T-Pain's artistry has seen him stray from the lines of R&B/hip-hop many times throughout his illustrious career, but recently he's even started writing country songs.
The Florida-bred singer-rapper said in a recent TikTok that he wrote some country tracks for artists, but ended up removing his name from the songs because of the racism he had experienced.
“Good music is good music. I don't give an af-k where she's from or what style she has,” she began in the video. “All the people I know feel that it's not cool to listen to other kinds of music. Country music is where I get all my harmonies.”
T-Pain continued, “I wrote a lot of country songs [but] I stopped accepting it because as cool as it is to see your name in those credits and not like it, the racism that comes after that is just like “I'll take the check. Don't put me through that s–t. I'll just take the check, bro. It's okay, man.”
The 38-year-old didn't reveal any context about who he's been writing country songs for or if he's doing it under a different moniker. (his real name is Faheem Rashad Najm.)
But just last week, Breakfast Club unearthed a years-old interview during which T-Pain delved into his ghostwriting phase, and during the conversation he said he's worked with the likes of Taylor Swift and Luke Bryan during his two-year stint in Nashville.
“I write a lot of country music for huge country artists who would rather not know I write for them,” he said. “I started with Taylor Swift, Luke Bryan, Rhett Akins [and] Dallas Davidson. Well, you know, I've written a lot about a lot [for] very important artists of the country”.
Per Songview, T-Pain is not credited as a writer on any songs by the aforementioned artists. However, he linked up with Swift for a parody of her “Love Story,” which the duo parodied. “Thug Story” and performed a recorded version of it at the 2009 CMT Awards.
Advertising sign T-Pain's reps have been reached for comment.
Last year, T-Pain leaned into his affinity for country music when he covered David Allan Coe's “Tennessee Whiskey.” as part of it At the top of the covers album.
“Tennessee Whiskey” has been covered a ton over the years, and Chris Stapleton performed an unforgettable performance of the record at the Country Music Awards with Justin Timberlake in 2015.
Listen to the 'buy U a Drank' artist explain as well Breakfast Clubdiscussion of the following.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/t-pain-racism-remove-country-music-songwriting-credit-1235600108/
