Self-proclaimed ‘auto-tune king’ T-Pain says he wants more credit for the success of Kanye West’s critically acclaimed album, 808s and Heartbreak.
In a recent interview with DJ Vlad, he says:
“The crazy thing was I worked on 808s & Heartbreak with Kanye,” T-Pain said. “I went down to Hawaii for like 10 days with that nigga. You know what I’m saying? And Kanye actually told me himself. My album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, he said ‘I listened to your album Rappa Ternt Sanga. I heard all the songs. I fuckin love your album Rappa Ternt Sanga. I think you a genius. Blah blah blah.’ He went through this whole spiel. He said, ‘But what I figured out that Rappa Ternt Sanga is just a bunch of love songs with a shit load of base in em.’ And I’m like ‘Well, love songs is like heartbreaks and the shit load of bass is the 808s. So, you calling your album 808s & Heartbreak because you making a bunch of love songs with a shit load of bass in ‘em?’ And he basically was like ‘Yeah, pretty much.’”
T-Pain goes on to say that the similarities between Rappa Ternt Sanga and 808s & Heartbreak and the lack of credit he received as the originator of the Auto-Tune technique once Ye’s album was released left him feeling unappreciated.
“I respect that shit, but it’s like the praise that he got from it was like ‘Oh my God, this is so creative. This is the new shit. This is the shit,’” he said. “And I’m like ‘Well, what happened in 2005 when I dropped Rappa Ternt Sanga and it was the same album. That’s kind of weird.’ You know what I’m saying. It just felt like I was unappreciated and anything like that. Any originator of anything is gonna be the lesser known because it’s the newest thing and that’s just not—it’s not right, but that’s just how shit goes.”
Do you side with T-Pain? Does he deserve more credit for the “auto-tune movement” than what he’s been given?
