Faheem Rasheed Najm (born June 30, 1985), better known by his stage name T-Pain , is an American hip hop and R&B singer-songwriter, rapper and producer. He began his career as a rapper in the group Nappy Headz. In 2005, he became a singer and released his debut album Rappa Ternt Sanga with the hits "I'm Sprung" and "I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)". Throughout his career as a singer, T-Pain has extensively used the Auto-Tune pitch correction effect. Since the release of his debut album, T-Pain has produced numerous hits of his own and for other rappers and R&B singers. T-Pain has also had many top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2008, he won a Grammy with rapper Kanye West for the single "Good Life".
Personal background
Najm was born in Tallahassee, Florida. At the age of ten, Najm reworked his bedroom into a small studio with a keyboard, beat machine and four-track recorder, and began composing music. He graduated from James S. Rickards High School. His stage name is short for "Tallahassee Pain" and was chosen because of the hardships he felt while living there. He is a Muslim.
Career
He joined the rap group Nappy Headz and later recorded "I'm Fucked Up", a cover version of Akon's single "Locked Up". Akon noticed the song and immediately signed T-Pain to Konvict Muzik. T-Pain recorded his first album under the label, Rappa Ternt Sanga . The first single is "I'm Sprung". The second single is "I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)", featuring Mike Jones. The album debuted at #33 on the Billboard 200, eventually reaching gold.
In 2007, his second album Epiphany came out, with the club-oriented singles "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc and "Bartender" featuring Akon. Both singles were in the Top 5. Epiphany debuted at the top spot of the US Billboard 200 chart, and has sold about 1,000,000 units as of May 2008. being the first number-one album of his career. During that time, he appeared on the singles "I'm a Flirt" remix by R. Kelly with T.I., "Outta My System" by Bow Wow, "Baby Don't Go" by Fabolous, "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled with many other rappers, "Shawty" by Plies, "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown, "Low" by Flo Rida, and "Good Life" by Kanye West. Between the weeks of 24 November 2007 and 8 December 2007, T-Pain was featured in 4 top ten singles of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart
"Good Life" won the BET Award for the Best Collaboration and was nominated in several other categories. In 2008, the single won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song.
His third album Thr33 Ringz was released on November 11, 2008. "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was the first single; the video premiered on BET on August 26. "Chopped & Skrewed", featuring Ludacris, is the second single in this album. "Freeze", featuring Chris Brown, was confirmed to be the third single. Guest appearances on Thr33 Ringz include T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown, Kanye West and many more. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album.
In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous charting rap 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 with Kanye West. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped & Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC November 14, 2008 and on NBC's Saturday Night Live on November 22, 2008. T-Pain appeared again on SNL on February 7, 2009 (on the episode hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) in the SNL Digital Short, "I'm on a Boat", along with castmember Andy Samberg and SNL writer/Lonely Island member Akiva Schaffer.
T-Pain joined rapper Lil Wayne to form the duo T-Wayne. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. The debut T-Wayne album is to be released sometime in 2009. On May 31, 2009, T-Pain made an appearance on a live-action episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Frylock, where he made his debut as an actor. T-Pain has recently recorded 3 tracks: Special Guest, This Evening, and It's So Easy (with Sophia Fresh). All of the 3 tracks are produced by Tha Bizness.
In an interview with MTV, T-Pain announced that he would release a new album in November 2009 called UBER . In June 2009, T-Pain collaborated with country-pop singer Taylor Swift for the CMT Music Awards, and performed "Thug Story", a parody of Swift's hit single "Love Story".
An iPhone application called "I Am T-Pain" features an auto tuner, allowing fans to record and modify their own voice to accompany an instrumental collection of T-Pain's music. In July 2009, T-Pain endorsed the 2009 T-Pain Killa Cam-Pain, a grassroots effort to get him elected as president of Florida State University.
Musical style
He has called his style of music "Hard & B". T-Pain uses Auto-Tune, a pitch-correcting audio processor, for his vocals. Music critic Andy Kellman compared T-Pain's singing style to that of Cher in her 1998 hit "Believe", in which Cher used voice enhancements. In response to Jay-Z's single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", T-Pain stated that he would still use the method. T-Pain's use of Auto-Tune has been cited as an influence on other urban artists' works, including Snoop Dogg's single "Sexual Eruption", Lil Wayne's single "Lollipop", and Kanye West's album 808s & Heartbreak . In November 2008, T-Pain demanded credit from other artists who used Auto-Tune.
Personal life
T-Pain lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Amber, and three children: daughter Lyriq, son Muziq, and son Kaydnz Kodah (born May 2009). He has been married to Amber since 2003. His song "I'm Sprung" is dedicated to her.
He had two noted legal troubles in 2007. When he refused to cut his set short at Radio One's Spring Fest Concert in Miami on the evening of April 28, 2007, police presence escalated backstage. He became agitated after concert officials stopped his performance of "Buy You a Drink". Police chased T-Pain and his entourage out of the premises and detained them. After a June 2007 concert of T-Pain's, Tallahassee police issued a warrant for his arrest over a suspended driver's license. T-Pain turned himself into the Leon County Jail on November 2, 2007.
On March 27, 2009, T-Pain was involved in a golf cart accident. He suffered cuts, bruises, and four missing teeth and had emergency dental work done. He returned to performing on March 29, 2009. The accident was later referenced in the music video of Glasses Malone's song "Sun Come Up".
Discography
Main article: T-Pain discography
- Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005)
- Epiphany (2007)
- Thr33 Ringz (2008)
- RevolveЯ (2010)
Awards and nominations
- American Music Awards
- 2007, Favorite Male Artist .
- BET Awards
- 2009, Best Male R&B Artist (Nominated)
- 2009, Best Collaboration ("Blame It") with Jamie Foxx (Won)
- 2009, Viewer's Choice ("Can't Believe It") with Lil Wayne (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Collaboration ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Collaboration ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
- 2008, Viewer's Choice ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Collaboration ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
- 2008, Video of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
- BET Hip Hop Awards
- 2009. Producer of the Year (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Ringtone ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
- 2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Hip-Hop Collabo ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
- 2008, Track of the Year ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Nominated)
- BMI Urban Awards
- Song Writer Of The Year (Won)
- Producer Of The Year (Won)
- Grammy Awards
- 2009, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Got Money") with Lil Wayne (Nominated)
- 2009, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
- 2009, Best Rap Song ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
- 2008, Album of the Year ( Graduation )
- 2008, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group ("Bartender") with Akon (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Good Life") With Kanye West (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Rap Song ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
- Ozone Music Awards
- 2008, TJ's DJ's Hustler of the Year (Nominated)
- 2008, Club Banger of the Year ("I'm So Hood") with DJ Khaled, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, & Plies (Nominated)
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