T-Pain

T-Pain was born as Faheem Najm June 30, 1985 in Tallahassee, Florida. He was the son of Muslim parents. Young Faheem was a musical prodigy and began recording with keyboards and a 4-track recorder at the age of 10.

As a teenager Faheem joined the Tallahassee rap group Nappy Headz. The popular group recorded a few local hits. T-Pain also set up his own music label Hard & B. One of his records was a re-worked version of Akon's "Locked Up" titled "F***ed Up." It became so well-known in Florida that it came to Akon's attention resulting in a contract with Akon's Konvict Music Label.

From T-Pain's official site:

"I just got tired of turning on the radio and everything just sounding the same. I know it might sound corny, but I wanted to try and make something different."

A first single, "I'm Sprung," appeared in August 2005. Drenched in vocoderized vocals, the song was a hit landing in the pop top 20. The album Rappa Ternt Sanga (titled after T-Pain's shift in focus from rhyming to singing) was released in early December. It peaked at #33 on the album chart and eventually sold over half a million copies. A second single, "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)", was another major hit.

T-Pain's second album Epiphany was released June 5, 2007. It debuted at #1 on the album charts and quickly outsold Rappa Ternt Sanga. The first single "Buy You a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" climbed into the top 5 of the pop singles chart. It featured an appearance from Atlanta rapper Yung Joc. The second single "Bartender" featured T-Pain's mentor Akon and made its way into the pop top 10.

In addition to his own records, T-Pain has gained unprecedented success as a guest vocalist. In 2007 alone he has been a featured artist on the singles "Kiss Kiss" by Chris Brown, "Good Life" by Kanye West, "Outta My System" by Bow Wow, "Cyclone" by Baby Bash, and "Baby Don't Go" by Fabolous. On October 16, 2007, he was the featured singer on the top 2 hit singles of the Top 10 Hot Pop Songs weekly chart.