like to work with Daft Punk. Ciara and Akon are rumored to be on the album as well.

The first single off the album "Snap Yo Fingers" features Lil Wayne and should be released to the radio airplay in June 2008. It is also stated that a music video is in the works.

Acting

T-Pain will have a recurring role as a drug dealer on the FX series, The Shield.

Awards and nominations

  • Grammy Awards
    • 2008, Album of the Year (Graduation) [Nominate
    • 2008, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group ("Bartender") [Nominated]
    • 2008, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Good Life") With Kanye West - [Nominated]
    • 2008, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Kiss Kiss") - Nominated
  • Vibe Awards
    • 2007, Best R&B Artist [Nominated]
    • 2007, Best Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") [Nominated]
    • 2007, Song of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") - Winner
  • Ozone Music Awards
    • 2007, Best Male R&B Artist [Award]
    • 2007, Best Rap/R&B Collaboration with Plies ("Shawty") [Award]

Discography

Main article: T-Pain discography

Albums

Projects In Progress

  • 2008: The Best Of Both Worlds With Lil Wayne

Compilation

  • 2008: No Love Without Pain

Mixtapes

  • 2005: No Love Without Pain
  • 2006: Back at It
  • 2007: Here Comes the Pain
  • 2007: Here Comes the Pain 2
  • 2008: The Midas Touch Man

Singles

Featured singles

References

  1. ^ Kellman, Andy. "Rappa Ternt Sanga". All Music Guide: 2005
  2. ^ Jeffries, David. "Epiphany". All Music Guide: 2007
  3. ^ a b Silas, James. Kanye West, T-Pain Headline Star Mega-Jam '07. Hip Hop World: November 16, 2007
  4. ^ a b Kellman, Andy. T-Pain. All Music Guide: 2007
  5. ^ "T-Pain Leads BET Award Nominations", Vibe, 2008-05-16. Retrieved on 2008-05-17. 

External links

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