“I mean, yeah, like I changed the world. I completely came in the game and changed how music sounds. I love that; it feels great to be that person. The only thing I don’t like about it is everything else that has Auto-Tune on it is (now) the greatest thing in the universe, and I’m not.”- T-Pain [1]
T-Pain (Faheem Rasheed Najm)
By looking at T-Pain’s use of auto-tune, we can see that the revolutionary technology in his 2005 debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, specifically “I’m N Luv (Wit a Stripper) (feat. Mike Jones)”, created a unique sound.
With the song’s heavily auto-tuned and catchy chorus, as well as the synthesized sounds throughout, the song became an instant hit on the billboard charts and became the foundation for the use of auto-tune in rap music.
Despite much backlash from the public and critics who believed auto-tune use created unauthentic sounds and removed a vital piece of the music making process, T-Pain’s use of auto-tune therefore produced these club sounding mixes that began a new wave of Hip-Hop and directly influenced many artists to follow, as musicians began to go beyond the pitch correction methods and actually alter their vocals to create something seemingly “new” with the addition of clearly computerized vocals.
Focusing on T-Pain’s “I’m N Luv (Wit a Stripper)”, shown above, this site will explore auto-tune, his specific use of auto-tune, and the effects this use had on critiques along with other artists. Listen to the song and follow along.