During a recent Twitch stream, T-Pain opened up about his earnings from his 2007 Epiphany hit, "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')." The song was major at the time of its release, and continues to be a memorable token of the era. Fans would expect that the artist made a killing off the self-produced banger, but according to him, he didn't make as much as one would expect.
The song also famously features various references to other notable hip hop songs, including Lil Scrappy's "Money in the Bank," "Walk It Out" by Unk, and more. Unfortunately, when the song started getting popular, the people behind the songs that he referenced came looking for credit. Nappy Boy Gaming shared a clip of the conversation on Instagram, joking about the surprising revelation. "'We' got money in the bank I guess [laughing emoji]," the post is captioned. "Those publishing splits can get the best of us."
T-Pain Says Publishing-Wise, He Made "No Money"
In the clip, he reveals that "publishing-wise," he made nearly nothing from the song. "So all those thing that I said in 'Buy U a Drank' that was from other songs, when 'Buy U a Drank' like blew up blew up, all them people and writers from them other songs they were owed sh*t from my song." He continued, revealing that he was shocked by the realization. "I was like 'what the f*ck,'" he explained, "I was like paying homage and sh*t."
"'I got money in the bank,' Scrappy and his writers came for that," he continued. "Or ‘Snap ya fingers/ Do ya step,’ Lil Jon and E-40 and everybody on that song came for me. They said this is ‘Our money in the bank.’” Are you surprised that "publishing-wise," T-Pain made nearly nothing? Share your thoughts in the comments section down below, and keep an eye on HNHH for more updates on T-Pain.