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Faheem Rasheed Najm (born June 30, 1985)
Personal backgroundNajm was born in Tallahassee, Florida. At the age of ten, Najm reworked his bedroom into a small studio with a keyboard, beat machine and four-track recorder, and began composing music. He graduated from James S. Rickards High School.[Silas, James. Kanye West, T-Pain Headline Star Mega-Jam '07. Hip Hop World: November 16, 2007] His stage name is short for "Tallahassee Pain" and was chosen because of the hardships he felt while living there.[first=Nui Te] He is a Muslim.
CareerHe joined the rap group Nappy Headz and later recorded "I'm Fucked Up", a cover version of Akon's single "Locked Up"
. Akon noticed the song and immediately signed T-Pain to Konvict Muzik. T-Pain recorded his first album under the label, Rappa Ternt Sanga.[first=Andy] The first single is "I'm Sprung". The second single is "I'm N Luv (Wit A Stripper)", featuring Mike Jones. The album debuted at #33 on the Billboard 200, eventually reaching gold.
In 2007, his second album Epiphany came out, with the club-oriented singles "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" featuring Yung Joc and "Bartender" featuring Akon. Both singles were in the Top 5. Epiphany debuted at the top spot of the US Billboard 200 chart, and has sold about 1,000,000 units as of May 2008.[first=Hillary] being the first number-one album of his career. During that time, he appeared on the singles "I'm a Flirt" remix by R. Kelly with T.I., "Outta My System" by Bow Wow, "Baby Don't Go" by Fabolous, "I'm So Hood" by DJ Khaled with many other rappers, "Shawty" by Plies, "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown, "Low" by Flo Rida, and "Good Life" by Kanye West. Between the weeks of 24 November 2007 and 8 December 2007, T-Pain was featured in 4 top ten singles of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart In July 2009, T-Pain endorsed the 2009 T-Pain Killa Cam-Pain, a grassroots effort to get him elected as president of Florida State University.[url=www.tallahassee.com/article/20090806/FSU01/908060315/1008/FSU/Will+FSU+go+from+T.K.+to+T-Pain]
Musical styleHe has called his style of music "Hard & B".[title=T-Pain's Akon-Approved 'Hard R&B' Calms His Fear Of Sounding Soft] T-Pain uses Auto-Tune, a pitch-correcting audio processor, for his vocals. Music critic Andy Kellman compared T-Pain's singing style to that of Cher in her 1998 hit "Believe", in which Cher used voice enhancements. In response to Jay-Z's single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", T-Pain stated that he would still use the method.[title=Singers do better with T-Pain relief ] Lil Wayne's single "Lollipop", and Kanye West's album 808s & Heartbreak. In November 2008, T-Pain demanded credit from other artists who used Auto-Tune.
Personal lifeMug shot of T-Pain taken in November 2007.
T-Pain lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Amber, and three children: daughter Lyriq, son Muziq, and son Kaydnz Kodah (born May 2009). He has been married to Amber since 2003. His song "I'm Sprung" is dedicated to her.
He had two noted legal troubles in 2007. When he refused to cut his set short at Radio One's Spring Fest Concert in Miami on the evening of April 28, 2007, police presence escalated backstage. He became agitated after concert officials stopped his performance of "Buy You a Drink". Police chased T-Pain and his entourage out of the premises and detained them. After a June 2007 concert of T-Pain's, Tallahassee police issued a warrant for his arrest over a suspended driver's license. T-Pain turned himself into the Leon County Jail on November 2, 2007.
On March 27, 2009, T-Pain was involved in a golf cart accident. He suffered cuts, bruises, and four missing teeth and had emergency dental work done. He returned to performing on March 29, 2009. The accident was later referenced in the music video of Glasses Malone's song "Sun Come Up".
Discography- Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005)
- Epiphany (2007)
- Thr33 Ringz (2008)
- Revolve? (2010)
Awards and nominations- American Music Awards
- 2007, Favorite Male Artist [1].
- BET Hip Hop AwardsCitation needed
- BMI Urban AwardsCitation needed
- Grammy Awards
- 2009, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Got Money") with Lil Wayne (Nominated)
- 2009, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
- 2009, Best Rap Song ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
- 2008, Album of the Year (Graduation) [1]
- 2008, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group ("Bartender") with Akon (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Good Life") With Kanye West (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration ("Kiss Kiss") with Chris Brown (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Rap Song ("Good Life") with Kanye West (Won)
- Ozone Music AwardsCitation needed
- MTV Video Music Award
- 2008, Best Hip-Hop Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
- 2008, Best Male Video ("Low") with Flo Rida (Nominated)
- 2007, Monster Single of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)"), featuring Yung Joc (Nominated)
- People's Choice Awards
- 2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Low" with Flo Rida [2]
- 2008, Favorite Hip-Hop Song, "Good Life" with Kanye West [1]
- Teen Choice Awards
- 2008, Choice Hook-Up: Flo Rida Featuring T-Pain, "Low" (Nominated)
- 2008, Choice Music: R&B Artist - T-Pain (Nominated)
- 2008, Choice Music: Rap/Hip-Hop Track - Lil Mama featuring Chris Brown and T-Pain, "Shawty Get Loose" (Won)
- Vibe Awards
- 2007, Best R&B Artist (Nominated)
- 2007, Best Collaboration ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Nominated)
- 2007, Song of the Year ("Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin)") with Yung Joc (Won)
Copyright Citations
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