"My raps don’t have melodies," Jay Z rapped on his 2009 song "Death of Autotune." "This should make niggas want go and commit felonies."
Little did Hov circa 2009 know, autotune would soon become one of the most central institutions in hip hop, and melodies and felonies would no longer be mutually exclusive. Along with Kanye West, T-Pain is largely responsible for popularizing autotune, and in some ways he took one for the team. His 2005-2010 status as The Hook God ended when the general public dismissed the style as an affront to "actual" singing. T-Pain was a true pioneer, and now he is being welcomed back to his rightful place among the pop elite.
Here we revisit T-Pain's Hook God era with seven of his best guest hooks and three more of his own hooks.
DJ Khaled - "All I Do Is Win"
T-Pain's hooks pair well with many artists, he is the perfect hooksman for DJ Khaled, a man with ample charisma but little to offer on the mic other than an enthusiastic recitation of his own name. "All I Do Is Win" came out in 2010, towards the end of T-Pain's peak. But Khaled knew he could still bring the heat.
Lil Wayne - "Got Money"
It takes great to rock the top hat. Which is why T-Pain and Flavor Flav are two of the only artists in the hip hop universe to have pulled it off. In "Got Money" he wears the most fiendish top hat in his closet as he plots a bank robbery with Birdman and Lil Wayne.
Flo Rida - "Low"
"Low" had high school dances L.I.T. for the entirety of the 2007-2008 school year. The song has since gone 7x platinum thanks to T-Pain's immortalization of apple-bottom jeans. It is his most commercially successful song ever.
DJ Khaled - "Go Hard"
Khaled knew he could count on T-Pain to carry any track. On "Go Hard," he recruits two autotune pioneers in Pain and Kanye West circa 808s & Heartbreak. They work well off one another -- Pain's aspirational, explosive voice creeps into the upper register while Kanye's voice contains a more subtle, controlled fury.
Plies - "Shawty"
Plies hails from Fort Myers, where Deion Sanders grew up, and T-Pain hails from Tallahassee, where Sanders went to college. Primetime!
Kanye West - "Good Life"
Between T-Pain exhorting the listener to throw their hands high, an ascending chord progression, and a chipmunk'd sample of Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T.," Kanye's "Good Life" is pure uplift. It is an invitation for the listener to join Kanye and T-Pain in the good life as much as a self-centered flaunting of material wealth.
E-40 - "U and Dat"
Another essential high school dance banger, "U and Dat" truly takes off during the verse, but its hook features a dazzling display of the way T-Pain uses all sorts of dips, dives, and harmonies to give his voice an emotional range surpassing that of many singers who do not use autotune. Nearly ten years later, the song is still capable of turning the club up, despite modest 808s that feel modest compare to the titanic subs of today's rap music.
"I'm in Luv (Wit A Stripper)" feat. Mike Jones
T-Pain was only 20 years old when he released his debut album Rappa Ternt Sanga in 2005. An ode to an exotic dancer who has won Pain's heart, "I'm in Luv" peaked at #5 and marked an indelible addition to the canon of an art form that simultaneously demeans and glorifies strippers.
"Bartender" feat. Akon
T-Pain signed to Konvict Music in '05, and on "Bartender" he gets an assist from Akon, who helps him express his lust for the girl working behind the counter. Between "Bartender" and "I'm in Luv (Wit a Stripper)," it seems that T-Pain is attracted to employed women and can't be bothered with anyone else.
"Buy U A Drank" feat. Yung Joc
The truest method of convincing a girl to talk to you at the bar is to buy her a drink. But T-Pain is not here for the conversation -- he is anticipating a trip to the bed of his grey Cadillac sooner rather than later. The sentiment is crass, but using autotune to sugarcoat his (actual) voice of gold, he manages to wrap it in a ball of sweet love.