T-Pain sings tech's praises (again) on new CD, 'Thr33 Ringz'
The rapper-turned-R&B crooner's use of the note-bending Auto-Tune computer program helped him break big, and he won't stop using it even though others have jumped on the bandwagon.
Just because hip-hop/R&B superstar T-Pain single-handedly -- albeit accidentally -- transformed the pop chart with his retro-futuristic sound, don't expect him to strangle the goose that laid the golden egg.
That is to say, he isn't going to stop using a voice-distorting computer program called Auto-Tune any time soon. Not after employing the technology to create two hit albums and land a whopping 27 songs on the pop chart since 2005, most of them in collaboration with the multi-platinum-selling likes of R. Kelly, T.I., Rick Ross and Akon.
Nor is T-Pain troubled by the fact that a constellation of rap stars -- including Snoop Dogg on "Sensual Seduction," G-Unit on "Rider Pt. 2" and Lil Wayne on his No. 1 hit “Lollipop” -- also have used the effect, which manipulates vocal pitch to "correct" a note in a scale, resulting in a heavily processed sound perhaps best described as robot lust.
As the rapper-turned-singer sees it, if continuing fealty to computer vocal tweaking means he has to suffer the occasional sling or arrow from his record label, Konvict/Jive, so be it. To the chagrin of some label artist-and-repertoire honchos, about half the songs on his new album "Thr33 Ringz," which hits retail Tuesday, use Auto-Tune.
"Recently, I got some [flak] for it," T-Pain said by phone from Atlanta. He was in the middle of moving into a new house, a process he found "stressful." "They said I should stop doing [Auto-Tune] because too many other people are using it now. They figured that people would get tired of it. What I explained to them is, there's no one better than the originator."
The top-hat-loving Grammy-winner places his innovation within a larger continuum of musical FX technicians who inspired him. He pointed out that Teddy Riley, one of the fathers of New Jack Swing, and Roger Troutman, a '70s funk-R&B legend, used an earlier funky-voice technology called the Vocoder to distinguish themselves and achieve chart success. (In 1998, Cher recorded the electro-tinged romantic paean "Believe," which is widely credited with injecting Auto-Tune's mechanical yet yearning modulations into pop consciousness.)
"Teddy Riley can't do it better than Roger Troutman," T-Pain said. "I can't do it better than Teddy Riley. And can't nobody do it better than me. So whoever come after me have to bring it!"
