T-Pain gave some strongly worded advice to up-and-coming artists.
During a recent Twitch stream, the outspoken rapper delivered a passionate rant about the lack of originality within the music industry—particularly among aspiring MCs who simply copy today’s stars.
“You know when your shit sounds like somebody else’s shit,” he shouted in the broadcast. “You’re making it because you think—because you’re in the studio, like, ‘What’s the No. 1 record right now? We need to make another one of those!’ Stop doing that! Stop! You’re not original! Give me some original shit!”
T-Pain went on to slam under-the-radar artists who fail to offer something out of the box, and simply stick to a formula that has become all too familiar.
“Stop! Just fucking do something else! God damn it! Do some different music!” he continued. “We have all the shit that you’re doing. We already have it! Lil Uzi Vert is already doing it. Lil Baby is already doing it. DaBaby is already doing it. It’s literally two n***as with Baby in their names that’s already doing all the music you want! Do something else! Do something else! That’s it! That’s all we want … Stop sending me this bullshit! And then get mad when I don’t like it. Jesus god-damn tap-dancing Christ!”
T-Pain made it clear he has no issue with the new generation of rap super stars, and admitted some of them were churning out good music; but he argued that the artists who make “bad music” are having the most success because they have money.
“The state of music has always been bad, but it’s about who’s willing to put the most money into it and put the most promotion behind it,” he said. “How the fuck did [Hanson’s] ‘MMMBop’ get popular? Because they spent money on it, but that was a bad state of music.”
He went on: “I’m not saying that this generation of music is worse than any other. I’m not saying that, ‘Oh my god, I’m so mad that my kind of music isn’t getting popular right now. I don’t give a fuck about that … I don’t give a fuck about numbers because I know all that shit can be bought … But I do give a fuck about you doing something different with your fucking music.”
Of course, T-Pain’s comments drew mixed reactions on social media. Some co-signed his sentiments—including Dr. Dre, who commented “Shoutout to @tpain!! I’m here laughing my fuckin ass off, but he’s right. I know and feel exactly what you’re saying”—while others accused him of being jealous of younger artists. He addressed that criticism in a tweet Wednesday afternoon, suggesting he has nothing to prove, as he has plenty of accolades under his belt.
You can check out his full rant in the video above.
T-Pain recently spoke to Complex about his upcoming projects, including his seventh studio album Precious Stones, and his renewed love for music.
“I love it. It makes me whole. It makes me feel like I’m doing something right,” he said. “Makes me feel like I’m doing it for a purpose again. It’s not my job anymore, it’s actually back to my passion. For a long time, it became my job and I had to do it in order to survive, but now I’m not chasing No. 1 anymore. I’m not chasing any numbers. I know these streams can be bought. I’m not getting that depression from Instagram anymore to where I’m like, ‘How the fuck are these little n***as doing this shit?’ I found out how they were doing it. Now you can see it every time.”
