Q&A: T-Pain

Rhapsody: What’s the concept for your new album, Thr33 Ringz?
T-Pain: The concept [for Thr33 Ringz] is comparing the [music] industry to the circus. The circus has its acts, and the industry has its artists. The way you get into the circus is to be able to do something amazing that no one else can do. The only thing that the circus has that the industry is missing is a ringleader.

By your top hat, I’m guessing that you’re that man.
Oh yeeeaaah.

You, Musiq Soulchild, Raheem Devaughn and J. Lyric are all on the same track ("Reality Show"). Where did you get the inspiration to do an R&B posse cut?
When I did the song, I was originally going to do it by myself. But when I heard the beat, I wondered who I could feature on here since I have a lot of friends in the industry. I thought, let’s get Musiq Soulchild, and he came through. And then I listened to it and thought Raheem Devaughn would’ve killed it, and I got Raheem to do a verse. I put them all separate, but after listening to it, I decided instead of trying to figure out who’s the best, that I would just keep all of the verses. It’s pretty much like a neo-soul super song …I’m a big fan of neo-soul. I still listen to India.Arie, Musiq Soulchild, Anthony Hamilton and Raheem. It’s still in my blood and it’s in my music.  I use a lot of it in my music, actually.

What kind of soul did you grow up with?
Not much. I didn’t get into music until ’99. I’m not the type who was singing when they was born, and dancing when they’re two. I don’t know how people do that. I’m just saying, you gotta learn to walk.

I love the video for "Can’t Believe It," especially how it looks. Will this be the visual aesthetic for the entire album?
I’m getting the same director and the same editor for all the album’s videos. All the videos are going to be a continuation of the last video. "Chopped N Skrewed" is going to begin where "Can’t Believe It" left off, and "Freeze" is going to pick up where "Chopped N Skrewed" left off. All the albums back in the '80s had this [consistency]. All albums back in the '80s had a theme. All the videos had the same theme, everything they did in public was to that theme. I had this whole album mapped out as soon as I dropped the second album.

You already have the next one mapped out, right? The T-Pain Is Dead joint?
That’s pretty much going to be an album between albums. It’s not necessarily going to drop to keep the buzz going as it is going to show that I do all kinds of things. The reason I’m calling it T-Pain Is Dead is because it’s going to be full of stuff that’s not T-Pain. There’s going to be rock 'n’ roll songs, alternative songs, songs without an auto-tuner. Live bands. I’m going to do some neo-soul.  I’m going to do songs for girls, about girls and with girls. My dream is for Timbaland and Pharrell to executive produce it.

Do you think that people focus too much on the fact that you use auto-tuner?
I brought it back. I didn’t start it. I didn’t invent the damn thing. People think that I feel that way when I say that I should get respect or recognition for bringing it back. And they say, ‘What about Roger Troutman?” But my first album started out with the melody for “California Love.” I put him on the credits, and I probably could’ve gotten around that by saying that we didn’t use the lyrics and you can’t patent the melody. But I wanted to give him credit for that because he has a lot  to do with what I’m doing right now.

Did you hear Troutman before or after you started singing?
Oh, way before. He really got me into music. When you use the vocoder, you have to know how to play the piano. Just to hear what he was playing with that on his voice, and the tube in his mouth.  [The vocoder] takes concentration and coordination, really. You have this tube in your mouth, and the whole thing that makes this tone is that there’s electricity going into your mouth. And if you let spit get into that thing, you’re going to get electrocuted. Two things in the world I don’t fuck with: electricity and heat. Changing a spark plug is out of the question for me. Nah, nah, nah. Trying to not get spit going into a tube that takes up a third of your mouth. Try to concentrate on that and play keys and sing at the same time. I’m good on that. …When I found that there was something that you could just put on top of your voice, I was very thankful. 

Does it bother you that everyone is using the auto-tune?
It bugs me when people act like they created it or brought it back. It’s like, you don’t realize what I just did? Lil Wayne will tell you right now that the only reason he is doing it is because of me. He saw that people accepted it. And Kanye called and said, "I got to borrow your style for a second." He’s kept it a little longer than he said he would he was going to, but at least he gives me the props.

What’s the status of you and Wayne’s collaborative project, T-Wayne?
The T-Wayne project is coming after my album. We still have to finish it, and we have four record labels between the two of us.  It will probably come out either late this year or early next year.