Following the release of a video featuring Gabriel “The Jeweler” Jacobs being interviewed by Vlad TV in 2010 while showing off a Nappy Boy/Young Money piece made for T-Pain, a deal between the Tallahassee, Florida producer and the Lil Wayne-led Young Money seemed imminent.
Ultimately, a deal between T-Pain and Young Money Cash Money never came to fruition, and according to the Nappy Boy Entertainment founder, he was told that it was because Baby, Lil Wayne, and Slim believed he would have been a liability.
T-Pain spoke in-depth about his failed deal with Baby and Slim during a recent interview with Vlad TV. While speaking on the deal, Pain says his management told him that Baby, Wayne, and Slim considered him a liability because of his drinking and his desire to speak the truth.
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“Well, I actually was supposed to join Young Money…I went and got the chain made because it seemed like it was really a real thing that was gonna happen,” he said. “And it really was. I mean, it really was a thing. But I went to Baby—Baby and Slim talked to me every fuckin day. Every fuckin day Baby and Slim talked to me in the studio. They was like ‘Yo, so how we gon’ make this happen? Let’s make this happen. Let’s do this. What you need? Let’s get this. This is what we do. This is how we treat our artists. This is how we do everything. Blah blah.’ So I’m like ‘Yeah, I’m with it.’ And then my management came to me and they said ‘Basically, Baby, Wayne, and Slim got together. They talked and they don’t wanna sign you because you’re like a liability and you drink too much. Sometimes you make a fool of yourself. Sometimes you tell the truth about things that shouldn’t be told.’ I’m like ‘Who the—It’s a million niggas that say they real niggas. If you real niggas that mean you tell the truth about everything, right? I mean, you don’t hide nothing. I thought we was all real niggas.’”
A year after being told that he was a liability, T-Pain revealed that he had the opportunity to speak with both Baby and Slim. He says both the Cash Money founders denied saying that he was liability and instead stated that T-Pain’s management was the reason why they didn’t sign the producer.
“I see Baby and Slim again,” T-Pain said. “And you know I see them like ‘Dude, like did y’all really think that? Did y’all really think that I was a liability? Do I really drink too much because you know at some point, no disrespect, and I understand if you take this as disrespect, but Wayne was a little worse than me. Like as far as drinking and drugs and shit like that. Come on guys, really? Do I drink too much and y’all don’t do nothing too much?’ I was just kinda like saying how they felt. And they was basically like ‘Yeah, we didn’t really—we didn’t say that. We didn’t say any of that.’ So I’m like ‘So, what? So, why can’t I sign to Young Money or Cash Money?’ And they was like ‘We don’t like your managers.’ I was like ‘What?’ They was like ‘We don’t fuck with your management.’”
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In regards to the T-Wayne album, a joint project between T-Pain and Lil Wayne, T-Pain says the duo were able to complete 12 tracks, but did not state if the album would ever see a release. According to the producer, Lil Wayne being sentenced to time in and jail and his own bout with depression ultimately put the T-Wayne album on hold.
“The T-Wayne album we actually got like 12 tracks in that album right now,” he said. “We didn’t want to just say ‘Here’s 12 tracks everybody.’ We wanted to make like 30 tracks and say that we had an actual album, but in the middle of making it Wayne went to jail, for one. When Wayne got out of jail that’s when all the shit started happening when I was supposed to get on Young Money and all that shit there. So, we would have been in a different situation. But the shit kinda came to a halt because it was just like ‘Alright, this too much’…Not only was it just like real confusing, but that’s also when I started really taking a break from this shit because I was going crazy and I started drinking. I started really fuckin drinking too much because I was depressed and I was like ‘Fuck, Wayne in jail.’ It started getting real crazy for me.”
During an interview with Rap-Up.com in 2011, T-Pain informed fans that Lil Wayne was likely “over the whole idea” of the T-Wayne album following his stint in jail.
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“Things happen and I’m pretty sure he’s over the whole idea now,” the producer said. “I don’t even be bringing it up to him no more. I’m pretty sure he’s way past that right now. He’s doing big things.”
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