Vintage T-Pain?

T-Pain sucks. He is on your radio every hour talking about the same shit. But at times, he can make an average song dope, like he just did with 2 Pistols. When the song came on I turned to my friend Josh and said listen to T-Pain on the hook, it's vintage T-Pain. Josh laughed at me for thinking there was such a thing as vintage T-Pain but later turned off the radio when "Umbrella" came on, reasoning old-school "SOS" Rhianna was way better. After I got home I got to thinking, is there such a thing as vintage T-Pain? Then I figured I should make a list of my favorite T-Pain songs just to prove to myself, and my friend Josh, that yes, T-Pain is awful, but at times he is dare I say ... classic.

Top 5 Songs with T-Pain

5. Shawty - Plies ft. T-Pain

"I exposed her to the real now she hate lames"

The song starts with two chords followed by a smooth "shawty" from our boy Pain - then it happens. World meet Plies, Plies meet world. Plies systematically destroys his verses by detailing how he turns a good girl with a big ass into a bust it baby freak. At first she is hopeless, but Plies, the man of virtue and patience that he is, takes time to train her - now she's suckin him with ice and talking while she take pipe. Impressive to say the least.

The song spotlights the concept of a shawty. T-Pain sings, "I'm not your man, you ain't my girl, you my shawty." At first I thought my shawty was the same as my booty call but nah, it's more than that. You care about your shawty, you love to show off your shawty cause she gets you right. As for Pain and Plies they got it right with "Shawty."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxs5EM3xlus

Afterthought: Saddest part of this song is how hard Plies fell off afterwards. I used to be excited when I heard a song begin with "Hey man, it's your boy Plies homie," now I just laugh.

4. Buy U a Drank - T-Pain ft. Yung Joc

"let's get drunk and forget what we did"

T-Pain loves using lines from hit songs - on the recent 2 Pistols song he sings bout 'throwin some D's on it' in the hook. In Buy U a Drank he perfectly uses walk it out and money in the bank for the hook. As for Yung Joc, his verse is totally blah, but the bass of his voice fits the beat perfectly and when he goes in with "meet me at the bar" it's a legit moment. For me, there are two highlights on the song: first, "we in the bed like ooo, ooo" that shit is catchy. But the best part is easily whoever the hell it is in the background that goes "awwwwww snap."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy-nqyfR_w4


3. I'm Sprung - T-Pain

Sitting on a roof, rockin shades and dreadlocks, singing about being whipped - this was the world's first sight of T-Pain. Now, for those that don't know:

1.	sprung
	Falling in love with someone to the point that they are constantly on your mind and you cannot live without them...and your everyday is either good or bad, depending on how it went with her.

Why do I like this song? The last two years, anyone who listens to rap radio stations has been bombarded with T-Pain yellin bout how he is the shit. Yet, his first single ever is his most self deprecating and honest. "I'm Sprung" is about what it's like to be in a relationship that controls your every moment for better or worse. Never again will you hear T-Pain talking about the negatives and reality of a relationship.

Think about it this way, a lot of rappers and R&B singers experience sophmore slumps because after the success of their debut they don't want to do anything but but brag and boast - and that is exactly what T-Pain what has done. Yet somehow, T-Pain started a video for a song that may be his most serious by letting Akon make fun of him! Something that will never happen again because fools like T-Pain are too concerned with image to be real or to even simply laugh at themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ichSb-1HSiY

2. Good Life - Kanye West

"Now throw your hands up in the sky"

Hands down the best song on the new Kanye album. From the Toomp beat to the cartoons in the video to chopped and screwed Kanye yellin' "more ass than the models" to T-Pain killing the hook - yeah, I kind of like this song (maybe the only good song on Graduation...sorry). Similar to Pain on "I'm Sprung," T-Pain does have an honest moment in which he admits he hasn't always been this cool - "Now my grandmomma aint the only one callin me baby." Just overall solid song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDxr-eakI6U

Afterthought: Is it just me or have Kanye's albums gotten progressively worse yet have been received as getting progressively better?

1. I'm N Luv with a Stripper - T-Pain ft. Mike Jones

First, the beat: solid acoustic guitar sliding behind a simple synth line.

Second, the concept: amazing. All I have to say: just thinking of T-Pain (and millions around the world) drooling at a strip club cracks me up every time. When I read that the song was based on a true story I just sat back and said classic.

Third, Mike Jones: His verse offers nothing. Again, I feel the same way about the Joc verse on Buy U a Drank as I do about Mike Jones on this one - his voice works perfectly with the beat but he says nothing of substance...or even something clever or funny. But I will say this, when the song came out Mike Jones was still somewhat fresh and new and all he had to do was yell Mike Jones and I'd smile through his whole verse.

Lastly, Pain: Perfect use of the vocoder. For the most part of the song T-Pain's voice sounds like a real human voice, with the exception of when he sings "girrrrl" at the end of the beginning of every verse. After this song, T-Pain started relying too heavily on the vocoder. Secondly, aside from the refrain, the best part of the song is easily when Pain sings "I done got her over to my crib to do that night thing" just as the beat fades out before the hook. Vintage T-Pain? I'd say so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs9le1zs0s0