May 21, 2016

Pain From Tallahassee to Music Stardom

T-Pain
Faheem Rashad Najm was born September 30, 1985, better known by his stage name T-Pain, he is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer.  His stage name is short for "Tallahassee Pain", and was chosen because of the hardships he experienced while living there. At just three years old he got his first taste of the music business when a friend of the family, gospel jazz artist/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.T-Pain joined the rap group Nappy Headz in 2004 and later recorded "I'm F**ked Up", a cover version of Akon's single "Locked Up". Recording artist Akon heard the song and immediately signed T-Pain to Konvict Muzik, his label. After being discovered, T-Pain began singing instead of rapping. T-Pain subsequently recorded and released his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, on December 6, 2005. The album reached number thirty-three on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA, for reaching sales of 500,000 units.

In mid-2006, T-Pain began work on his second album, now with the Zomba Label Group as well as Konvict Muzik and Jive Records. 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 2007. The record has since sold 819,000 records in the United States.

The album was preceded by the lead single "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc in February 2007. The single reached number one on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first single to top charts. The album's second single, "Bartender", featuring Akon 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 but failed to chart in the United States.

In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album with Rocco Valdes, Akon and Lil Wayne. The album was also his first under his Nappy Boy Entertainment.

T-Pain's third studio album, Thr33 Ringz, was released on November 11, 2008.The album sold 168,000 records in its first week, reaching number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz, was released in early 2008 before the album.

The album was preceded by three singles. Its lead single, "Can't Believe It", featuring Lil Wayne, was released in July 2008. The single 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", featuring Ludacris, was released in September 2008. The single reached number twenty-seven 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", featuring Chris Brown, was released in October 2008 and reached number thirty-eight on the Hot 100 and number thirty-nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Thr33 Ringz included T.I., Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara, Chris Brown and Kanye West among others. Pr33 Ringz was the introduction mixtape for the album.

In 2008, T-Pain continued to appear on numerous 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 '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 (on the episode hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio) in the SNL Digital Short. T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour, which included sold out shows across North America. T-Pain and rapper 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.

He 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". In an interview with MTV, T-Pain announced that he would release his fourth studio album in November 2009 and that its title was UBER. He stated that although he originally wanted to release the album in the summer of 2010, his label had pushed the release forward. Regardless of these announcements, the album wasn't released in 2009. 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. It 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. Later, in February 2010, he released the official lead single from his fourth studio album, "Reverse Cowgirl", featuring Young Jeezy. 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 the fall of 2009, T-Pain began work with Cartoon Network's Adult Swim to produce and star in a television animated musical special based on Freaknik. Freaknik: The Musical aired on March 7, 2010.

In June 2010, T-Pain confirmed that his fourth studio album RevolveR has been completed and mastered, but that it will not be released until album sales increase. He elaborated upon this in August 2010, stating that the album probably wouldn't be released until 2011. 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.

With 60 hit songs under his belt and two Grammy trophies on his mantle, T-Pain has cemented himself as one of the most influential artists of all time. But even he needed a bit of time to himself to reload. After an eight year run of #1 hits, albums, tours and a plethora of cameo appearances, T-Pain found himself  living a life full of exactly what his name implies.

Upon releasing his 2011 album rEVOLVEr, the “Rappa Ternt Sanga” took an abrupt, but well-deserved, break from the spotlight. But it wasn’t to enjoy his spoils. His non-stop lifestyle was beginning to take a toll on his personal life and it was beginning to affect his creative “I was becoming somebody that I didn’t like,” he says. “I was living an unhappy lifestyle and it started affecting my family. I was hurting and scaring a lot of people.” At the height of his career that included a popular smartphone app and a Super Bowl commercial, T-Pain decided to take a two year hiatus from releasing music. Where that would be a death knell for other artists, it wound up being a second birth for T-Pain. In the fall of 2013 a rejuvenated T-Pain returned with one of his biggest hits to date, the DJ Mustard-produced single “Up Down (We Do This All Day)” featuring B.o.B. After returning to his familiar spot in the top ten of  the charts for 28 straight weeks and counting, he’s continuing the comeback in 2014 going with the club smash “Drankin Patna.”

His fifth album, Stoicville: The Phoenix is scheduled to follow and T-Pain promises that it he’s back to being the artist that he originally intended to be.“I want to be able to say that I put out an album that I believed in and that I liked,” he says. “Every song on the album is something that came out of my heart.” With this refreshed spirit, T-Pain is now spanning the globe on his “I Am T-Pain” tour with dates selling out in the United States, Europe, Australia and all points in between. Where fans will surely recognize the music and appreciate the new energy, they will also see the external changes T-Pain has made as well. He’s lost much of the weight he put on during his down time and he even shaved off his trademarked dreadlocks. “That was one of the hardest things to change about me,” he admits. “But I figured that if I could make that big of a change, everything else would change immediately, and it did.”

With many artists in the marketplace building successful careers borrowing from a sound that T-Pain helped create, it’s only right that he return to claim his throne. Only this time, don’t expect him to take another break, he’s going as hard as ever.