T-Pain

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• Genre: Contemporary R&B
• Hometown: Tallahassee
• T-Pain Website

About

Coming out of Tallahassee, Fla., T-Pain started recording four-track keyboard beats and rhyming over them beginning at the age of 10. As a teenager, he rolled with a crew called Nappy Headz, finding local success with rowdy street records like "Robbery" and "F.L.A." After the group's shine began to dim, T-Pain switched his focus to singing. In 2004, he reworked Akon's hit single "Locked Up" into his own tune entitled "F*ck*d Up," and the song took off regionally. Akon himself was so impressed by the cut that he signed the young singer to his Konvict Records imprint. In the fall of 2005, T-Pain dropped his first major label single, the Zapp-flavored "I'm Sprung," in anticipation of his debut album Rappa Ternt Sanga. In 2007, T-Pain staked his claim on hip-hop and R&B with Epiphany, spawning the ubiquitous club joints "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" and "Bartender." With vocoder in tow, T-Pain himself became ubiquitous, collaborating with Chris Brown, R. Kelly, Huey, DJ Khaled and every Florida rapper in existence. In 2008, he released his third album, the circus-themed Thr33 Ringz, which featured the hit single "Can't Believe It."

- Brolin Winning