Happy Birthday T-Pain! Here’s 5 Ways He Still Influences Hip-Hop Today:

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(Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage)

Happy Birthday to the iconic T-Pain.

At some point, Pain our Bartender, Buying Us A Drink, or telling us about a stripper he fell In Luv with.

Aside from giving us classic singles, T-Pain influenced a whole generation and wave of music. Here’s 3 ways T-Pain is still currently influencing hip-hop today.

Pain’s debut album Rappa Ternt Sanga dropped in December 2005. Pain introduced the world to a new sound, slowing becoming the “King of Auto-Tune.”  

Pain says at the time of his debut single, Sprung, he was learning Auto-Tune- which cultivated the airways at the time.  “I was experimenting with Auto-Tune at the time and I really got into it. It was fairly easy to get that done, because it was about something I am well-versed in: love.” Before T-Pain had even signed to Jive Records, “the song was already circulating. It was kind of surprising once I found out what label money does to a song — just seeing it spread once the label got involved was amazing. It surprised me how fast it happened, but I already knew it was a good song.”

The way T-Pain used auto-tune, is still used today. “Nobody had really heard [Auto-Tune] the way I heard it. Not to say that it hadn’t been done, it just hadn’t been done the way I did it.”

Another way T-Pain influences hip-hop today is his unorthodox style. When Pain first appeared on the scene, he was notoriously known for his giant top hat and Oakley sunglasses. Now, it’s no secret that fashion and Hip-Hop go hand and hand, but there’s no denying that T-Pain’s unique style influenced many artists to come to step out of their comfort zone.

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Before artists like Drake, and A- Boogie, PnB Rock, and Coi LeRay came along, T-Pain was the rapper blurring the lines between rapping and singing. During an interview with Genius, Pain spoke about his experience being signed to Akon’s Convict Music. Pain explained that when he introduced Akon to his single ‘Sprung’, Akon did not take a liking to it. Eventually, he went on to have 46 songs on Billboard’s top 100 charts.

T-Pain is widely known for his one-of-a-kind hooks. “She poppin, she rollin, she rollinShe climbin that pole and I’m in love with a stripperShe trippin, she playin, she playinI’m not goin nowhere girl, I’m stayin, I’m in love with a stripper..” is one of Pain’s most famous hooks. Although the song was released in 2005, you can still hear it in the clubs today. Songs like that opened the doors for artists and songwriters to have a spin on how they wrote their hooks.

With all the influence Pain has- he simply only wants to be remember for being a good person, and that he will be. Happy birthday to the Legendary, T-Pain.