T-Pain
T-Pain's singing ability has been on clear display since he first broke through to mainstream success in the early 2000s, and his use of Auto-Tune created a widespread ripple effect that defined certain areas of music for an entire generation. Following Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005), his descriptively titled debut album, the Floridian made a quick rise to the top of the Billboard 200 with Epiphany (2007), led by the number one Hot 100 hit "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')." Over the next few years, T-Pain released several albums of his own while appearing on numerous tracks, exemplified by Kanye West's "Good Life" and Jamie Foxx's "Blame It," both of which won Grammys. By the release of Happy Hour: The Greatest Hits (2014), T-Pain had racked up five headlining platinum singles. He has remained an enduring cultural figure, winning the first season of The Masked Singer in 2019 and issuing albums like his 2023 covers set, On Top of the Covers, which tackles versions of classic songs originally performed by everyone from Sam Cooke to Black Sabbath.
The Tallahassee native born Faheem Najm came up as a rapper in a group called Nappy Headz. As a solo artist, he went pro as T-Pain after he recorded "I'm Fucked Up," a personalized take on Akon's "Locked Up." Akon heard it and signed T-Pain to the Jive/Zomba-supported Konvict Muzik label. The self-produced and self-written "I'm Sprung," T-Pain's proper debut single, was released in August 2005 and went Top Ten pop and R&B/hip-hop. That December, the album Rappa Ternt Sanga arrived, supported by the follow-up single "I'm 'n Luv (Wit a Stripper)," another Top Ten hit on multiple Billboard charts. The two singles earned RIAA platinum certifications, and the parent full-length eventually went gold, situating T-Pain as a major breakthrough artist of the mid-2000s.
The success wasn't a fluke. During the next several years, as Auto-Tune usage became increasingly common in commercial music -- used more frequently to mask vocal deficiency than as the equivalent of an effect pedal for a guitar -- T-Pain continued to make hits. Through 2012, a period that involved the guest-loaded albums Epiphany, Thr33 Ringz, and the RCA-supported rEVOLVEr, he entered the pop Top Ten as a lead artist four additional times, highlighted by the chart-topping "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')." Through assists on songs such as Chris Brown's "Kiss Kiss," Kanye West's "Good Life," Jamie Foxx's "Blame It," and Pitbull's "Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor)," his name was either near or at the top position with even greater frequency. Additionally, "Good Life" and "Blame It" made T-Pain a two-time Grammy Award winner. The former took Best Rap Song, and the latter won Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
T-Pain's lasting commercial appeal was reaffirmed in 2014 with Happy Hour: The Greatest Hits, an anthology containing all five of his platinum singles as a lead artist. "Up Down (Do This All Day)," a new inclusion released to promote the set, became the singer's sixth headlining single to go platinum. A fifth LP provisionally entitled Stoicville was in the works, but by mid-2017, T-Pain had released only singles, including collaborations with Juicy J, Lil Yachty, and Young M.A. That November, however, he issued Oblivion, a gleefully hedonistic album -- his last one for RCA -- with singles featuring Blac Youngsta and Tiffany Evans.
Subsequently signed with the independent Cinematic Music Group, he quickly returned the next year with Everything Must Go, Vol. 1 and Everything Must Go, Vol. 2, his first commercially available mixtapes. After he was revealed to be the winner of the first season of Fox's The Masked Singer, T-Pain offered his sixth proper full-length, 2019's 1Up, which fared better on the Billboard 200 than Oblivion. Later that year, Tory Lanez sampled "I'm Sprung" for "Jerry Sprunger," a number 44 pop hit crediting T-Pain as a featured artist. In 2020, RCA compiled The Lost Remixes, and T-Pain continued issuing singles such as "Wake Up Dead," another collaboration with Chris Brown.
In 2023, he released his long-labored covers album On Top of the Covers. The record's eight genre-diverse selections included T-Pain's interpretations of songs by Journey, Black Sabbath, Sam Smith, and more. He returned in early 2024 with uplifting ballad "Dreaming."
© Andy Kellman & Neil Z. Yeung /TiVo
Discography
94 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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On Top of The Covers (Live from The Sun Rose) (Live)
Soul - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment - EMPIRE on Dec 22, 2023
Available in24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo -
Whatever I Want
House - Released by Innovative Leisure on Nov 13, 2015
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
On Top of The Covers
Soul - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment - EMPIRE on Mar 17, 2023
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Baby Got Brap
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment - EMPIRE on Oct 20, 2023
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
That's How We Ballin
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment - EMPIRE on Nov 10, 2023
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Happy Hour: The Greatest Hits
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Nappy Boy - Konvict Muzik - RCA Records on Oct 31, 2014
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
On This Hill
Soul - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment - EMPIRE on May 17, 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
The Introduction
Bluez Brothaz, T-Pain, Young Cash
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment on Dec 15, 2023
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Biggest Booty
Bluez Brothaz, T-Pain, Young Cash
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment on Mar 1, 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Epiphany (Expanded Edition)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Jive - Legacy on Jun 5, 2007
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Three Ringz (Thr33 Ringz) (Expanded Edition)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Jive - Legacy on Nov 11, 2008
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
I Like Dat
R&B - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment - EMPIRE on May 14, 2021
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Dreaming
Soul - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment - EMPIRE on Feb 9, 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
T-Pain Mashup
T-Pain, T-Pain with Kurt Hugo Schneider
R&B - Released by Nappy Boy - Konvict Muzik - RCA Records on Oct 27, 2017
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
The Bluez Brothaz
Bluez Brothaz, T-Pain, Young Cash
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment on Apr 26, 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Hot Tub
Yung Gravy, Dillon Francis, T-Pain
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Yung Gravy and Dillon Francis on Feb 2, 2022
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Girlfriend
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Cinematic Music Group on Aug 6, 2019
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Does She Know?
Soul - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment - EMPIRE on Oct 18, 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Spooky Shreds
R&B - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment - EMPIRE on Oct 28, 2022
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Y.O.T.A.
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Nappy Boy Entertainment on Jan 26, 2023
Available in24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo -
Rappa Ternt Sanga (Expanded Edition)
Hip-Hop/Rap - Released by Jive - Legacy on Dec 6, 2005
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo