T-Pain has revealed that he used to get a paycheck every time an artist would use Auto-Tune, admitting those early days of his career were a “crazy” time.
The comments were made alongside DJ Drama on T-Pain’s Nappy Boy Radio podcast, where the former shouted out JAY-Z’s 2009 track “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” as one of his best songs.
T-Pain obviously had a lot to say about Drama’s pick, considering he’d previously admitted he took the song personally due to his own heavy reliance on Auto-Tune at the time. However, the Florida native admitted that the use of Auto-Tune in music has since “resuscitated” in full force.
“That shit came out of everywhere after that,” T-Pain said at the 34-minute mark. “I don’t think it worked out the way he thought it was gonna work out.”
“Is it true that there was a point and time where you got paid off of anytime anyone would use Auto-Tune?” Drama interjected.
“Yeah,” T-Pain said. “Absolutely. It was nuts, it was real crazy. Some people volunteered and some people didn’t know, so that was great. Diddy volunteered. Diddy gave me points on Last Train To Paris ’cause he used Auto-Tune.
“It’s on video! I still have the video on a hard drive right now of Diddy writing a contract on a napkin in the studio saying he was gonna give me a point on Last Train To Paris and we both signed it.”
“That’s insane,” Drama replied.
T-Pain previously revealed in an interview with Drink Champs last year that he recorded a “Death of Auto-Tune” remix, telling co-hosts N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN that it was meant to be the intro to his next album at the time.
“I made the record after I did a show in Vegas and everybody in the crowd was like, ‘JAY-Z killed you, bro!’” he said. “I was like, ‘All right, I’m never doing shows again!’ And it’s all, like, bros, it’s all white boys with their shirts off and shit. ‘JAY-Z, it’s the Roc, bro. Fuck you, bro!’
“I ended the show early and then I just tried to drink myself to death … I was just ready to go, man. I went in the studio and started recording the record.”
While the recording never saw the light of day, Nappy Boy performed the remix in full during the closing show on his Road to Wiscansin Tour last summer, where he could be heard biting back at Hov’s digs using the voice-altering device.
“They tried to get rid of me, now their knees hurt/ Shook! Who say they tryna brawl with Tylenol?/ You know you missed me, you ain’t fucking with them guys at all/ Foot in the dope crack, they say they need mo’ crack/ They asking for pain relief so I guess the boy’s back,” Pain rapped.
He continued: “It gets worse with time/ All the time you spent rehearsing your line, it end up worse than mine/ You thirsty for shine/ Every time I spit a bar I get thirty a line/ Who said they tryna bang with Teddy Pain?/ I’m on everythang, that’s on everythang/ I’m married to the game, get the wedding ring/ I got this shit wrapped, Teddy Cellophane.”
Elsewhere in his sit-down with DJ Drama, T-Pain asked the Gangsta Grillz legend why he thinks Hov chose to villainize Auto-Tune the way that he did.
“I think JAY and his career, especially up to that point, he was always known for being someone who touched and changed culture,” Drama said, adding: “I think that was him in a sense of looking at it from a cultural standpoint, but if I was you, I would feel some type of way.”
I wish Jay woulda dropped this track in more recent times instead of back then. T-Pain actually sounds good with autotune (as well as without, since he can actually sing) and used it in a ‘proper’ and musical way, unlike all these talentless hacks and their nursery singalong gibberish nonsense. Sad to hear dude mighta been damn near suicidal over it. But a “DOA” sequel is needed now more than EVER
No respect for T-Pain. It would be one thing if he used it for maybe a few songs. He revolved his whole career around it after realizing it was selling. He sold out. People don’t realize artists used it before him right? They just didn’t use it on EVERY SINGLE SONG. Around that time Lil Wayne was still incredibly popular. So with the combination of autotune and Lil Wayne’s dumb lean sipping mumble style, rap has become a cesspool of people just copying each other while all sounding exactly the same. No more rappers trying something new. It’s only, “oh he’s selling a lot? Let’s copy that.”
nobody sounds good with autotune. sound like a robot. imagine what all of this garbage auto tune sounds like live hahahah i kind of feel bad for these newer generations. growing up and there is no talent left and everything is trash. most of them don’t even realize it. sad sad sad.
No jayz dropped it at the perfect time it was starting to expand much further Beyond him it wouldn’t have hit any other time besides the time he dropped it
Ah yes autotune… most rappers already sounded the same and this just made it worst. The whole industry now sounds like a bunch of brain dead robots spitting out gibberish. Sounds awful. I literally can’t even tell anybody apart. Rap has been ruined for over a decade now. Some would argue two. Let’s all move on now at this point. It was a good run. Let’s hang it up guys.
i wish, but unfortunately this BS sounds like its here to stay. really sad that its become something of an “industry standard.”
lies. autotune has been around forever.
Forever ever? Forever ever
Auto Tune sucks. The real deal is using a Talk box.
CAP 🧢
More old ass sob stories from washed up T-Pain.
He was washed up when he first started.
For all you who don’t know he got the style from an artist name Roger Troutman this was not new
Bro, why are you lying? Autotune was a thing before you were born, nobody, NOBODY, was paying you “royalties” for using autotune. Washed up MFER.
T should be paying Cher. She was the first one to popularize it. Tpayne is a terrible artist. He ruined music. If you use an electronic controlled anyone can soundblike they sing in tune.
Robot by Buckshot and KRS was a much better diss of autotune than Jay z’s song.