T-Pain is a master with his pen — but’s he’s done taking credit for some of his work!
In a recent video posted on TikTok, the “Bartender” singer explained the inspiration he draws from country music, despite being a hip-hop and R&B artist.
“Good music is good music,” the 39-year-old says in the clip. “I don’t give a f**k where it comes from or what style it come in. All the people I know, like, feel like it’s not cool to listen to other genres of music.”
He adds, “Country music is where I get all my harmonies, country and gospel music. That’s where all my harmonies come from.”
The GRAMMY-winning musician admitted that he has written country songs, but decided that he will stop putting his name on the credits due to the racist backlash he has faced.
“I done wrote a lot of country songs,” he says. “Stopped taking credit for it because as cool as it is to see your name in those credits and s**t like that, the racism that comes after it is just like … I’ll just take the check, don’t put me on that s**t. I’ll just take the check, bro, never mind,” he ended with a laugh.
T-Pain (whose real name is Faheem Rashad Najm) did not share any further details about the songs he’s contributed to, or the racism he experienced. Throughout his career, the producer/songwriter has written songs for Bruno Mars, Chris Brown and Jamie Foxx.
Fans got a taste of T-Pain’s love for country music and other genres with the release of his On Top of the Covers album, which includes a cover of David Allan Coe’s “Tennessee Whiskey.”
Also included on the album is a cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.”
After a clip of T-Pain’s performance went viral, the classic rock band’s lead singer, Ozzy Osbourne, took to X (formally known as Twitter) to praise the track.
“This is the best cover of ‘War Pigs’ ever,” Osbourne wrote. “Why didn’t you guys call me?”
T-Pain replied, with a special invite to the rock legend.
“You’re always invited. Top of the list, every time!!” he said. “Thank you so much. Means a lot coming from the greatness himself.”
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