I almost didn’t watch this video. I’d already made up my mind that even if T-Pain was singing without autotune, then more than likely he was singing another beat-heavy, unimaginative song about sex and/or alcohol.

I was totally surprised by what I saw.

I saw T-Pain sitting at a piano and although his outfit had still had “flavor”, conspicuously missing were the sunglasses and the “big ass chain” he wore at an awards show a few years ago. There were no scantily clad females or members of his entourage. The stage was clear except for the band and fully-dressed background singers.

T-Pain played the piano (quite well) and sang “Drowning Again”, a song about someone he loves and is pining away for and there was not one mention of sex. Was he the best vocalist? No. But, T-Pain was unplugged and stripped. T-Pain was vulnerable… and credible.

Maybe this isn’t news to those of you who are T-Pain fans or grew up with him back in the day and know he’s a trained musician. And somebody tell me if he’s done other songs like this (admittedly, I don’t listen to his music) because I was surprised by this performance.

After the initial shock wore off questions started to run through my mind. Where has this T-Pain been all this time? Is this who he’s always been? And while his new album Revolver is chock full of songs that include autotune and talk of sex and alcohol, is “Drowning Again” who T-Pain really wants to be?

No artist, even if you don’t like his art, should be labeled or forced to just show one facet of his creativity. Each of us has several spices that make up our flavor. So, I can’t say with certainty that “Drowning Again” is really who T-Pain is and “Buy U A Drank” isn’t. But really, what reason does T-Pain have to write and perform a song like “Drowning Again”, when he has generated a lot of money and attention with songs like “Buy U A Drank”, and benefited from the voice correction of autotune?  I wonder if he’s trying to liberate himself; like a model who decides to let herself be seen without makeup.

Time will tell if work like “Drowning Again” is what T-Pain is revolving back to or evolving into and if his core fans will still want to ride with him. But if it is the direction he takes and he decides to drive in a lane that is authentically his, then he may just pick up some new passengers.

Talk amongst yourselves…

A new series of thoughts on music from characters Tim and Tip.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the video are solely those of the characters, not Grown Folks Music or the diseased brain of their creator(me). Enjoy!

Only slightly objectionable language is this clip.

I promised myself I wasn’t going to go off on this P.Y.T remix with T-Pain but damnit, they f**ked this up so bad, it would be a shame to be silent!! When my GFM crew schooled me to this travesty, I just shook my head and asked the Lord to please forgive me for the words I was about to say. It’s one thing when T-Pain wants to f**k up a contemporary artist today. Hell, most of them aren’t really on a high musical caliber anyway so you’re really not destroying much.  But when you get off your “little yellow bus” of musical mediocrity and travel the fast lane of iconic greatness, you have created a f**ked up situation and forgot yo’ damn lane. So to commemorate this blasphemous scenario, we decided to do a battle of the worst Michael Jackson remake. First we have the current heavyweight winner of T-Pain with the P.Y.T remake single against our challenger The Hip Hop Dalmatians with The Hoe is Mine.  Cast your vote!

If you ask me, they both sound like azz. And by the way, why does the head record exec in the Brown Sugar clip look like Phonte from The Foreign Exchange?!? Phonte, were you moonlighting, man!?! :)

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Intro: In our final entry for the series we take on a slightly different subject matter than the redemptive nature of last week’s focus. Yes, we are poised to deal with all the lasciviousness of a rather un-saintly nature. But honestly, not all of the messages that we will feature today will put you on the express to you know where. As always, we start with the now and when we compare it with the then, we focus on the connection that what’s being said is absolutely nothing new. The delivery, the audience, and possibly the reactions may change but sentiment operates in the realm of the eternal.

This week’s topic: Material Boys and Girls

Blame It-Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain/Let The Good Times Roll-Louis Jordan

The Message

The message is pretty clear in both of these songs…a good time, although “Blame It” takes a more dionysian approach in its heavy reliance on alcohol and subsequent abdication of all responsibility. Where this pair fits into our material theme is that they squarely fit the old adage “You have to pay to play“.

The Music

“Blame It” see: auto-tune. “Let The Good Times Roll” generally credited(and rightfully so)as the bridge between the swing era and rhythm blues and rock and roll. Louis Jordan’s “jump blues” was primed for dancing, and Jordan set the standard for many an entertainer to follow his suit in the decades to come.

That Was Then…
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