TBT: Early T-Pain

If there was one voice that dominated 2005-2010 radio, it was T-Pain's. His auto-tuned croon earned him spots on Billboard charts and guest features on everybody's albums.

The platinum single "I'm 'n Luv (Wit a Stripper)" came out in 2005 and was infectious. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing the R&B/pop hit. After a slow 2006, T-Pain had an extraordinary run in 2007, with twelve charting singles to his name in that year alone. A few of those, "Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')," "Kiss Kiss," and "Low" were number one singles overall. His album from that year, Epiphany, is certified gold. 

Tallahassee, Florida doesn't have a lot of boasting to do in the music industry. Only a couple of big time artists have ever come from there. T-Pain put the city on the map with his run of early singles, which we're revisiting today for our Throwback Thursday.

T-Pain's first single was "I'm Sprung," off his 2005 album Rappa Ternt Sanga. The track, and album, acted as an introduction to T-Pain's rap-turned-singing style.

 "I'm Sprung" was pretty big, but this stripper anthem was even bigger. Check out the remix with Mike Jones for your daily dose of nostalgia. 

E-40 had an early ear for T-Pain, and decided to include him on the Lil Jon-produced single from his 2006 album My Ghetto Report Card.  

R. Kelly has gone through his fair share of ups and downs over the years, but one major victory was his 2006 single featuring T-Pain and T.I. The song hit number one on the US rap charts, and holds a special place in our TBT playlists.  

This track was T-Pains first number one overall track. Alongside Yung Joc, the two crafted a crossover masterpiece that had soccer mom vans goin' up on Tuesdays. 

One way to make a hit song is to craft one especially for night life. On "Bartender," T-Pain did just that: he gave everyone a perfectly great reason to go buy a drink. 

T-Pain dominated the charts just before Lil Wayne did, generally speaking. "Can't Believe It," their massive collaborative single, could be seen as somewhat of a torch passing between the two.

Even the likes of Chris Brown have felt the need to collaborate with T-Pain to generate a massive single. C-Breezy, a known hitmaker himself, struck platinum on this collaboration.

Not all of T-Pains singles still have wheels. Honestly, do you still play "Kiss Kiss"? Probably not. 

But "Good Life" is a certified timeless banger. It'll still set a party off upon the first sound of T-Pain's warbly vocals. 

A master of crafting song concepts, T-Pain employed Ludacris for this ode to Houston's slowed down version of hip hop.